Google My Business Part 1: The Importance of Optimising Google My Business

What is Google My Business?

 

In case Google My Business is new to you, let’s start at the very beginning by explaining what Google My Business is. Google My Business is a totally free tool that allows users to promote their Business Profile and Business Website on Google Search and Google Maps. With a Google My Business account you can see and connect with your customers, post updates to your Business Profile and see how customers are interacting with your business.

 

How Can I Successfully Use Google My Business?

 

We’re glad you asked! Firstly, and most importantly, you need to set up a free Business Profile. Your Business Profile on Google helps your business show up when it matters most – the exact moment customers are searching for your business or products/services on Google Search and Maps. You can get started here.

Log into your Google My Business account and complete it fully. Seriously, this will change your life! Your updates can become live in a matter of minutes (worst case, a few days).

If this sounds simple, it is, but you must make sure that you tick all the boxes. Don’t be tempted to miss out a single step! Ensure that your Google My Business account has your:

  • Up-to-date address
  • Phone number
  • Website
  • Opening hours

…and more to help customers find and connect with your business.

Remember to keep your Business Profile updated regularly with fresh photos, special offers and promotions, in order to make it easy for customers to choose you.

Google My Business also offers you the opportunity to add in a calendar link, enabling visiting customers to book an appointment in directly with you, and perhaps most important right now, it also offers you the opportunity to give updates on how your business is responding to COVID-19.

You can even get Google Reviews about being a COVID-19 safe business, something we’ve found to be of huge interest to customers looking for services including children’s activities, pubs and restaurants. You can read more about how COVID-19 has changed the way we collect reviews here.

We know it sounds so simple, and we know we’ve said it already, but do ensure that you keep your Business Profile fully up-to-date and tick all the boxes. Customers are looking for far more than just another local listing. Update things as they change whether that be your opening hours or a COVID-19 update.

We cannot emphasise strongly enough how cross it makes customers when they find that they’ve been reading is old information. Something like that may very well push them into leaving a bad review and that is most definitely not what we want!

 

Our Final Top Tip for this Blog is…

 

… when updating your details and adding in your website, don’t link through to your home page but to the page you’d like prospective customers to land on. This should be your specific location page on the website if you’re part of a multi-location business.

Why?

In our experience, people searching on Google are looking for local businesses and suppliers. When they click on your website link, having visited your Business Profile, they will instantly land on a page that shows them exactly where you’re based, proving just how local you are to them. They can then, at their leisure, browse the rest of your website safe in the knowledge that you are, indeed, a business offering services in their location.

We hope this article has been useful to you and if you’d like to learn more about reviews and how Trustist can help you boost your business, you can book a FREE demo here.

 

If you are a multi-location business, why not take advantage of one of our Google My Business Masterclasses – here’s the link to book one – https://trustist.org/BookGoogleMyBusinessMasterclass.

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