Google Business Profile
Digital marketing in today’s world using a location-based strategy, usually starts with the implementation of a Google Business Profile(GBP). GBP is a free tool and a crown jewel of marketing strategies for a local business. It helps owners manage their online presence, e.g. business hours, category, reviews, address, messages etc. Google local search displays these items in what is called the “3 pack”, each of which can be expanded to show more businesses by hitting the down arrow.
Ranking in the 3 pack is a goal that any business should shoot for. Not only does it appear at the top of the results making it more visible, it also gives a lot of information about making a local business decision, and people tend to trust these results the most. These reasons alone make it a no brainer for any local business to want to rank as high as possible in the maps section. Our GBP experts work on this every day. Below is an overview of how GBP works and the best practices to make it rank.
Local “3 pack” Search Results
Basics of GBP
In order to have a GBP account you must first have a location. With most business categories, the first step in setting up your GBP profile is verifying that your business is actually located where you say it is. To do this, you will make a profile with a GMAIL or GSuite account. You will be required to put in some basic information about your business and click the verify button. Make sure everything is accurate and grammatically correct.
The next step is verification. With some local business categories it will give you the option for a call to enter in a code to complete your verification. However, for most categories Google will send you a postcard to enter the code in the designated area. When filling out the postcard, make sure to choose the most appropriate category for your business. The postcard normally takes 5 business days to reach your business location.
Keep Business Information Accurate
Having accurate contact and location information is important for many SEO purposes, but also for your GBP itself to have static information across the web. For example, you want your services and hours on one citation to match exactly what is on your GBP. Conflicting information creates confusion for potential clients and creates chaos for your SEO.
Include Keywords
Using keywords for GBP is similar to how they are used for SEO. Google uses a number of different signals to choose which search results rank higher, so it is important to include keywords and search phrases relevant to what your business offers.
Add Photos
Photos are extremely important to GBP performance. Customers love to see what businesses are up to and what they have done in the past.
On average, a business with photos on their GBP listing receives 35% more click-throughs and 42% more requests for driving directions than businesses that do not.
You want to make your profile picture an all-encompassing photo of what your business does or stands for as opposed to it just being the logo. Your GBP has a slot for the logo image and it belongs there.
Other types of images and specifications are as follows:
Cover photo: Another place to put an all-encompassing photo is the cover photo area. Use the cover photo to show off your company’s personality. It will always be a 16:9 aspect ratio.
Additional photos: Other photos, as mentioned above, will highlight what your business does in general and on a day to day basis. It’s okay to have variation in the images you post. You want to show off your company’s personality, but you don’t want to stray too far off the beaten path and have people confused about what you do and represent as a local business. Basically, you want all of your images to represent some aspect of your brand.
Quality: Photos should not have filters, be in focus, and have good lighting. You want the photo to represent reality. The photo needs to be in JPG or PNG format, between 10 KB and 5 MB in size, and 720 x 720px tall & wide.
Customer Reviews
Reviews are a great way for customers to say how they feel about a company, both positive and negative. Today’s marketplace allows customers to hold businesses accountable for bad business practices and lavish them with praise when they perform excellent service. The ease at which customers can review businesses levels the playing field between companies of all sizes. Long gone are the days of local businesses cutting corners and not hearing about it down the road.
One thing to keep in mind is that getting a bad review is inevitable. Even if you have the best intentions, something will happen at some point in time, that will result in a negative review about your business. The important thing is taking the time to respond to every review, whether they are positive or negative. Responding to reviews humanizes your local business. If you don’t respond it may seem as if you’re not trying to interact and be a part of the community. Also, you want to address positive or negative reviews to clarify your point of view. A customer left to make up their own mind about a situation will almost always side with the customer who left the review.
Customer Contact
Customers are able to contact you and find a lot of information about your business on your GBP profile. Google allows you to track this information with GBP Insights.
With insights, you can track how customers make contact and interact with your GBP account. Things that can be found in insight include:
Where customers find you on Google.
How customers find your listing.
Customer actions.
Direction requests.
Phone calls.
Photos.
How Customers Find Your GBP Listing
This section of Insights shows how customers found you in a “Direct” search (they searched for your business name or address) versus a “Discovery” search (they searched for a category, product, or service that you offer, and your listing appeared).
These sections have the following labels in bulk insights reports:
Total searches.
Direct searches.
Discovery searches.
Where Customers Find You on Google
This section in insights shows how many customers found your site via Google Maps or Google Search .
Other than “Listing on Maps” and “Listing on Search”, you can see the total number of views your listing received from each product in a timeframe you’ve selected. With Google, “Views” are the same as “Impressions” on other analytics platforms, such as Bing and Yahoo Analytics.
Navigating Google Business Profile really is a simple process, but it takes an expert to make it perfect. Reach out to us today for all of your GB{ questions, we have the answers! Reach out today for your Free SEO Report!