Google My Business is a free business profile listing, provided by Google, to allow you to promote your business on Google Search and Maps. It provides the viewer with all the essential information regarding your business and it highlights all the features of your store.
Since Google is the most frequently used search engine that people rely on, listing your business on Google My Business would be highly beneficial for you. Google My Business relies on the relevance, prominence, and location of the person who is using the search bar to look for a business near them. This is an example of local SEO, which relies on the location of the person using Google, and the proximity of the business to their location. As this is a free tool, countless businesses have listed their businesses here, making it a rat race for businesses to show up in the top results.
WHY GET A HIGHER RANK FOR YOUR BUSINESS?
With so many businesses listed on this platform, Google My Business does not guarantee any business that it will show it in the top results. Businesses fight for a higher spot and take certain measures to get that visibility, but why do you need a higher rank?
If your business shows up in the higher ranks or top results of Google My Business, chances of the customer clicking on your profile are pretty high. The following reasons should be convincing enough to convince you to get a higher rank for your business:
1. Better Visibility
As they say: Google knows everything! More and more people now rely on Google to search for businesses around them. Customers do not have to go to different websites to search for the business they were looking for; they can find all details of a business in one place.
2. Get Better Local Rankings
Google My Business relies on a few other factors too apart from location and relevance. If you tick these boxes, your business will get higher rankings in the listing. The higher your rank, the better the visibility and engagement.
3. Get More Customers
A higher rank gets your business better visibility in search results. A higher rank means that more people would be able to view your business, increasing awareness for your business. It also means that the interaction rate with your business also increases, causing a higher Return On Investment (ROI).
HOW TO GET A HIGHER RANKING & MORE CLIENTS FOR YOUR GOOGLE MY BUSINESS PAGE?
Now since we have discussed the importance of getting a higher ranking for your business, let’s dive deep into how you can improve the Google My Business ranking for your business. Even before we do that, you must have a Google Maps listing for your business. All you have to do is type out the name of your business in the search bar on Google Maps and click on add a missing place. Then, you would be prompted to add all details regarding your business, such as name, category, location.
10 Factors That Can Help You Optimize Your Google My Business Ranking:
1. Claim Your Google Maps Listing
Creating a listing on Google Maps is just not enough; you must claim your listing on Google Maps. This would allow you to made more details about the location after you have claimed it. Anybody can create a listing for your business, but the details can only be added after it has been claimed. Claiming your Google Maps listing is important as adding more details will allow you to get a higher rank. However, claiming your business is only allowed if you have a Google My Business account.
2. Adding Details To Your Google Maps Listing
The details you add must be accurate as these details would be used by the custom to contact you. You must take care of the following:
- Phone Number
You must use a local phone number as Google considers toll-free numbers to be spam. The local number you mention must have an area code for the ease of your customers and Google maps, to help verify your business.
- Use Your Tracked Number As Your Main Number
If you use call tracking, then you must put that number as your main number and your other number as your secondary number. This would allow you to track the calls you get through Google My Business.
- Your Business Hours
Business hours will give the customer accurate details if your business is open or close. If for some odd reason, such as renovation, relocation, or COVID-19, your business is temporarily closed, you can update it on your listing. This is a sign for Google that the user is active and is trustworthy as he is providing accurate information. Inaccurate business hours can cause customers to leave a negative review on your listing profile.
- Your Business Description
Your business description should give the customers an apt idea about your business. You must also include specific keywords in your description to get a higher rank in the search results; this is a good SEO practice.
- Your Business’s Category
You get to choose one main category known as your primary category. This category is the one that best describes your business, and the secondary categories are other categories that second-best describe your business. These categories are pre-set and you can only choose from them.
3. Adding Pictures
Pictures help to grasp the attention of the viewer, therefore, you must add pictures to get higher rankings. Pictures are a good SEO practice and these pictures are recognized by photo-recognition technology by Google, helping to get you a higher rank. The pictures you upload put be of good quality.
4. Embed the Google Map on Your Website
This is a regular practice done by numerous businesses. They embed the Google map for their location on their contact us page. This way Google can confirm that the address mention on your website is the same as the one mentioned on your listing.
5. Google Reviews
Reviews are an authentic way of finding out what others think about your business. These reviews have a huge impact on your new customers. So businesses with the most positive reviews get higher ranks.
6. Posting Regularly
Regular posts are an indication that your listing is being managed regularly. It works just like Facebook, where you can post regularly for your customers. This gives an indication to Google that your listing is active, and the chances of it getting a high rank are pretty high.
7. Use The Booking Button
Adding the booking button to your listing can help to make your business stand out from the crowd. This would be a good option for those businesses that are run by appointments. It also makes it easier for the customers to book an appointment right away instead of calling or switching to another platform.
8. Questions and Answers Feature
With the help of this feature, customers can type out their questions and ask you for any queries they have. This is a much better option than calling the business. You must ensure that these questions are answered promptly. The other customers can view these questions too, and if they too have the same query, they do not have to wait to get a reply from you; their query is already answered.
9. Messages
If you have this feature enabled, customers can message you and you must reply within 24 hours. this is very essential to get a higher ranking in the search results.
10. Product Catalog
If you have a catalog that you would like your customers you view, you can easily publish it on your profile. This would allow the customers to get a better idea about your products and rates.
FINAL THOUGHTS
The more content you post on your Google My Business page, the higher your ranking goes. However, the content has to be posted strategically, keeping the Search Engine Optimization (SEO) practices in mind. This is where a business might struggle and might need the help of experts. DigAptics is a team of professional marketers, would provide you with the help you require, in achieving a higher rank in the Google My Business search result listing. They are SEO experts and can help you achieve your desired goals in no time. Contact them today to get an estimate for your Google My Page business listing.