How To Get More Customers With Google Business Profile

How to Use Google My Business to Get More Customers

How landscape professionals can utilize Google My Business it to attract new, local customers how important Google My Business (GMB) is before , but in this two-part article we're going to look at how you can use this free marketing tool from Google to get new customers through your door.

The biggest mistake people make when it comes to Google My Business is simply not claiming their listings. Google My Business is an incredibly useful tool and can increase your local SEO significantly, if used correctly.

Having a Google My Business (GMB) account is an essential step in improving your company's online marketing. If you don't have a Google My Business listing set up for your company, then you're losing out on a lot of potential clients, simply due to how people search for services.

Google My Business is a fantastic way to get your business seen by people searching for your services in their area. An optimized listing will push your company closer to the top of the search engine results page (SERP) and promote you to potential customers.

In the first part of this article, we're going to cover how to claim your profile and the initial optimization techniques to get you ranking. In the second part, we're going to look at posts, followers, questions & answers, messaging, bookings, and reviews.

If you haven't created a GMB listing yet, now's the time to do it.

Sometimes Google will automatically create a basic listing for companies, so the easiest way to find out if you have one is to search your company's name on Google. If a listing appears on the right-hand side of your screen, then you just need to claim it.

Alternatively, you can look up your business on Google Maps to see if it appears as a marker. Appearing on Google Maps (with prewritten directions) is one of the great benefits of having a listing with GMB.

If your business has a GMB listing, then all you must do is verify you own it. The most common way to verify your listing is by receiving your verification number over the phone or by postcard.

Once your listing is verified, you'll be able to edit and optimize your listing to get it promoted above your competitors.

If no listing exists under your company's name, that's no problem.

You just need to go to Google My Business and create your own listing. Once you verify your business, you're free to customize the listing however you want.

However, if you find the listing for your business has already been verified, don't panic. While it may be disheartening toe see your business listing being operated by someone else, it's not difficult to reclaim as your own. All you need to do is fill out this request ownership form You'll receive an email telling you your request was received and will be answered within 7 days.

If your request is rejected and another person still has your business listing, the best thing to do is to appeal the rejection.

Scroll to the bottom of the email you received detailing the rejection and click on ‘Appeal'. This will lead you through the steps necessary to verify the listing and take it back.

This will usually involve verification by phone or postcard but depending on the circumstances, they may ask for more information.

What you can do with Google My Business

You can think about the benefits of Google My Business in three categories.

Tell Google your hours, website, phone number, and location (a street address, service area, or place marker, depending on your business) mobile app

Post photos of your business and its products and services

Collect and respond to reviews from customers

Improve how your business appears online so new customers can find you

Point customers to your website

Boost your local ranking

Google's algorithm for ranking Business Profiles does not just consider proximity and relevance but also activity and quality of information. Optimizing your Google Business Profile sends these signals to Google to rank you higher in local results . And higher rank, as you know, means more visibility and engagement with your business.

Is Google My Business free?

GMB is completely free to use. The only requirement for using it is that you must have some face-to-face interaction with your customers -- in other words, you can't operate 100% online.

Step 1: Log into the Google Account you want associated with your business (or create a Google Account if you don't already have one).

Step 2: Go to google.com/business and select “Start now” in the top right-hand corner.

Step 3: Enter your business name.

Step 4: Enter your business address.

Step 5: If you go to your customers ' locations, rather than having them come to you, check the box “I deliver goods and services to my customers.” And if you work out of your house or another address you don't want publicly shown, Check “Hide my address (it's not a store) Only show region.” Finally, select your Delivery area.

Step 6: Choose your business category. Try to choose the most accurate category possible -- you're essentially telling Google which type of customers should see your business listing.

Step 7: Add your business phone number or website.

Step 8: Choose a verification option. If you're not ready to verify your business yet, click “Try a different method” → “Later.”

How to Verify Your Business on Google There are several ways to verify your GMB listing:

By postcard

By phone

By email

Instant verification

Bulk verification

How to use Google My Business for SEO

Google Business Profiles are dynamic. Not only do they change form based on platform, but Google will also prioritize sections of your profile according to the term that was searched as well as the type of information most important to consumers in your category. Even better, Google will embolden keywords in the content of your profile that it thinks are relevant.

But there needs to be information to prioritize and keywords to embolden in your profile in the first place. Just as you (or your agency) would use a content management system like Wordpress to optimize your website for search engines, Google My Business is used to optimize your profile and expand your reach . How do you use Google My Business for local SEO? Well, since optimizing for Google is essentially optimizing for searchers, it all comes down to the same three things: targeting, quality of information, and trust.

Target your information To use Google My Business for SEO, make sure to incorporate relevant keywords into your Business Profile so you can tell Google what you're trying to rank for. Use them in your “from the business” description, your responses to reviews, your answers to questions, and in the posts you publish. Make sure to incorporate them naturally just as you would with any other SEO strategy Include keywords in your description, editable through your Google My Business dashboard.

Maintain quality of information

The completeness and accuracy of your Business Profile impacts its rank, so make sure to provide the requested information in every section of your Google My Business dashboard. Especially important here is your contact information, special hours, and attributes.

Build trust The final approach to using Google My Business for SEO appeals to the trust component of Google's algorithm. Keep your information updated and accurate as your business evolves.

Keep a steady stream of reviews coming in and respond to them . Also, signal to Google that you are active by regularly uploading photos and publishing posts to your Business Profile through Google My Business.

Reviews and responses appear on your Business Profile. Be sure to manage them through your Google My Business dashboard.

SEO is important for any business, but particularly for small businesses that can use local targeting to compete against large competitors on the SERP. Google is making local SEO even easier with its robust Business Profiles, so a Google My Business account is essential for any business trying to maximize visibility in their local market.

WHY DO I NEED A PROFESSIONAL TO SET UP MY GOOGLE MY BUSINESS LISTING?

Here are just a few things from your Google My Business Listing that can positively or negatively affect your business’ search engine results: Putting your address in exactly the right way, picking the correct primary category, picking the correct and the correct number of secondary categories, using the right keywords in your description, getting your business verified, making sure your Google My Business listing data matches the data of all of your other directory listings across the internet, making sure the information on your website presents in the right way to agree with your Google My Business information, etc.

What should be a very simple thing to do like listing your business online can actually hurt how your business appears online a great deal if you don’t do it right, so why not do it the right way? How many customers is not showing up at the top of Google costing you? How much is each of those customers worth to you? Even if you already listed your business on Google, reach out to us to have your Google My Business listing audited and make sure it isn’t helping your competition by pushing you further down in the search results.