If you’re running a small business, you may not think a Google My Business account is relevant to your marketing strategy. After all, it’s an account that’s only useful for large businesses with multiple locations. Right? It turns out those assumptions couldn’t be more wrong. And the benefits of creating a GMB account are numerous.
Not only does it help your customers find you more easily, but it also helps Google rank your page higher in search results – which means more potential customers seeing your page and clicking on your website. It’s also helpful if you plan to advertise on Google, as you can link your ads directly to your GMB profile, helping you get even more out of every dollar spent.
What is a Google My Business Page?
A Google My Business page is a website that’s dedicated to your business and helps customers find you online. It’s similar to a Facebook business page in that it’s designed to host your business information, including a description, photos, and links to your products or services. The key difference is that a GMB page is hosted by Google and is integrated with other Google services, including search, Google Maps, and Google Assistant.
This means that people who search for your company can locate your GMB page and browse your reviews, photographs, and information in one convenient spot. User experience is one of the key areas of attention for Google as it continues to develop and upgrade its platforms. Consumers want a seamless experience when searching for businesses online, and Google is working towards creating that experience by connecting all of its services together.
Tip 1: Add Rich Content to Your Google My Business Page
If you’re adding a Google My Business page to your website, the first thing you want to do is fill out all of the necessary details – but don’t stop there. Add as much rich content as you can possibly fit into the page. This includes adding a description of your business, links to your products or services, photos of your staff, hours of operation, and links to your social media accounts. You also want to add reviews, both positive and negative, from your customers.
There are two ways to add customer reviews to your GMB page. You can ask customers to leave reviews directly on your page (although the best practices for this may change in the future). Or you can use a review service like Review Roundup that will help you collect reviews from customers through email and other online forms.
Tip 2: Manage Your Google Ads from One Place
If you’re already running ads on Google and/or Google Ads, you can view and manage your ad campaigns from your GMB page. You can manage all of your advertising campaigns from one website, which saves you time, money, and effort. It also allows you to cross-reference your data, which is essential if you’re running multiple campaigns.
To set up your GMB page to manage your ads, log into your Google My Business page and click on the Ads tab. From there, you can manage your ad campaigns, view reports, and cross-reference your data between your GMB page and your AdWords campaigns. If you manage multiple locations, you can also add more locations to your page to manage all of your ad campaigns from one place.
Tip 3: Don’t Forget the Basics
As exciting as it is to optimize your Google My Business page, it’s important to remember to do the basic maintenance required to keep your page running smoothly. This means updating your page regularly (daily is optimal, but weekly is better than nothing), responding to reviews, and looking for new ways to reach customers through your page.
Updating your page with fresh content is essential for keeping your page fresh in the eyes of Google. The very last thing you desire is for Google to penalize you for having a page that it considers to be stale or out of date. This will have an impact on both your ability to rank in Google Ads and your ability to appear in Google search results.
Tip 4: Don’t Let Duplicate Content Ruin Your Day
It's simple to overlook the value of quality control while creating your Google My Business page because of the excitement that goes along with it. This means making sure that every piece of content you’re adding to your page is unique and original. There are a couple of ways to do this. The easiest way is to use a tool like Copyscape. This tool allows you to plug in the content you want to add and will show you which sites are hosting your content.
You can then choose to either contact those sites to ask them to remove the content or simply rewrite the content yourself. Another way to ensure you’re not accidentally duplicating content is to use a content management system (CMS) like WordPress. This gives you the ability to create unique content for your page – in addition to every other page on your site.
Tip 5: Get Found with Google Place Pages
If you’re already managing a Google My Business page, you can also create a Google Place page. A Google Place page is similar to a GMB page; the main difference is that it’s designed specifically for local businesses. This means that when customers search for businesses in their area, they’ll be directed to a page that includes information like business hours, directions, and contact information.
If your business services customers in multiple cities, it’s a good idea to create a Google Place page for each location. This will ensure that potential customers in those cities can find you easily. As with a GMB page, you can add rich content to your Place page, including information about your business, directions, hours, and contact information. You may also include images, which is a terrific way to raise the likelihood that local buyers will find you.
Tip 6: Grow your Google Ads reach
As you optimize and manage your Google My Business page, you may find that your AdWords campaigns aren’t getting as many clicks as they used to. This is because Google is prioritizing your GMB page over your ads. This doesn’t mean you’re doing anything wrong; it just means Google is giving your page a boost in the SERPs. But you can grow your reach even more by linking your AdWords campaigns to your GMB page.
This will allow your ads to show up underneath your GMB page in the SERPs, giving you even more reach. If you don’t link your AdWords campaigns to your GMB page, you may be missing out on potential customers. If your ad shows up in the SERPs, but your GMB page doesn’t, you’re missing out on potential customers who aren’t clicking on your ad.
Conclusion
Given all the advantages of setting up a Google My Business profile, there is really no excuse for any business to forego doing so. The sooner you set up your page, the sooner you can start capitalizing on the many benefits it has to offer. It’s an essential part of any digital marketing strategy and you don’t want to miss out on the benefits it has to offer. Visit SYP.net to learn more about the best ways to improve your presence on Google, reach customers in your area, collect reviews, and track your ads.