Six Steps To The Perfect Google My Business Profile

In times of more and more mobile search queries, optimizing Local SEO through the My Google Business Profile has become one of Google's most important ranking factors. We'll show you the six most important steps to optimize your listing.

Why should I optimize my My Business profile?

More and more people are searching for products and services online. Especially mobile, almost 33 percent of all searches are related to the location. But not only because of that, but also so that everyone can find you and your services quickly and easily and with just a few clicks everything important about your business in mind, you should cherish and maintain your Google My Business profile. Your presence in the local search is one of the most important ranking factors in the search engine optimization, because you increase there by:

• Your findability in Google Search
• The interaction with your customers

and can do that

• Gain new clients.

With Google My Business, you can easily and quickly manage your online presence and include Google Search and Google Maps. With the free tool you can not only prepare opening hours, phone number, location and central services optimally for the seeker, but also interact with them with videos, news and photos.

How important the entry and maintenance of Google My Business (GMB) is, shows a recent study by BrightLocal, which considers the user behavior of the searchers and has picked out the key elements for success with GMB. This latest study adds another six tips that you should take to keep you and your business in the top 3 local search results.

How do I optimize my Google My Business profile? - 6 steps to success

Of course, to tweak the profile and keep it up-to-date, you'll need to have your business listed in Google My Business. As you make the entry, you read in our Guide to Local SEO.  But let's assume that your company is already registered and now needs the necessary fine tuning. In addition to a complete profile, the timeliness of the data, but also customer reviews, pictures and videos are important factors for a perfect Google My Business entry.

Step 1. Complete and up-to-date profile

Of course, the key to success is a full Google My Business profile, which you should keep up to date. Therefore, fill out as many fields as possible and do not forget facts such as interests and backgrounds. Important information such as opening hours, phone numbers, website and email addresses are core features that searchers need to find and visit your business. But it is also relevant that you select the right business categories and applicable attributes.

The choice of the right business categories

Google already sets categories from which to choose the one that suits you and your business. Do not overdo it by using all ten possible seats. This only confuses the searchers and does not lead to success. Focus on two or three categories that best describe your business.

Example: 

You have a mexican restaurant. So choose mexican restaurant as main category and mexican food delivery as a side category. In addition, depending on your services and offers, you can now use catering or cocktails as additional categories. Not only will you appeal to people looking for a restaurant, but also to those who have delivered food or want to drink cocktails. In Google My Business statistics, you can see exactly what people were looking for and finding you.

Selection of the applicable attributes

To highlight the uniqueness of your business, you use the attributes. Do not include your relevant keywords in the company name or company description that you enter in Google My Business. Attributes vary by business category, but there are also some universal attributes that you can use.

Step 2. Company description

Use the place of the company description optimally. Write a short description of your company, your offer and your core competences. Try not to use more than 200 words and concentrate on your main keyword. Try to highlight your unique selling point to stand out from the crowd.

Step 3. Enter locations

We have already mentioned that especially the location in times of mobile search, which often leads to an immediate subsequent visit of the business, is of central importance. Therefore, you should pay attention here to enter all the data really. Only in this way can Google also establish the context of your website and the registered location. 

Make sure that your landing page is clearly readable and provides the searcher with all the important information at a glance. If you have multiple locations, then sign up and create your own landing page for each site. So you make sure that the address data does not mix and Google can assign each site clearly a website.

Step 4. Images and videos in Google My Business

Images and videos in the Google My Business listing increase the chance of being found on Google Search. Present yourself and your business through internal, external, product or image captures of you and your employees. 

The photos and videos appear not only in the local search, but also on Google Maps. Be aware that companies with photos and videos get almost twice as many requests for directions on Google Maps and clicks on the website than those without this supportive visual presentation.

Step 5. Customer Reviews and News

Customer reviews on Google My Business significantly increase the relevance of your listing. The reviews and reviews are even an important SEO ranking factor. Once you get five reviews, Google will show them with the well-known asterisks in the search results. If you get more and more positive reviews, this is a signal to Google that your business is popular is and is often visited. 

The result is that you go up in the Google ranking. But be careful not to fake your ratings. On the one hand, this can be interpreted as misleading advertising, which can lead to a warning by Google, and on the other hand are honest opinions, even a few negative, worth much more than the Vorgaukelung false facts.

But not only for Google, the ratings and asterisks are relevant, the customers also make their purchase decision or the visit of a location of reviews. So do not wait until someone randomly rates you, but get active and ask for ratings. This can be done, for example, through follow-up emails. Also, remember to respond to and respond to the reviews.

News about Google My Business

For some time, searchers and customers have been able to send you messages through the Google My Business profile. For this you have to activate this function in your profile. Google Maps has installed its own news service for this purpose so that requests from searchers to you do not have to be forwarded via a telephone app or a messenger. 

Use this potential to get closer to your customers, communicate directly with them, and boost your sales. Communication and proximity to the customer are still one of the strongest success factors of companies, even in times of online presence.

Step 6. Use directory entries

Directory entries are no longer as relevant as they were a few years ago and are used primarily for link building. But even today, the entries in important directories, the Local Citation, especially in the B2B sector, can still be quite useful. For Google, the local citations are important signals for the reputation of your company.