There’s no longer any reason to neglect Google My Business (GMB) or to leave your company’s information out of it. More and more customers check Google My Business profiles, and it’s no longer optional — you have to be there; if you aren’t in GMB, your competitors will be.
Especially now, with Covid-19 in full swing, people are relying on GMB profiles more than ever to find out what’s happening with local businesses around them.
Optimising your business’s Google My Business listing makes your business easier to find and more likely to be visited. According to Google, if your company has a complete business profile on Google Search and Maps, customers are 2.7 times more likely to find your business reputable, they are 70% more likely to visit your website and 50% more likely to consider purchasing from you.
Let’s start by explaining what Google My Business is for business owners who don’t know much about it.
Google My Business has been launched in 2014, since then it has become a free and easy-to-use tool for businesses to improve their online presence across Google, including Search and Maps.
Here are some reasons why having a GMB account is vital to your business.
1 – Communicate any changes in your business through your GMB profile. For example, do you deliver your products to customers in person, or do you leave them for customers to pick up themselves? Are there any changes in your opening hours as a result of pandemic related restrictions? How do you maintain a safe, healthy environment for your customers? You can share all these updates about how your business is currently operating.
2 – Creating a Google My Business listing can boost your local SEO. A well-maintained Google My Business will improve your chances of being in the local 3 pack, indirectly leading you to increase your website rank. The Google 3-Pack is the way Google arranges search results for queries that have local intent.
We already know that Google’s algorithm works towards showing the most useful results to users, and the search giant mentions that local results are primarily determined by relevance, distance and prominence.
3 – Customer reviews have a significant impact on building trust and credibility. Today people will read anything about your products or services before deciding whether to purchase, and it’s because we can have access to other people’s experiences for free! In fact, according to a survey conducted by BrightLocal, “79% of consumers say they trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations from friends and family”. So, it’s essential that you take the time to answer all the reviews that you get through GMB. Also, to ensure customer satisfaction, you need to develop a strategy for handling negative reviews. Negative reviews are inevitable, but you could use them to your advantage to connect with unhappy customers and create a more lasting bond and trust.
4 – Try using all the available functionality within the account. For example, you can share your COVID-19 update, accept online orders for pickup or delivery, create an offer, share links to your blog posts, add an event or a product. Google has been adding more functionality and making the platform easy to manage and so, local businesses can take advantage of GMB during the pandemic.
5 – Like many local businesses, you’ll want to let people know the exact location of your business if you desire to attract more customers. If you have a GMB listing, people will find you easily due to its integration with Google Maps, which helps increase your store traffic and lead you to sell more products.
6 – You can let customers communicate with you through your Google My Business listing. They have the option of calling/messaging your business or asking questions publicly.
To wrap up, your Google my Business profile can help you increase engagement with your customers and help you stay ahead of the competition.If you require some assistance with creating your GMB account or don’t have time to deal with it, contact us and we will help set up your profile.