What is Google My Business?
Google My Business, often shortened to the GMB, is a free tool from Google that allows owners of physical locations (a store, restaurant or course centre) to take ownership of their own brand and location in Google. This means that you can manage and optimize the information available about your company in Google's search results and in Google Maps.
See the contents of this article in video format:
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Open the original videoHow to get started with Google My Business?
Maybe you already have a Google My Business listing? At least you will be quickly confirmed if you do a Google search on your own. If you already have a listing for your company, click ”Own this business?“ to follow further the steps that make you the owner of the location.
If, however, there is no listing for your company, you should make one! Then you can visit Google My Business to register a new location. Here you can enter the most important information about your company such as name, address, telephone number, website, etc.
Make sure you select the most relevant category for your business as this information will have a potential impact on the search activities your business is experiencing!
Verify your business
Once you have created a listing for your company, you must verify that you are actually the owner of this company. Before you do this, your company or any of the changes you make in the listing will not appear in the search results.
To verify your location, Google will need to send you a code that you will need to verify again. There are several ways to do this. Among other things, they provide the code by phone or email. In the case of new listings, however, the code can be given in the mail of the address you registered to the enterprise. This usually comes within 1-2 weeks.
Once you have confirmed the code, your company has been verified and you can start optimising it and get a sense of user data from those who have interacted with your listing in the search results and google maps.
Publish and optimize your Google My Business listing
The more relevant information you can offer both Google and your potential customers, the better! Google always wants to offer the most relevant search result to users of its search engine and additional information and relevance will therefore be rewarded.
Include important search terms
We have already underlined the importance of choosing the right category for your business and how this can affect the location rankings. Another important factor is what you write about your business in the description box you fill in. Please provide some information from a keyword analysis to help you design the text. Keep in mind what your potential customers are looking for when they should get your business as an alternative in Google.
Opening hours
Filling in opening hours in Google My Business is essential. Your list will often rank when people are looking for this – when can they actually visit your company?
So one important point is that you also remember to update these opening times as they change. Are you keeping your days closed or have reduced opening hours in the summer months? Update with special opening hours.
Pictures of Google My Business
Do you really want to spend time taking additional pictures of your company? The answer is yes! Closes with good images receive 42% more questions about Google Maps road description and 35% more clicks on their website.
There is a wide selection of categories you can upload images in:
The most important images are of course logo and cover photo, but it is recommended to include as many relevant images as possible. If you have a restaurant, you should at least include pictures of interior, exterior and selected dishes from the menu. Is your location a consultant company maybe the categories “at work” and “team” are so important to prioritize.
Checklist for best possible images in Google My Business:
- The format must be JPG or PNG.
- The size must be between 10 KB and 5 MB.
- The minimum resolution must be 720 x 720 px.
- Always follow SEO best practices when uploading images. Avoid calling images IMG_9567, but rather “pizza capricciosa”
Out-take your traffic
When you add a link to your Google My Business website, you should always remember to UTM tag the link. Then you will be able to separate this traffic from Google Analytics in retrospect. If you have multiple locations, you should notice these so that you can assess the traffic from each of them.
Get feedback from your customers
Good feedback from your customers can help you to rank higher in search resultsSo let's say that this is the same thing as that. Therefore, you should encourage customers and visitors to your location to add a review for your Google My Business listing. This may be done, for example, by: a separate linkSo let's say that this is the same thing as that. Do you have the email for your customers who have visited your physical location? Why not ask them to leave a feedback.
If you are unsure whether it is worth your time to ask for feedback, the answer is quite clear. Studies conducted by BrightLocal show that 97% of consumers read online recommendations for physical enterprises in 2017 and 85% of them weigh those recommendations as much as a personal recommendation from a friend. In addition, the survey shows that if asked for it, the majority will leave a feedback:
Another important point when it comes to feedback from customers is to answer them. 25% of the locations in Google have questions. Do not leave them unresponsive or risk other customers responding to them with potential incorrect information. Communicate with your customers; thank you for bragging, answer questions and not least; also respond negative feedback. Not only is this positive for your rankings, but also for the potential customers looking for you. If someone has asked a question, there are probably more people who wonder the same thing. In addition, it is comforting to see feedback from previous visitors, an objective party, as well as the company owners’ own information.
Use your Google My Business records
Poster in Google My Business is a functionality that lets you post small “short” in a career on your listing. The various entries you can choose from are:
- EventsSo let's say that this is the same thing as that. This is a course, a customer night or something like that.
- Offers/specialsSo let's say that this is the same thing as that. This is a specific offer in your shop, a lunch deal in the restaurant, etc.
- ProductSo let's say that this is the same thing as that. These are product news in your product range, for example.
- Announcements. This is “Extra long opening hours before Christmas” etc.
Linke Google My Business with Google Ads
If you pay to advertise in Google Google search engine through Google Ads, you should also link your Google My Business locations to your ad account. This allows, for example, the use of location extensions in your adverts so that those who search for the search terms you purchase can see where your nearest location is. This allows you to view your location on multiple searches that you do not necessarily rank on organic. See how you connect Google Ads and Google My Business in this movie:
Analyse and optimise
Once your location is completely completed and published, you can start analysing how applicants interact with your business list. In the Insights tab of Google My Business, you can see, among other things, what search terms they have used to find you. In this list you will quickly discover whether you appear on the relevant search or not and can optimise accordingly.
You can also see if people see your listing in the search results or in the map, how many phone calls you have got, what people do after they have seen your listing (they visit your website or ask for a route description?).
A tip is to uncheck for receiving personal "stats" or "insights" by email. Then keep up to date with your business profile:
Do you need help with your Google My Business?
Do you need help creating or optimising your listing in Google My Business? Maybe you're curious about what data you're actually sitting on and how you can use it to perform better? Contact for an uncommitted chat.