As a local business, your Google Business Profile is an excellent tool to attract more customers. First off, they’re completely free, so that’s awesome. But, more importantly, they’re another way you can enhance your SEO and improve your visibility on search engines..
If you’ve ever searched anything – and I assume you have – you’ve seen the local pack. Listing three local businesses relevant to your query, it’s often the first place people look for meaningful results. It’s also the primary place you’ll find results for ‘near me’ searches. So, if you want to be found in local search results, having an optimized Google Business Profile isn’t an option, it’s a requirement.
When a search has ‘local intent,’ Google usually displays three local companies at the top of the results. Paired with a map, business hours, online reviews, a cover photo, and other basic info, the local pack appears in roughly 93% of all local searches.
With its increased visibility, the local pack is an extremely desirable spot in local search results. And, if you want to be found there, you need a Google Business Profile. Not only that, though, you need a good profile. You need a profile that’s tailored to the needs of potential customers. You have to anticipate their search intent, identify their needs, and tweak your profile so that it caters to them directly.
Every time you perform a search, Google tries to figure out how to serve you the most relevant, useful, and helpful results. One of the things it tries to identify is ‘local search intent.’ Basically, it tries to work out if you’re interested in a destination, service, or product that exists locally. To do this, Google looks for three things:
When it detects local search intent, Google will almost always place a local pack at the top of the search results. And, because you’re only competing locally, it’s far less difficult to get your business listed there. In fact, 61% of search experts agree that it’s much easier to rank in the local pack.
While it may be tempting to call your business ‘Best Coffee Shop Near Me,’ you really shouldn’t. Like, you really, really shouldn’t. Once Google recognizes your ruse, which will happen instantly, you’ll be stuck with thousands of dollars of really, really, really stupidly branded inventory.
But, more importantly, it doesn’t even really help. Sure, there was a brief, fleeting moment where it helped a little bit. However, Google isn’t the phone book and it can’t be gamed by naming your business ‘AAA Plumbing’ or ‘AAAA Plumbing.’ Not even ‘AAAAA Plumbing’ will work, trust me.
First off, as we’ve stated, it’s just a whole lot easier to rank locally. Because of this, you stand to gain a lot more visitors by focusing your efforts on a local audience. If you’re selling shoes, why would you go up against Nike? Targeting a local audience can reduce your marketing costs, get you more visibility, and improve your sales. It’s literally a win-win-win.
So, I know what you’re thinking: there are fewer people locally! If I aim for a national audience, I only need a smaller slice of the pie! But here’s the harsh truth: you’re very unlikely to get any of that pie. At best, you’ll spend thousands – or millions – of dollars to get mediocre results that don’t yield a return on your investment.
As to results, it’s vastly, dramatically, and infinitely more possible to achieve local results. Since nearly half of all searches have local intent, you stand to reach a massive number of potential customers. Even better, studies have shown that half of those searchers will act on their search and visit a related business within 24 hours.
When it comes to your Google Business Profile, there are a number of fundamental elements you’ll want in place if you want to improve search engine rankings. Remember, your business account could be the one thing potential customers use to form their opinion of you… so be thorough!
If you haven’t claimed your Google Business Profile yet, now’s your chance! Because they can include more information, claimed listings are far more likely to appear in search results.
When Google generates a listing for you, it includes only the most basic business information. But, once you’ve claimed your profile, you can ensure that Google is using accurate information. Even better, you can add photos, upload your logo, answer questions, respond to reviews, and create Google posts.
As the first step toward ranking locally, you should go create or claim your Google Business Profile now. Trust me, once you see your listing climbing the ranks of the local pack, you’ll be glad you did.
One of the main things Google looks for when verifying your location is consistency. And, while it may seem trivial, even the slightest inconsistencies can negatively impact your visibility.
So, after you’ve claimed your profile and verified your business information, the next thing you should do is standardize your address across all online platforms. At the very least, you should double-check:
You’re not going to fool Google by cramming relevant keywords into the company name section of your Google Business Profile. There’s plenty of opportunity for that later. You also won’t boost your web traffic by leaving fake positive reviews or trying to manipulate the search algorithm.
Really, the best way to ‘game the system’ is to play by the rules and keep your business profile up to date. If you continually review your business information, expand your listing, and keep it active, you’ll start to see your online visibility grow.
Congratulations, you’ve claimed your Google Business Profile! But, what should you do now? If your goal is to increase your search engine rankings, you need to start optimizing your profile.
As you add more information, you’ll start to rank higher. And, as you rank higher, you’ll get more traffic. Let’s look at what search engines expect to see in an optimized Google Business Profile.
