Now, more than ever, companies should understand the value of having a completed Google My Business (GMB) profile, as they have become more and more crucial to gaining visibility on Google and improving local SEO. In a time when Google is the new Yellow Pages, optimizing your profile (or claiming your profile if you haven’t already), as well as keeping its content fresh and up-to-date, is more important than ever.
As Hall’s SEO expert, Olivia discussed in her recent blog, How COVID-19 Has Changed Google My Business, Google rolled out several changes in the past year that were necessary to keep up with the cultural shift defined by the year 2020. The changes didn’t stop there and the importance of having a presence on Google My Business has only increased.
Managing Your Online Presence
The experts at Hall can help manage your online presence through Google My Business, while still allowing you to connect directly with current and future customers.
Using the Google My Business API, we can help manage and leverage your business locations for better visibility in Google Search and Google Maps when customers are looking for you. A few ways we can do that are with:
- Photos: By uploading high-quality photos to your business profile, we can help your customers find you and see what you are up to. Photos are a great way to draw the attention of current and future customers.
- Insights: Using insights from your business account will help us help you. These insights allow us to see how your customers are interacting with your business. This data helps us understand how we can continue to improve and show customers what they want to see most.
- Posts: Sharing company updates, making announcements about upcoming events, sales or offers, informing your customers about changes, etc., are all great ways we can help you stay connected and engaged with your customers.
- Online Advertisements: Connecting your GMB profile to your Google Ads account will help boost your visibility and local presence. This ties back into insights and how we can use this information to help optimize Google Ads and determine the best way to reach your customers.
Things You Can Do
Keeping your Google My Business information updated as far as hours of operation and holiday closures, to amenities and popular items and offers, will help show your customers that you are engaged and attentive to their wants and needs, making their customer experience a good one from the very beginning.
Another important piece of managing your GMB profile is keeping up with reviews, both positive and negative. Responding to all reviews is a crucial part of showing your customers that you are attentive and that their opinions are valued, which ultimately helps build trust between you and your customers. According to a recent study by Harvard Business School, responding to reviews, whether they are positive or negative, helped increase the total number of reviews and actually decreased the number of negative reviews, resulting in better overall ratings.
Bottom Line — Help Us Help You
If you’re looking to increase your online presence and ultimately grow your business, but you’re not sure where to start, our team is eager to partner with you. The marketing professionals at Hall can get your Google My Business profile set up and optimized for a better online presence and walk you through the process of keeping the basics up-to-date. Once that is done, the opportunities for growth are endless, and we’re here for that, too! Contact us to get started.
Subscribe via RSS
