Google My Business is no longer optional — it’s an essential component of any company’s online presence and often the first place consumers go for up-to-date information.
You can guarantee that if your customers want to know about your new opening hours or phone to ask about your health and safety procedures, they won’t turn to the Yellow Pages. Instead, they’ll Google your company’s name and look for the information they need.
With companies are reopening at a breakneck pace in a post-pandemic world, keeping your Google My Business page up to date is critical.
What is a Google My Business?
You may use Google My Business to list your business location on Google Maps and in local search results.
You may include essential information about your company, such as opening and closing hours, contact information, and a link to your website. Recently, Google introduced a new tool that allows you to share links to publications or upcoming events.
Although the listing is free, all companies should consider it a requirement. Even if your company is entirely online and does not have a physical location, you should still create a Google My Business profile.
Why is it so important?
Because it’s frequently the first thing, your customers see when they search for your company, Google My Business has always been essential. The advantages of GMB are many. To give you a sense of what you may achieve by optimising your GMB account, here are a few crucial benefits:
- A finished GMB listing may boost a company’s local SEO ranking on its own.
- When searchers see your company’s vital information displayed on the right-hand side of the interface, it makes an instant first impression.
- GMB integrates with Google Maps, making it more straightforward for customers to locate your company.
- Direct messaging capability – customers may use the GMB interface to send messages straight to your company’s phone number or email address.
- Customer reviews appear on your GMB profile, providing your company social legitimacy comparable to Yelp or Trustpilot.
In addition, the fall of crowd-sourced review applications like Yelp has aided GMB in reaching new heights. Customers are more often than not utilising GMB to discover thoughts and evaluations of a company rather than other platforms; thus, keeping your GMB current and well-curated is beneficial.
Benefits of using google my business
A Google My Business listing is very beneficial to any company. You may reach more prospective consumers, raise brand recognition, boost website visits, and even increase phone calls by creating a profile.
Verified business profile
Always double-check your GMB listing. This is a very straightforward procedure that must be followed when adding a new listing. This will guarantee that you can enter all of the correct information for your listing and, more critically, that no one else has access to it and changes the information.
The simplest method for creating a listing is to get a postcard from Google that contains a verification number. All that is required is to input the verification number, and your listing will be validated.
Changes to your Google My Business listing will need a ‘Google Review,’ where Google’s bots will validate the change. The majority of evaluations are completed within a day or a few hours. However, if you make significant changes to your business’s name or location, Google may ask you to validate it again using a new code.
Online exposure
According to BrightLocal’s Google My Business Insights Study, a local business gets an average of 1,260 views each month – 943 on Search and 317 on Maps. That’s a lot of individuals looking at your company information.
Google has changed the way it displays GMB listings, concentrating more on location now. A GMB listing is a fantastic benefit if you want to reach more prospective consumers in your region.
Increased calls
According to the same BrightLocal research, 16 per cent of companies get more than 100 calls each month from their Google My Business page. Even better, 64 per cent of customers have used Google My Business listings to locate a local business location or phone number.
Aside from your contact information, you may use your listing for advertising events, goods and even have your customers upload a picture to your profile.
Free reviews platform
You may gather reviews for free with any GMB listing. For example, people may give you a 1-5 star rating with a note and even pictures right on your GMB listing. These reviews will appear immediately on your listing, providing a strong trust signal to anybody looking at it.
You may now utilise a custom review link for your GMB profile, thanks to recent changes. You may send this link to clients or customers directly.
