Every business owner with a website is looking for ways to stand out in search results. There are many tactics to rank well as a local business, but unfortunately there is no magic bullet. As with most SEO topics, this is a collaborative effort. One way to get noticed is to offer customers up-to-date information such as opening hours and contact information. You can do this via the Google Business Profile, formerly Google My Business. But what exactly is it and why is it so important for local SEO?
What is Google My Business?
Before we begin, it’s good to know that Google recently changed its name from Google My Business to Google Business Profile. But even under the new name, Google Business Profile is still your central point of contact for managing your company information and displaying it in search results. It’s an essential tool for customizing how your business appears on Google Maps, the Knowledge Graph, and organic search results. According to the latest edition of the Whitespark Local Search Ranking Factors Survey, Google My Business remains the biggest driver of local SEO success, with reviews coming in second.
You can manage your business listing by adding NAP details, opening hours, photos, etc. There are even unique options to display multiple shopping options (delivery or curbside pickup). In addition, there are many other options available to you, such as: B. managing the reviews your customers leave. As you may already know, reviews should be a crucial part of your local SEO efforts.
Want to learn more about local SEO and how to rank higher in local search results? Our local SEO training will help you improve your online presence and attract more online and offline visitors.
How does it work?
Getting started with Google business profile is simple; You create an account and claim your business. After entering your details, you will need to verify your company. You can choose to receive an automated call or SMS with a verification code or an real postcard from Google below Your specified address with the verification code. Some companies may require verification via video. You may need to check using more than one method. So why does Google want you to verify your account? You want to make sure you are telling the truth and are the business owner listed at the address. Google has a special page to help you Check your verification status.
After verification, you can provide all the required information and check how your entry is progressing. You can receive regular insights to see how many impressions, clicks, and subscribers your listing has received over time. This is a great way to get a feel for how Google and customers perceive your business.
Keep in mind that Google My Business (or Google Business Profile) is not the all-round tool for your local search engine optimization. It needs to work with your other off-page and on-page SEO efforts. An inaccurate profile probably won’t get you up the charts, but without a well-optimized website and localized content, you won’t get to the top. These things go hand in hand.
Ranking factors
Google Business Profile uses many factors to determine the ranking of companies. We highlight the three most important ones:
- relevance
- distance
- Meaning
relevance
Relevance determines how well your business matches the customer’s search intent. Is your focus identical to what the customer needs, or are you a little unclear about what your company does? Vagueness does not judge or sell. Be as clear as possible and keep your focus. This way, Google knows what people can expect from you and will be more inclined to show your business in search results.
Tip: When you set up your profile, Google offers you common services that you can add to your business category. It makes sense to include these as they will help your business get found. We will talk about this in more detail later.
Vicinity
Proximity is a well-known factor in ranking local businesses. And quite logical when you think about it. You can’t rank for a local search dentist in Philadelphia if you have located your business in Manhattan. However, the exact way Google determines which businesses appear in a local search is unknown, and it can be quite difficult to rank in a particular area. Other factors also play an important role. It’s helpful to say you’re in a specific area and show that through locally targeted content around your business on your website. Google uses information about the searcher’s location to present the most relevant local businesses.
Meaning
Notability is all about the activity surrounding your listing. This could be the number of reviews, events, local content, etc. It also helps to have lots of quality links to your website. It’s a little difficult to determine what celebrity exactly means, but one thing is for sure: nobody likes inactive profiles. You have to keep it updated with new photos and manage your reviews. As mentioned, this goes hand in hand with your website. So make sure both listings match and post content focused on your region(s).
Optimize your Google business profile listing
Any business with a physical brick-and-mortar location or an online branch is eligible for a Google Business listing. But what if you run your business from home and don’t want people to know your address?
If you do not operate a brick-and-mortar location but rather visit your customers in a specific geographical area, you are known as a “service business.” Service businesses include plumbers, carpet cleaners and courier services. In this case you are still entitled to an entry. However, you should select “Service Business” when Google asks what type of business you run.
Check your location
Google tries to ensure that only reputable companies are represented on GMB. Anyone claiming a listing must confirm their connection to the company. The easiest way to start the process is to do a desktop search on Google for your business name (e.g. “Kido Chicago“). In the area on the right side of the page, a link will appear that asks, “Do you own this business?”
Before clicking this link to begin the verification process, make sure you are either not signed in to Google (you can create an account in the next step) or a Google account for your business and not your personal Gmail account are logged in. It’s not a requirement; However, it is much easier to share access to your listing with employees or other representatives of the company through a business account.
Once you’ve entered the most basic information (see below) and your address and phone number can be confirmed, Google will call and ask you to enter a PIN on the screen. If a business with the phone number and address you provided has not yet been seen, you will receive a postcard in the mail with PIN verification instructions within a week.
