Now more than ever, it is important to communicate with your customers about the current state of your brand. That’s why it is essential that your business has a Google My Business (GMB) profile and that it is up to date with the latest information.
A Google My Business is a free tool that allows you to promote your Business Profile and business website on Google Search and Maps. With your Google My Business account, you can see and connect with your customers, post updates to your Business Profile, and see how customers are interacting with your business on Google.
If you don’t already have a GMB profile, now is the time to set one up. To add your business information to Google Maps, Search, and other Google properties, create a GMB listing or claim your business if a listing already exists.
Google developed Google My Business as a way to make it easier for searchers to get the information they need, quickly and conveniently. Your business’s address, opening hours and contact information will appear in your Google My Business listing, without the need for someone to click through to your website and go looking. Put simply, it allows potential customers to more easily find you, and contact you.
With COVID-19 impacting everyday life and the way business is conducted, customers are taking to Google to find out the latest on what is happening with their favorite local businesses. With GMB, you can update your Google Business profile at any time to reflect your current hours of operation or any temporary closures. You can make changes to how your business is currently operating, such as takeout or delivery only, call for details, and how you are handling safety and hygiene. Once these changes are made, they will automatically update across Search and Maps.
With changes to the current situation being made every day, it’s important that you are on top of updating your business information so that your customers always know what to expect from you. In order to be successful, you have to encourage communication and engagement with your customers. It’s critical that they know whether you are still open and how your business is prioritizing their safety and wellbeing. GMB is an invaluable tool that will keep you in constant contact with your customers.
Benefits of Google My Business
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Helps Your Website Rank Better
Google My Business is essential for Local SEO as it enables your business listing to appear in local search results for queries specific to your products or services. Even broad queries with large search volumes display local results in the three-pack, and this is something small business owners can capitalize on.
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Control Your Information and Service Offering
At the very least, use Google My Business to put basic information about your business into Google’s Local Search index. But Google My Business also offers a range of additional tools to help you attract and inform local customers. For example, you might add information like product lists, accepted payment types, menus and prices, plus interactive features such as photos and reviews. You can even add coupons and special offers for your visitors.
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Manage, Showcase and Respond to Reviews
Increasingly, one of the most important elements of a Google My Business listing is User Reviews. Google has recently started a campaign to recruit users as “local guides”, rewarding them when they rate and review local businesses. High-quality, positive reviews from your customers will improve your business’ visibility, and increases the likelihood that a potential customer will visit your location.
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Learn More About Customers
The Google My Business platform enables local businesses to learn even more about their customers by including a lot of extra analytics data you won’t find elsewhere. For example, on Google Maps, you can access information on where requests for driving directions to your business originated from. This might be useful information that can help you target new customers in the area, or potentially target a new suburb to expand into as your business grows.
Don’t Miss Out on the Benefits of Google My Business
Make sure that your business has an up-to-date and detailed Google My Business listing. If you have not taken the time to create and optimize one, then you’re missing out on one of the best free (and guaranteed!) ways of appearing in the Google search results.
Google My Business pages aren’t complicated, but they are important. While you may feel like it’s just one more web page to keep on top of, Google My Business should go to the top of the pile as one of the most important.
It takes just a couple of minutes to set up your basic Google My Business listing, so make sure you do so – you could see the benefits instantly!
