HOW TO OPTIMIZE YOUR GOOGLE MY BUSINESS PAGE
Do you remember when the Yellow Pages let customer fingers do the walking to find your business? Google changed the marketing paradigm by creating several different versions of an online Yellow pages like listing. Google has named the latest creation Google My Business. In this article, Vinnie Mac will further explain what and how to optimize a Google My Business page.
What is Google My Business?
Google My Business represents a free and simple local SEO tool that helps small businesses attract new customers. By creating a Google My Business account, your small business information appears on Google Plus, Google Maps, and Google Search. Google created Google My Business to provide you with a convenient one-stop platform to present information about your small business.
The key to maximizing the local SEO benefits of Google My Business involves performing five easy-to-do steps.
Verify Your Business Address is Correct
The Google search bot penalizes businesses that present inaccurate address information. More important, you have to ensure your address is consistent within every online directory and business listing page. If one listing presents “Drive” in the address, while another listing presents “Dr.” you have created a major issue that hurts your search engine results (SERP) ranking.
Make Sure Operating Hours are Correct
This is a common mistake made by business operators. They change operating hours for a variety of reasons, but they fail to update the changes on their Google My Business page. Customers that discover you open at 9am by accessing your Google My Business page turn into disgruntled customers when they arrive to a locked front door. Make sure to stay on top of seasonal hours of operation changes by updating your Google My Business page.
Google Loves Images
Images of your business increase the effectiveness and hence, local SEO power of your Google My Business listing. However, don’t overdo the image angle, as too many images conceal the important information that you want to convey to customers. Add between three and five photographs that include shots of your team, pictures of your facility, and photos of some of your products. As they say, a picture is worth a thousand words and for your Google My Business page, that’s a powerful marketing tool to have.
Present a Virtual Tour of Your Business
If you want to take business photographs to the next level, consider developing a virtual tour that brings customers inside of your business. Using the same process as Google Maps, a business virtual tour allows customers to see your location via a 360-degree photograph. Hire a Google-approved photographer to ensure the virtual tour quality meets Google’s standards for Google My Business.
Ask Your Customers for Reviews
Google encourages businesses to ask customers for reviews. The reason is Google places an emphasis on ranking businesses on the number and quality of the reviews submitted. In addition, the presence of customer reviews on your google My Business page makes customer prospects feel more comfortable doing business with you.
Sometimes, it’s the little things about digital marketing the get you noticed online. Spend some time updating your Google My Business Page to attract new customers.
Contact Vinnie Mac to see how they can further grow your business online.
