Google My Business: Not Just a Map Listing

You’ve been doing Google My Business all wrong; treating it like just a map listing is doing a great disservice to your business.

Every business needs targeted visibility on Google. Most of us understand that this requires optimising our website and making use of Google Ads, but what you might be missing is the third tool in this toolkit (that also needs optimising): your Google My Business listing – not just a map listing anymore.

Your Google My Business Profile isn’t something that is set and forget by any stretch of the imagination. This powerful listing is a dynamic snapshot of your business that also highlights your best features. It also makes it easy for your customers to find you, your business hours (especially if they vary on public days), understand who you are as a business, and engage with you all on one platform.

Potential customers can see reviews left by previous customers, while also verifying if your business is still operating. You can showcase your latest offers, the latest that has happened in your company, and any upcoming events you may be hosting.

Here are 10 hacks to level up your Google My Business listing:

If you’ve been doing it wrong, it doesn’t need to stay that way. Let’s deep dive into each step:

Step One – Claim your Business Profile

It is always best to claim your business listing because if you don’t claim it, Google may provide other information to potential customers when they search for your business (which may not always be the correct or latest information). When you claim your business profile on Google, you can control and update the information about your business.

Claiming it is easy – simply open google maps on your desktop computer, search your business name. Select the correct business and click on “claim this business.” Next there will be an option asking you to select a method to verify that the business is yours, follow the prompts, and presto! you’ve claimed your business page. Remember Google My Business is not just a map listing it is a local area marketing tool and a very powerful one.

Step Two – Complete every section of your Google My Business account

After you’ve claimed the page, ensure that you complete all the sections as this will help with your SEO.

Step Three – Make sure all your contact info is there and correct

This step is crucial – make sure that your contact information and your business hours are up-to-date.

Step Four – Don’t Skip out on the categories

The categories sections help Google with indexing you for the right services and showing your business for the right searches. For example, if you have a peg company – you’d want to make sure that your company is related to laundries and clothing lines and not the PEGS senior school.

Step Five – Mark off applicable attributes

Checking these off is another way to showcase what your company offers.

Step Six – Write a complete “from the business” description

This is serves the same purpose as the “About us” section on your website. On your Google My Business listing, it is another way to add a more personal touch to your profile and speak directly to your potential customers about your business, your services, and your team.

Step Seven – Publish Google posts weekly

Just like your organic content on your social media channels, posting regularly tells audiences that your company is still operating, and also helps with keeping your page active and relevant.

Step Eight – Upload new photos weekly

Adding visual supplements help tell audiences that your company is in fact, real. The world wide web is full of many scammers, frauds and snake oil salesmen. Having photos published regularly tells audiences that your company is real.

Step Nine – Collect and respond to reviews

You cannot control who is writing good -or bad – reviews about your business. What you can control is how you respond. Responding to positive reviews tells potential customers that these reviews are not fake, and responding to negative reviews allows you the chance to clarify any misunderstandings so that it doesn’t deter the person reading it.

Step Ten – Add your products and/or services

This particular step is more applicable to stores that offer physical products (like retailers) or physical services (like pest control, gym trainers). It is a great way to showcase a selection of your products.

If you’d like some further help with your Google My Business listing, or just have general questions about all things digital marketing, get in touch! We like to start with coffee!