Check with video
Some companies may require verification via video. If you own a physical store, you will need to record your location through street signs, the exterior and interior of your business, and prove that you are authorized to represent that business. You must present all of these requirements in a continuous record so that no editing is required.
If you own a service business, such as a plumbing or landscaping company, you don’t have a physical store. For this reason, you will need to show street signs or the surrounding area of your business location, your business card or a branded vehicle or business paraphernalia, and finally proof of address. This must also be done in a continuous record.
Primary business information
Name, address and telephone
This sounds simple, but it’s surprising how many business owners rethink or try to “optimize” these core attributes. Your name, address and telephone number (NAP) are your fingerprint online. If your business isn’t accurately reflected in your Google Business Profile, Google – and your customers – will lose trust that you are who you say you are. They will stop sending business your way.
- DO NOT stuff keywords into your business name. Present yourself as if you were answering the phone or greeting a customer in your store. You probably see spammers doing this over and over again and succeeding, but eventually it will come back to haunt them. Google is constantly monitoring this type of abuse and is getting better at blocking the perpetrators.
- Enter the same address you use on your website. If you are a Yoast user, this should be the address you enter in the Yoast Local SEO plugin. Even if you are a service area business, you must provide a physical address, not a PO Box or other mail-only address.
- A map will appear right next to your address. Zoom in and double-check that the pin is in the correct location within your business. Google’s PIN precision for US addresses is usually pretty good, but it can be spotty in other countries.
- Don’t use a tracking phone number to segment customers coming from Google versus other sources. There are ways to do thisbut they are quite advanced. Improper implementation of tracking numbers can cause tremendous damage to your local search rankings.
Choose a category for your business
From a ranking perspective, business category is the most important attribute you can optimize in your Google business profile. In our experience, it’s best to keep an eye on Google Advice on categories. Keep in mind that advice has changed frequently over the years and may change again.
Google maintains a taxonomy with several thousand categories to describe local businesses. You’ll probably find a pretty good match if you type a few characters of a keyword that describes your business.
Google suggests “using as few categories as possible” as well as categories that are “as specific as possible.” And while it’s true that Google can and does recognize category information from your website and mentions about your business across the web, we recommend that you include as many relevant categories as possible in your Google Business Profile entry.
Google’s automatic review system may remove a listing or two from your listing. However, this is not spam – provided you select relevant categories. It helps you appear in as many searches as possible.
Add your website
There is a field to add your website URL, but it doesn’t necessarily have to be your “website” per se. Particularly if you operate in more than one location, you may want to enter the page on your site that corresponds to the location that you submit to Google – rather than your home page. Opinions vary as to whether listing your homepage or a location page will help you rank better. So do what is best for potential customers. If you think your homepage gives them the best first impression of your business, list it as your “website.” If a location page – or even another page – gives your audience a better impression, submit that instead.
Add a business description
Later you can add a company description to your profile. Be sure to take a moment and find a great way to describe your business on Google. The Business Description field gives you a maximum of 750 characters to convince people to visit your business. This may be the first thing people read about your company. So make it unique and exciting. Describe exactly what your company offers and how you stand out from your competitors. You can also talk about your story and anything else that will be helpful to customers.
Keep the description short and concise and do not try to promote any promotions or offers you are running. You should also not include any URLs or HTML code. Think about it, write a few descriptions and choose the best one!
More business information
After entering the above attributes, you will be asked to confirm your entry. But don’t stop there. There are a few more attributes worth adding.
Photos and images
Photos are perhaps the most neglected attribute in all of local SEO. The success of Instagram, Pinterest and all the lesser-known apps shows how visual our internet culture has become. Consumers often choose – or reject – a company based on its photos! Consumers judge not only the content of the photos, but also the quality and professionalism of the photos.
Photos are critical in the Google Business Profile mobile ecosystem (including Google Maps) because they dominate how a business is presented across Google’s user interfaces. Try adding candid photos instead of stock photos and make sure the images reflect your business.
As with any local media or social media website, Google Business Profile also has its own Image format requirements. Take some time to go through them and make sure you have quality assets for each format. For more information on improving your images, check out our image SEO guide.
Business hours
Choosing your opening hours is pretty easy. Google has significantly improved its interface for letting your customers know when you’re open in recent years. Wherever customers interact with your business on Google, opening hours are top of mind and should therefore be accurate. You can even run a daypart several times a day and add specific hours for holidays and special events.
Even if you can’t control this, you might be interested to know that Google now shows your business’s utilization in real time. This is based on aggregated location tracking visitors with Android phones and iOS Google Maps users with location services enabled.
Certain categories of companies have the opportunity to do this Add your menu. Suppose you are lucky enough to be in one of these categories. In this case, we highly recommend adding this as it will give Google an additional set of keywords that your business should consider relevant.
