Google My Business (GMB) is local SEO’s secret weapon.
If you run what would be considered a “local business” in your community or city, it’s absolutely imperative that you have GMB set up and that you stay on top of it.
This blog will discuss five ways you can revamp your GMB if things have grown stagnant. Your first step should be claiming your listing if you haven’t done it already.
Then, simply follow these tips to start boosting your local SEO. Ready to begin? We’re going to count down the top five things you can start doing immediately.
Start scrolling to learn how to get started.
1. Add Keywords to Your Business Description
Our first piece of advice is to incorporate relevant keywords in your Google My Business listing, including within the 750 characters you get to describe your business.
That’s not to say you should overdo it by packing as many keywords as possible. As with any SEO content, the use of keywords needs to be natural and your description should be useful for visitors.
An effective GMB business description is clear and concise, and ideally, it would include a primary keyword to help your website rank.
Some enterprising businesses will attempt to add keywords to their business name. If that works for you, fantastic! Just make sure it doesn’t come off as spammy or fake.
In most cases, this only works for businesses whose names already contain a keyword. For example, a company named “Home Renovation Auckland.”
If you’re going to try to do this, we recommend proceeding with caution. Getting flagged by Google could result in penalties or losing your GMB listing.
2. Engage Visitors With Photographs
What’s the first thing people look at when they Google your business? That’s right, photographs!
If you operate a restaurant, for example, they want to see what it looks like inside before making a reservation. Or if you sell a unique product they want to see an image of it before buying one.
Here’s something to consider: businesses with images on their GMB get 42% more requests for directions and 35% more website clicks.
We live in a visual society and a majority of customers want to see pictures before they purchase goods or services.
The key here is to post high-res photographs. Blurry or badly composed pictures will reflect negatively on your business.
It may be worth it to hire a professional to get shots of the exterior and interior of your business, staff members, and any products or services you’d like to highlight.
3. Update Local Directories With Your Business
While optimizing your Google My Business page, you also want to ensure your business information is updated in other local directories like Yelp, Yellow Pages, Hot Frog, or Yahoo Local (to name a few).
Why does this matter? Any local directory with your business information can refer new customers. This means all of the key information like address, hours of operation, or contact information should be up-to-date.
It’s not an uncommon scenario for businesses to change their hours of operation and not have it reflected on local directories. This could be frustrating to customers and even result in a lost sale.
Not only do you want to ensure the information is always relevant but adding more directory entries can improve your SEO as well.
We know how this takes a lot of time and effort. That’s why we offer The HOTH’s Local Business Listings & Citation Building Service. Our team can conduct a full audit of all the places you appear and whether the information is correct.
Then, we can start building new optimized citations for your business to grow your exposure and search ranking.
4. Check All of Your Google My Business Settings Regularly
Details change all of the time. Parts of your business are always evolving and even Google updates its systems a few times per year.
That’s why it’s up to you, a business or the agency you hire to help with GMB, to stay on top of the listing.
One easy way to optimize your listing is by updating categories. Google automatically assigns your listing a category but you’re able to change it to something more accurate.
You can also add “additional categories” to get more specific with your listing, which could result in more qualified traffic.
Another strategy is to keep all of your information localized. Make sure your phone number is listed with a local area code, for example, and set your GMB service area to only include the areas where you operate.
It may be tempting to expand your search area in GMB to reach more people but don’t do it unless that’s the actual strategy your business is taking.
5. Solicit Reviews From Satisfied Customers
Our No. 1 tip for revamping your GMB listing is to get more reviews! After looking at your business photographs on GMB, most online visitors will check out your reviews next.
They want to know whether the products and services you’re offering are high-quality, and how past customers have felt about you. Getting good reviews not only attracts more customers but can also improve your SEO.
Google will be more likely to show your business in search results if you have more reviews than your competitors.
Reviews aren’t always easy to get but you can solicit them from customers by sending an email after the sale to follow up on their satisfaction. This could include a link to your GMB listing.
Some companies even provide this link at the checkout.
It doesn’t matter what strategy you use to solicit reviews but the important thing is that you start getting more on your GMB.
Watch Your Local SEO Soar!
It’s impossible to boost your local SEO without claiming and optimizing your Google My Business page.
Following all of the tips we listed above won’t take long and they’ll deliver results. Once your listing is optimized, you’ll want to set a schedule for checking on it to make sure no revisions are needed.
Do you have additional questions about GMB or are you concerned about possessing the experience to manage it?
Our expert team of SEO professionals can help you! Simply book a call with us to get started.
