The Google My Business profiles have been around for some years now but many small businesses fail to capitalise on the opportunity it presents. Too often we see profiles with incorrect data, reviews not replied to and unclaimed or even missing entirely profiles. These profiles are simple to setup and use, so why not make the most out of your GMB account. There are a number of benefits in doing so; the first being it actually helps with your local SEO rankings, as well as creating an additional line of communication with your customers and creates an opportunity to showcase your work or skill set for free!
If you’re unsure what Google My Business is, here is a little breakdown for you; previously Google My Business was known as Google Local or Google Places (either of these may ring a bell for you) and it is the platform Google uses to operate its business listings. It creates the opportunity for your business to appear at the top of the search page in what’s known as “the local pack” – a display of some of the local businesses related to the users search. It also enables you to display information about your business, customers can give reviews, and you to post updates and photos. It’s important to keep this information updated and relevant because Google can use it in a number of ways in the search results page.
Features of Google My Business
When you first create (or claim) an account you may be daunted by all the options you have available to you but don’t panic, it’s simple enough to understand and soon you’ll be posting and updating your holiday hours before you know it. Here is a quick breakdown on the features of Google My Business and how you can use them:
- Info – Edit the details of your business including; opening times, special holiday hours, address, services, phone number, email and more.
- Posts – Post updates, offers, events, and product information.
- Reviews – Users can review your business and you can reply to those reviews.
- Messages – Connect messages with your phone and receive messages via Google from your customers.
- Photos – Upload logos, photos of the business and any products or services.
- Products – Upload a spreadsheet of your product details to display them online.
- Services – list the details of your available services.
- Website – create a website with Google from this platform.
- Google Ads – If you have a Google Ads account you can connect it to your business listing and enable more advert options in Google Ads.
Google My Business Insights
Being able to use Google My Business insights grants you the opportunity to get unique information about your website visitors. It can tell you how your customers are finding and visiting your website; through directly visiting the website or Googling something related and discovering it for themselves. It can show you where those customers saw your Google My Business listing; either on search, images or on maps. It can also give you great additional information such as; details about people requesting directions, when and how people made phone calls to your business, and the number of times people viewed photos of your business. All these insights can give you a better understanding of how your customers are interacting with your business online and show opportunities for further growth, engagement and profit.
All this cannot but done however with verifying your business listing on Google My Business, make sure you click the verify button and follow the steps it gives you. Most likely you will receive a postcard from Google to your business address within 4 days of requesting with a code on it for you to enter to verify the business. If you aren’t in the office currently and can’t access said postcode, you’ll need to talk to Google to get other verifying options if they aren’t available to you.
Get In Touch
For assistance on creating, verifying, or managing your Google My Business account get in touch with our team today and we will be happy to help you with any question you may have. Talk to us on 01323 400010 or drop us an email at info@427marketing.co.uk and we will get in touch with you as soon as possible.