As a business owner, you know the importance of online marketing, but are you leveraging the power of Google My Business correctly? In the past, consumers used phone books to find the addresses and phone numbers of nearby businesses. Know anyone that still looks in the phone book before they make a purchase? Google My Business can be your most valuable marketing asset if done correctly it will boost local SEO and your Google Reviews.
Digital marketing channels, specifically Google My Business (GMB), are a key to any company’s organic Local SEO. Google My Business listings will also connect your business with potential customers and provide information that could influence a purchase decision.
Google My Business, What is it exactly?
Google My Business (GMB) is a web-based directory consisting of local business and organization listings. Typical listings contain information pertaining to a business, including its name, address, phone number, hours of operation, popular times, average time customers spend at the business, website address, customer ratings, reviews and more.
Local business, why GMB matters
Why does Google My Business matter to a local business? That question is best answered with what you’ll get from GMB. Here are just a few of the most relevant features:
Benefits of Google My Business
#1: Show up in Google Maps search results
As a business owner, you know the importance of online marketing, but are you leveraging the power of Google My Business correctly? In the past, consumers used phone books to find the addresses and phone numbers of nearby businesses. Know anyone that still looks in the phone book before they make a purchase? Google My Business can be your most valuable marketing asset if done correctly it will boost local SEO and your Google Reviews.
Digital marketing channels, specifically Google My Business (GMB), are a key to any company’s organic Local SEO. Google My Business listings will also connect your business with potential customers and provide information that could influence a purchase decision.
#2: Show up in Google's Local 3 Pack
What most brands don’t know is, by simply creating a free Google My Business listing, you can greatly increase your odds of making it onto this highly sought after list. The best part about being in the local 3-pack, you ask? Not only do these listings show users where your business is located on Google Maps, but they also show up BEFORE organic results—offering a major benefit to your visibility. To better demonstrate just how important this is from a business perspective, brands that show up on Google’s local 3-pack get a whopping 700% boost in clicks over brands that don’t.
#3: Build Trust With Customers
For modern customers, one of the biggest hurdles they have to face is that of building enough trust to confidently make a purchase. As a business owner, your job is to help them make that jump as easily as possible. To do this, one of the simplest steps you can take is that of helping potential customers see that your business has an actual location.
Due to the inherent trust and confidence most users place in Google, your business benefits whenever it pops up in a local search, as prospects will automatically be more likely to trust your brand. In fact, brands that show up on Google are 2.7 times more likely to be considered reputable by consumers.
This is due largely in part to the thorough process businesses must go through before being listed on Google My Business. Thanks to the multiple verification steps every brand must complete before appearing in local searches, Google creates a trustworthy environment that users can rely on.
#4: Great Reviews Increase Your Appeal
With a Google My Business listing, customers will be able to review your business and leave feedback for others to see. In doing this, not only will you get honest evaluations about what you’re doing right and what you could be doing better, but you’ll also get that nifty star rating system next to your business on Google. As long as you’re delivering quality products and a quality experience, over time, you’ll start to collect more reviews and a higher overall rating (responding to reviews helps with this as well). This is especially helpful when there are competing businesses nearby and you need to gain a competitive edge.
#5: Increased Traffic & Sales
Another challenge local businesses face is that of maintaining an increase in quality website traffic and keeping a steady supply of foot traffic filtering through their doors. While there’s no way to completely avoid the ups and downs throughout the year, having a Google My Business listing can greatly help boost your numbers across the board.
Just by having a listing and showing up in local searches, Google has found that businesses are as much as 70% more likely to attract location visits from browsing potentials. An even more impressive figure revealed that customers who find a brand through their Google My Business listing are up to 50% more likely to make a purchase.
#6: Know More About Your Business
No matter what kind of product or service you sell, the more you know about your customers, the better you’ll be able to appeal to them. From your Google My Business page, navigating to the “Insights” section will give you a wealth of valuable analytics that breaks down how visible your brand is, who your target customers are, and how they’re engaging with your business.
This is a powerful way to gauge how your business is performing throughout the year so you can better zero in on what’s working and what’s not. By learning more about the kinds of customers your business is attracting, you’ll also be able to modify and improve marketing strategy performance.
#8: Increased Customer Engagement
Google My Business profiles provide ample opportunities for engagement. Potential customers can access your website or call you in one tap or click. Even more beneficial is the ability to reserve a table or book an appointment directly through your listing.
#7: Higher Ranking in Results
The more Google likes your business, the higher it will rank you in its Search and Maps results. How do you get Google to like your business more? By supplying quality, consistent, and accurate information. The more Google can tell consumers about your business, the more it will like you. Your Google My Business profile is the best way to feed Google this information.
#9: Advertising on Google For Free
Running a Google Ads campaign is a great way to get to the top of Google, but you do need to know what you’re doing so you can maximize your budget. You also need to have a budget for running ads in the first place. The other way to get to the first page of Google is by improving your SEO, which is primarily content-driven. This method is more sustainable but it does take time to build up your authority and ranking.
A Google My Business listing, on the other hand, offers a form of fast and free advertising on Google. With it you get targeted exposure on the world’s most trusted search engine, It costs nothing to create, claim, and verify your listing. It takes less time to optimize your profile than to get a solid paid search campaign up and running. You will also see results more quickly than with building up your organic search results through website pages over time.
This is not to say that you should not run Google ads or build your SEO through your website—these are marketing strategies that are well worth your time and money. The point is that Google My Business is an additional marketing strategy that is cheaper than paid search advertising and faster than SEO—not to mention simpler than both.
#10: Stand Above the Competition
Your Google My Business profile displays the essential information potential customers need in order to engage with your business. In addition, it also displays a brief description to help users quickly identify if your business is what they’re looking for. An effective Google My Business description offers a snapshot of your business, includes relevant keywords, and depicts something unique or authentic to help you show your value. Through a small snippet of content, your Google business description gives you an opportunity to stand out from your competitors in a consumer’s initial scan through search results—don’t pass up this benefit!
Google’s search results are becoming more and more robust, with answer boxes, related questions, and even results appearing in the search suggest drop down menu. The benefits Google My Business affords local businesses are only growing. Get your free profile set up today to start ranking higher!