How to Gain Visibility on Google My Business | Local SEO Basics
You’ve heard of Google My Business (GMB) before, but you’re still not sure what it does or how it works.
What exactly is the purpose of this tool, and how do you use it to get more visibility on Google?
In this article, we’ll cover what GMB is and how to get started optimizing your business page on Google.
What Is Google My Business?
Google My Business is a free and easy way for small businesses, local organizations, and even individuals to manage their presence online.
If you haven’t yet signed up for your business, it only takes a minute. All you need is an email address and a little bit of time.
With Google My Business, you can: Manage information like hours, contact information, and details about your products or services; Manage photos with tools like 360° views; Add your special offers and events; Get found with Reviews and more!
These features will help customers find your business when they’re searching online—which means it’s easier than ever to get in front of new customers or show people that you already serve.
Setting Up Your Google My Business Page
The first step is setting up your business. When you sign in to Google, click Businesses at the top of your dashboard, then search for your company name in alphabetical order by city or zip code.
If you can’t find it by typing in its exact name, try searching by its address—just make sure that it appears exactly as it does on official documents.
To check, type your company’s postal address into a search engine like Bing or Yahoo and make sure that what comes up matches exactly what you have registered with Google.
Once you’ve found it, click Business under-listed businesses if there are more than one or select add new business if there are none.
Optimizing Your Google My Business Page
Take a look at your local listing. Does it contain all of your store’s information? Do you have a photo of your storefront or just generic images that don’t effectively illustrate what you offer?
As with any web presence, it’s crucial that your Google My Business page accurately reflects what you have to offer customers.
Your goal should be to make sure people see an image of your business and immediately know what you do.
If there are other businesses listed as offering similar services, make sure yours is more noticeable! Here are a few tips for optimizing your local listings
Making It Easy For People To Find You On Google Maps
Start by making sure your business information is up-to-date and accurate.
Next, you want to verify your listing with Google—this verifies that you’re an actual business in your area.
You can do so in just a few minutes by following these simple steps: Create an account if you don’t already have one. Verify your phone number via SMS message or by mail.
Provide some basic information about your business and submit a photo of your place of business. Plus, submit a list of products and services you offer.
Each Product or Services Needs Local Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
As you make your business visible online, it’s important that each product or service has its own page with its own link to allow people searching for that product or service to easily find what they’re looking for.
Doing so will help increase traffic and sales. Each listing should be optimized for its target keyword phrases and localized information. This is the basics of Local SEO.
What is Local SEO?
In a nutshell, local SEO is about ensuring that your business information—things like address, phone number, hours of operation, and websites—are up-to-date and accurate across multiple channels.
It’s pretty easy for a user to take a quick look at a map and realize that a local restaurant has incorrect or missing location data, or that a major department store doesn’t have any opening hours listed in its description.
This can be incredibly detrimental when it comes to getting found online; search engines consider these things factors when ranking your business within their results.
Luckily there are ways you can proactively ensure you rank high for relevant keywords in search engines like Google and Bing by implementing local SEO tactics into your marketing strategy.
Does having GMB Increase My Local SEO Google Search Ranking?
The short answer is yes, having GMB does help your local SEO for Google search ranking. However, it’s not enough by itself.
There are other factors that affect your local SEO, but having a GMB presence can definitely help you out with your rankings in general.