1. Create &
Verify Your Google My Business Profile
When you think about
using search engine optimization (SEO) to benefit your business, you
likely focus on getting your website to rank in Google’s results using
various content and keyword strategies. With local SEO and Google My
Business, there’s a bit of a twist.
When you search “ice
cream near me,” you’ll see a big map at the top of your screen in
addition to information on shops listed in the main search results such
as the name, location, website, and reviews for each business.
What many people don’t
realize is that the information does not come from the business’s
website… it comes from its Google My Business profile
page. If you don’t have a Google My Business profile set up
and verified, you are missing out on a valuable opportunity to get in
front of local customers.
Google My Business
pages are free and they take about 20 minutes to create. Click here to learn more
and get set up today.
But don’t forget to
verify your profile…
Verification is
critical to ensure you’re the owner of your page so that you can make
edits to your page in the future. Google will send you a postcard with
a verification code and you’ll need to enter this code in order to
verify your profile.
2. Check For
& Remove Any Duplicate Google Profiles
You may not remember
setting up a Google My Business page in the past, but you’d be
surprised how many people don’t realize they, or another person from
their company, started creating a Google My Business page once before.
The problem with this
is Google hates duplicate content in their search results. Google wants
to provide the most accurate search experience for its users, and if a
user sees the same information twice, it is a waste of Google’s
resources. Creating duplicate listings is against Google’s terms and
can affect your ability to rank in results.
To see if you have more
than one page, you can search in Google’s map results for your business
name. You can also use the Moz Local tool.
This tool will tell you if there are duplicate listings online. If you
find duplicate listings, then contact Google to get them removed as
soon as possible, so they don’t hurt your rankings.
3. Add
Categories, Description, Hours, Products/Services, Photos
Once you have verified
your Google profile and cleaned up any duplicate listings, it’s time to
flesh out your profile…
Categories
Setting your profile up
with relevant categories is a critical step to improving your rankings.
Categories are like sections of the Yellow Pages. The more sections you
are in, the more likely your business information is to get in front of
prospects.
The more relevant
categories you choose, the better. But, make sure that the categories
you choose are actually relevant to your
business, it’s against Google terms to include irrelevant categories.
You can search this big list to
find all the relevant categories for your business. Another tip is to
review the categories other top-ranking local businesses have selected
in their profiles and use the same ones.
Description
You can add up to 750
characters of text in your Google profile, and we recommend taking full
advantage of this by adding a detailed description of your business,
products/services, and geographic focus.
Products & Services
Google also allows you
to add detailed blurbs about specific products and services. We
recommend filling out these sections as well.
Hours
Be sure to list your
hours, and make sure they match the hours on your website and other
online business profiles.
Photos
We also recommend
adding photos to your profile. According to BrightLocal, 60%
of consumers say local search results with good images capture their
attention and push them towards a decision.
4. Ask For
Google Reviews
Reviews are one of the
ways that your business can stand out from the competition.
Specifically, you should aim to have more reviews, higher average
ratings, and more frequent reviews. To achieve this, you’ll need to ask
for reviews on an ongoing basis.
Most businesses
struggle to get customer reviews online. This is because it takes
effort on your customers’ end to write a review. At the same time,
reviews are extremely important for building your online credibility
and therefore improving your local Google rankings.
Make It a Part of Your
Business Process
The important thing is
to continually ask your customers for reviews (using email, phone
calls, and in-person) and make the process as easy as possible for
every customer to write a review for you. Of those 3 methods (email,
phone, in-person), we’ve found that asking via email — along with a
link to review your business — is the most effective method, because
your customer doesn’t have to find your profile, you’re leading them
right to it.
Getting positive
reviews will likely be a slow process, but over time it adds up and
will give you a real competitive advantage that is difficult to
replicate. The key is to incorporate asking for reviews as a part of
your regular business processes. If you ask for reviews, you’re much
more likely to get reviews!
Ask Customers to Be
Specific
If possible, ask your
customers to include references to specific services/products in your
reviews. Google is more likely to highlight your listing for a
particular service if a reviewer has referenced that service in their
review. Google will then often show little snippets of a relevant
review citing that particular service.
Here’s an example in
the screenshot below:
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