Boost your Brand: Utilizing Google My Business to Improve SEO

Many businesses struggle nowadays with improving their SEO strategies whether it be through their website or where they land on a google search result. There are various tools available throughout the internet that can get your business started on the right track. Cool thing is, Google provides an arsenal of tools to help businesses increase their online presence. One of the biggest tools that are available is Google My Business.

If you’re unsure what Google My Business is, you’ve come to the right place. Google My Business is a free tool provided by, and you guessed it, Google. This tool allows you to promote your business profile, business website, and services on Google search and maps. It allows you to connect with your customers, post updates to your Business Profile, and see how customers are interacting with your business on Google.

“Your free Business Profile on Google helps your business show up when it matters most: the moment customers are searching for your business or products or services like yours on Google Search and Maps. Log into your Google My Business account to update your address, phone number, website, open hours, and more to help customers find and connect with your business. Keep your profile updated with fresh photos, special offers, and promotions to make it easy for customers to choose you.” – Google My Business Help

That is to say, it may seem easy as just setting up your business profile and hoping the customer will immediately find your business when they’re looking for your specific service there are multiple factors that play into how you’ll be seen and ranked across google. The 3 biggest factors are: Relevance, Distance, and Engagement

Relevance

Relevance is important when it comes to Google search results. What this means is, does your business fit the search intent of the customers your targeting? Sometimes it’s best to take yourself out of the business owner mindset and place it in the customer’s shoes. If you are a customer, what would you type into google to find your type of business? Try to be specific and try not to be vague

Distance

Your Google Business ranking is also based on a proximity basis. Google can pull your business information based on the location of the user. The closer the user is to your business the address, the more likely you are to be shown on the listing. It’s important to note to have the right location and have it specified as much as possible to improve the results.

Engagement

Engagement is one of the most measured key preforming indicators for businesses across the internet. Making sure customers are active with your business is highly important and it provides the business owners information to make decisions on how well marketing campaign or posts are doing. Engagement can be in the form of the amount clicks your website is getting, reviews people are placed, or the number of times your business name is brought up. Monitoring the engagement with your business is very important when it comes to improving your SEO.

Here we will dive more into setting up your profile and providing tips on how to improve your SEO by utilizing Google My Business.

1.    Create and Verify your Business Profile

2.    Fill Out Your Profile Completely

3.    Make Sure the Information About Your Business Is Correct

4.    Choose the Right Category

5.    Add Semi-Professional to Professional Photos

6.    Get Reviews

7.    Create posts and Update Profile

 

Create and Verify your Business Profile

First, to get your profile started with Google My Business, you have to go in and find your business then claim it. If you can’t find your business listing, google allows you to add it in. However, if you plan on adding your listing in manually, make sure the spelling and the name are correct, you definitely don’t want to deal with the issues later when you find that mistake.

Once you’ve set up your profile, Google is going to ask you to verify the business. The reason they have you verify the listing is for security purposes and it shows that mean business. Having your profile verified definitely helps with your SEO ranking.

 “Verification helps ensure the accuracy of your business information across Google. Verified businesses are twice as likely to be considered reputable by users”

Fill Out Your Profile Completely

The next step into improving your SEO ranking is to fill out your profile completely. This is where relevance becomes important and vital to your ranking. Be sure to provide as much information about your business as possible. your providing this information populate all the fields with relevant and accurate information and write keyword-rich descriptions so google knows to bring your business up during a search.  Lastly, when adding your products and services, be sure to be as descriptive as possible.

Make Sure the Information About Your Business Is Correct

Just as the heading says, make sure the information about your business is correct and consistent throughout the internet.

Verify that your business location is correct to provide the best opportunity to appear for users across Google.

Keeping your business operation hours accurate so you don’t have customers showing up the wrong times trying to get food or specific service done.

“Entering and updating your opening hours, including special hours for holidays and special events, lets potential customers know when you’re available and gives them confidence that when they travel to your location, it will be open” – Google My Business Help

Choose The Right Category

Look for the category that best fits what your business specializes in. You definitely don’t want to be categorized in food when you paint houses. When customers are looking for a product or service, most of the time they will type the category in which you belong to narrow down their search result.

Add Semi-Professional To Professional Photos

The way your brand is viewed and perceived is important to the success of any business. Be sure to add photos that showcase your business in a professional light. If you’re good with a camera grab some lights and try to take the best photos possible. If you don’t have the ability to take pictures, hire out a photographer to take a few professional photos to showcase your best work.

Get Reviews

Nothing beats going to restaurant that has good food with feedback to back it up. Reviews are very important when it comes to improving your SEO; this coincides to when we talked about engagement earlier. The more people that are reviewing and interacting with your Google business profile, Google’s algorithm will start to turn in your favor over time.

While it may seem like a good idea to have your friends and family post numerous 5-star reviews on your profile, Google has algorithms in place to determine If they are legitimate or not.

“Interact with customers by responding to reviews that they leave about your business. Responding to reviews shows that you value your customers and the feedback that they leave about your business. High-quality, positive reviews from your customers will improve your business’s visibility and increase the likelihood that a potential customer will visit your location. Encourage customers to leave feedback by creating a link they can click to write reviews.”

Create Posts and Update Profile

Google My Business allows you to create posts like any social media, that can show up in search results. Be sure to create high quality and meaningful posts that can drive your engagements and traffic to your business profile and business website. It also helps to use keywords that are relevant to business and to what you’re talking about.

Update Google Business profile regularly and consistently to maintain activity.

Monitor Your Progress

Google My Business provides metric tools for you to measure the success of your work.  This allows you to see what’s working and what’s not. In short, using these tools can provide feedback on where you need to make necessary changes to continue improving SEO strategies, which will benefit you and your business in the long run.

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