What is a Google Business Profile?
There’s no doubt that Google is the most popular search engine out there. 92% of online searches are done using Google. That’s a significant piece of the pie! Google Business Profile is a Google tool developed for businesses to help manage their online process on the internet, including Google Search, Google Maps and even Google Images. This allows customers to locate your business hassle-free and learn about your business and services even before visiting your website.
Having a Google Business Profile could boost your sales as it increases visibility and awareness and could quickly turn into a quick sale if your business has good reviews.
What’s exactly a Google Business Profile?
Google Business Profiles are a set of tools that allow business owners to manage their products or services online, edit pictures, monitor reviews, edit open hours, and add their website and phone number.
If you own a local business, then opening a Google Business Profile is one of the best and cheapest options to boost your sales and presence, as even if your website has little to no traffic, you can still show up first if customers search on Google Maps or using keywords like “near me”.
Businesses with many positive reviews are twice as likely to be considered reputable.
Let’s say that you’re looking for a nice Italian restaurant for dinner tonight. What’s the first thing that comes to your mind? Google best Italian restaurants! Isn’t it?
If you Google “best Italian restaurants” right now, it’s very likely that the first results show up in Italian restaurants with a star rating above 4.0 and near your location. All these restaurants have a Google Business Profile.
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What does a Google Business Profile look like?
After you set up your Google Business Profile, your business could show up at the top of Google search results. I’ll also show your business information like your physical address, phone number, website and reviews on Google Maps.
Google shows business profiles first for local keywords and then domains with high domain authority.
Also, when you search on Google Maps, it will only show business profiles, so the higher your star rating, the higher your business will show up on Google search results.
Benefits of setting up a Google Business Profile:
1. Keep your information under control
When people find your business online, they’ll see the most updated information as you’ll have full control over your account. People will be able to find your open hours, street address, phone number and website.
2. Display key information to clients without visiting your website
In the example above, people can see Maggiano’s Little Italy’s location, address, hours and reviews even before visiting their website. This scales businesses’ visibility and sales enormously.
3. Stay connected with customers
Google allows you to respond to reviews and keep connected with your customers. If someone is not happy with your service, you can ask them to contact you back. You can also thank positive reviews.
4. Post photos of your business and its products and services
Not only you can post photos but your clients can too. User-generated content is one of the most powerful marketing tactics for local businesses as future clients can see a realistic picture of your business.
5. Increase website visits through local SEO
We already mentioned how your business could show up before other more visited websites. As your website is linked to your business profile, more people will click on it, and this will increase the chances of your own website ranking high on Google Search Results.
6. Expand your presence
Google Analytics shows you where your traffic is coming from, so you’ll be able to see how much traffic you are bringing through Google Maps to decide whether it’s worth it to spend some extra cash for extra visibility.
How to create a google my business profile?
1 Go to google.com/business/ and click Manage Now. You’ll then add your business name.
If your business is not registered on Google yet, you can register it from scratch. Just click on Add your business to Google. It will take you to a registration page. You’ll need to add your business name and main category. This is crucial as Google will use this category to display your business according to the user’s search terms so make sure to be specific.
In the example below, we’re not only selecting Restaurant as the main category but Italian Restaurant as we want to show up first when people search for that term.
2. Add your location
You’re a local business without a physical location or brick-and-mortar shop. Can you still open a Google my Business profile? Of course! See how to:
Select yes and add your business address if you have a physical location. If you don’t have a physical location, click no and add your business region. You can pick up to 20 geographic regions and add a home address as a physical address to verify the Google Bussines listing.
3. Add your contact information
Add your business phone number and website.
Verify that your website link works properly, as you might be losing quite a lot of visits if the link is broken.
4. Verify your Google Business profile
It’s key you enter a real physical address, not a post office box. This information won’t be shared publicly, but it’s a way for Google to verify the business has a real owner.
How to claim your Google Business Profile
Keep in mind that if your business does have a physical address, you will need to get a postcard by mail to verify their location. Other businesses can be verified through email, text messages, phone calls, and even video conferencing.
You can also verify your business by going to https://business.google.com/ and clicking Verify or Verify business.
5. Set up your business details
Here’s where you can customize your business profile. Add your business hours, business description, contact info and photos.
Once your profile is verified, you’ll be able to view insights, manage reviews and create Google ads.
Here’s how to optimize your Google Business Profile in 2022.
How can you optimize your Google Business Profile:
Here are some pro tips to optimize your GMB (Google My Business) profile:
Add your business hours:
40% of local business searchers want to find hours of operation for local businesses. Keep your hours current – especially holiday hours.
Add professional photos and videos:
Initially, you’ll be able to add a logo and a cover photo. Later on, you can add images and videos that display your business, team, customers and vibe! It’s OK if you don’t have professional photos. Ones taken from your cellphone can also be great since they’ll have important geotag metadata on them that shows Google they were taken locally.
Here’s how to add photos and videos to your Google Business profile:
Go to the dashboard and click on Photos in the left menu.
Add your logo and cover photo. You can upload an image, choose one from your Business Profile albums, or choose a photo in which your business is tagged.
To add more photos, click At Work or Team in the top menu of the photos page.
To add videos, click the Video tab at the top of the photos page.
Add your products and services:
Keep in mind that GMB doesn’t allow eCommerce to create a Google Business Profile and display their products. But if you are the owner of a brick-and-mortar shop, you can add your inventory! Your products will be displayed in Google Shopping.
How to add a product to your Google Business profile:
Go to the dashboard, click Products in the left menu, and then click Get Started. Make sure to add a good collection name, product name, description, price and a great image.
Include keywords in your business description:
This is a Pro GMB Tip. Keywords will boost your listing over your competitors. If you don’t where to start, Merchynt can give you a hand! Merchynt can get your business to the top 3 of local Google search results guaranteed!
Flag inappropriate reviews:
Reviews are one of the most important elements of managing a Google Business profile. Good reviews can sell your product on their own, and bad ones could simply sink your business. So make sure to handle every single one of them. You can’t actually delete reviews, but you can flag them as inappropriate. Find out how to here. If you respond to all your reviews (even the bad ones) you may find that your profile starts ranking higher and that you get more reviews!
Restaurants can add their menu and dish photos: One of the first things people notice when looking for a restaurant on Google are: location, photos of the place and the food! Upload your menu to Google and add as many professional dish photos as possible.
Who should create a Google business profile?
Every local business should have a GMB profile! It’s free and straightforward to use, but some industries could particularly benefit from having a well-optimized Business profile:
Retail Stores
Restaurant
Cleaning Services
Service Businesses
Health & Wellness Businesses
Beauty & Fitness Businesses
Does having a Google Business Profile help with SEO?
Definitely! Your Google My Business profile has the potential to show up before domains with massive traffic.
Let’s say that you sell organic cleaning products and you have an optimized GMB profile. When people Google “organic cleaning products” your business could appear before Amazon, the 5th most visited website on Google. This gets to show how powerful a Google Business profile is for small businesses.
A Google Business Profile also improves local SEO. If people search for keywords like ”near me” or “along my route” your business is 1000% more likely to show up.
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