Accept messages for more leads
By default this feature is enabled. It adds a messaging feature to your business profile and can be a great way to generate more leads. Of course, you need to keep this chat feature in mind and check for messages regularly. If you respond quickly and helpfully, you’re likely to convert visitors into customers.
However, if you are slow to respond to customer requests, Google may disable this feature for you. So if you’re not sure about keeping track of this feature, it might be better to disable it.
Share posts on your business profile
The Posts feature is a very useful way to communicate with your customers through your profile. Posts allow you to connect with existing and potential customers through your business profile on Google Search and Maps. You can share announcements, offers, new or popular items in stock, or event details directly with your customers. Use this to promote your sales, special offers, events, news and offers. You can even add videos and photos to posts to make them more interesting!
Lots of options
As Google Business Profile has grown significantly over the years, there are many more options to explore. You don’t have to use all of them, but some are valuable. For example, the Products feature, which allows you to highlight your products in your listing, is a great way to get people interested in what you have to offer.
Another great option is the ability to get potential customers to ask questions that you can answer. Remember that others may also answer these questions, so keep an eye on this. If it works, it can be a real help in converting visitors into customers.
And as always, get reviews for your business! With a business profile, you can even respond to these reviews. It doesn’t have to be a message. Nowadays, you can also quickly reply with an emoji, such as a heart or fire emoji.
Ranking factors that are beyond your control
There are two important factors in local search and local SEO ranking that you have little control over. Both have to do with the physical location of your business.
The location of your potential customer
The first factor is the proximity of your business to where your potential customer is conducting their search. All other things being equal, Google will show the searcher a company that is closer to them than a company that is further away.
In Google’s early years, its algorithm favored businesses near the center of a particular city, or its “center of gravity.” This was partly because Google could no longer determine the searcher’s location as well as it currently did. By default, businesses were displayed in the areas with the highest population density.
Nowadays this factor has lost its importance. Especially for mobile searches, where Google has a good idea of where you are. Google has also partially improved the way it detects desktop searchers’ location information through stealthy collection methods.
A physical store in the city of your customer’s search query
The second factor is an address in the city your customer is searching. If your customer searches in Seattle, your coffee shop won’t show up in Tacoma or Bellevue. This is simply because it is irrelevant to the customer’s search.
Aside from opening additional locations in targeted areas where a high concentration of your customers are searching, there’s not much you can do to optimize these ranking factors. However, you should be aware of their importance.
Google business profile insights
Google offers a free, compact analysis package as part of GBP. This will give you a basic sense of how customers and potential customers view and interact with your listing.
Statistics show how often your listing appears in plain old search compared to Google Maps. It also shows the number of clicks to your website, directions requests, phone calls, and more.
There’s also a breakdown of how many customers see your listing in direct searches (specific to your business) versus discovery searches (for businesses in your category). While no one outside of Google is entirely sure how the discovery number is calculated, it’s probably as good a barometer of the overall strength of your local SEO as any, especially if you track it over time.
Troubleshooting listing issues
The most common GMB troubleshooting problem remains duplicate listings for the same business. While it has become more difficult to detect duplicate entries, it is much easier to close them.
The first step to identifying duplicates is to search for your business name on Google. If it appears that there are multiple entries related to your business, select the entry you want to report as a duplicate and click Suggest Change. Follow the suggestions to mark the entry as a duplicate.
Google Support representatives generally respond to these reports within a reasonable time. If you continue to have problems, ask multiple people – colleagues, friends, family members, or relatives – to report the same problem. Then it’s more likely that Google will take care of it. If your issue seems particularly sensitive, you’ll most likely get a response by tweeting @googlemybizthe official Twitter support channel for Google Business Profile.
A while back, Google added a new feature to the Google My Business dashboard. A feature that allows you Manage your reviews and report removal reviews. You can also check the status of the reviews you have already reported here. Please note that Google only removes reviews that violate its policies, such as irrelevant or offensive content.
Structured data and Yoast Local SEO
Google is increasingly relying on structured data to determine what your website is about and which elements represent what. This applies to your business information, including the information that the Google Business Profile uses. Make sure you add the right structured data to your website. Enhance your NAP details, hours, reviews, product information, etc. with Schema.org data. This makes it much easier for Google to determine the validity of your listing. Several tools can help you with this, including our Yoast Local SEO plugin.
Local SEO is crucial, even on Google Business Profile
So you should activate and maintain your Google My Business account and make it great. But to get the most out of your listings and get good rankings, your website needs to be in order too. Optimize every part of it. Create local content for your chosen keyword and business location and get quality local backlinks to build a solid link profile. Ask customers to rate your business locally or on My Business. Make sure your listing is active and attractive. As I said, inaccurate profiles are of no use.
Read more: The Ultimate Guide to SEO for Small Business »
Edwin is an experienced strategic content specialist. Before joining Yoast, he worked at a top web design magazine, where he developed a strong understanding of how to create great content.