All right, you’ve gained access to your Google Business Profile. Now that you’re in, it’s time to make improvements. First, let’s ensure your business profile has the basics covered:
After you’ve completed your Google My Business Profile, you may need to verify your listing via a telephone call, postcard, email, or video submission. In general, telephone is going to be the fastest way if you want to get your listing verified ASAP.
Remember when we said there’d be a chance to cram keywords into your business profile? Well, now’s your chance! After you’ve verified your Google Business Profile, you can specify additional business information, including new categories and services.
Services are subsections of categories that include more specific info about your company’s offerings. For example, if you offer a category called ‘IT Consulting,’ you may have ‘Malware Remediation’ and ‘Email Management’ listed as sub-services.
During this step, be as specific and comprehensive as possible. Try to list all of your business’ offerings. But, remember, the primary category that you choose will be the #1 factor for local searches.
In general, if you have ‘IT Consulting’ as your primary category, you’re more likely to appear in search results for ‘IT consulting near me.’ But, if ‘IT Consulting’ isn’t your primary category, you’ll probably appear under other businesses who do list it as their primary category.
In your journey toward profile completeness, you should add photos of the interior and exterior of your business. Not only do additional business photos improve your visibility, they can help prospective customers find your business.
One of the last must-do things you should do is add a link to your Google Business Profile from your website. You should start by adding it to your website’s footer, ensuring that the text of your address is a clickable link to your business profile.
Next, consider adding Google Maps to your site’s contact page. By embedding a map on the page, you encourage drop-in visits and, more importantly, you send another signal to Google that your business is legitimate.
Now, on to the meat of the article: how to attract more visitors to your Google Business Profile. As with all things related to local SEO, this is a long-term game. It’s going to take a little time, a little effort, and a lot of diligence to boost your search engine presence. To ensure you stay on the right track, here are a few tasks you’ll want to perform on a regular basis.
Positive reviews can have a massive impact on your online visibility. Good reviews don’t just tell Google that you’re a legitimate business, they tell potential customers that you can be trusted. And, while there’s no documentation on how many reviews you need to rank, I’ve noticed that there seem to be thresholds at 10 reviews, 50 reviews, and 100 reviews.
So, whenever you have a positive interaction with your customers, be sure to ask them to leave reviews! The more reviews you can get, the better. As your Google My Business account builds more and more reviews, you’ll see it climb higher in local search results.
Years ago, I had a client who was obsessed with his Google reviews. He checked multiple times per day. He lost sleep over negative reviews. He did everything he could to encourage clients to leave him good reviews. I thought he was going overboard. I thought he was making a mountain out of a molehill.
As it turns out, he was 100% right. In the intervening years, he’s built a Google Business Profile with over 200 reviews. He’s secured the #1 spot in the local pack for ‘Kalamazoo social security lawyer.’ He outranks all of his competitors despite his office not actually being in Kalamazoo. It’s pretty amazing and shows the power of a solid Google My Business account.
Once your reviews start rolling in, be sure to respond to all of them. Yes, all of them. Answering all of them, even the bad ones, shows Google that you’re monitoring your account. But, really, it also shows potential customers how you respond when someone has a poor experience. As they say, it’s not always about how you start, it’s about how you finish.
Local citations help to establish your business’ key information: its name, address, and phone number (NAP). These citations, found all across the web, reinforce that the info you provided when you created your Google Business Profile is legitimate. Incorrect listings, even in minor, unimportant directories, can negatively affect your site’s visibility.
Recently, we ran a scan of our own NAP information and discovered over 75 directories that either didn’t list us or had incorrect information. By addressing these – either using a service like Whitespark or doing them manually – you ensure consistent business data and increase your chances of appearing in relevant searches.
To make your business stand out, you should regularly add pictures to your Google Business Profile. With up-to-date images, you can show what your company is up to and, potentially, increase traffic to your physical locations.
Even better, photos help to build a personal bond between you and your prospective customers. After all, why tell your target audience what you can do when you can show them?
If you’re wanting to build a strong online presence, it all starts with a solid Google My Business account. As a way to realize more sales, keep your business relevant, and show customers who you are, it’s an amazing tool.
But, we get it, managing your business, your website, and your Google Business Profile can be a real chore. Thankfully, we have over two decades of experience working with customers to enhance their online visibility. So, if you need help with your business messaging, your marketing strategy, or you just want to increase web traffic, contact our team today for a free consultation.
Matt loves all-day cooking projects, holding one-sided conversations with his cat, and writing unreasonably large D&D campaigns. A fan of horror movies, he may have Kalamazoo’s largest (and only) collection of Laserdiscs.
Professionally, Matt brings 20 years of SEO, digital marketing, and writing experience to Kzoom. You may be seeing him around on your next website project!
