How to use Google My Business: It’s Easy Sleazy! It’s Important!

Having an online presence today is mandatory, for all businesses alike, small-sized, midgets or the big giants.

Here is What GMB account holds?

Your Google My Business Account (GMB) holds your company’s essential information, especially for contacting and reaching you. Your business’ location, distance from the search point and directions to reach there through Google Maps, your contact number(s), email addresses, business hours, website links and some images for the visitor to relate with the place.

GMB account helps the customers to stay informed about your changed business hours during summers and/or winters, then during festivals, holidays, etc. Temporary updates can always be put on to keep the customers well-informed, for instance the latest COVID-19 updates.

And here is WHY your business needs Google My Business Account?

#1. Being found:

Whether you are selling your products and/or services locally or serving the global clientele, prospective customers are online. Most people make online search either for the company or for the products and/or services before actually visiting the local store or even buying online or indulging in any kind of transaction.

With Google my business account, these customers easily locate you on Google maps and Google search. Your business location, directions and contact details get available for the client just a click away. “72% of consumers who did a local search visited a store within five miles. 86% of people look up the location of a business on Google Maps.”

Being found when people are looking for you online explains the importance of having it. The plus side is that it’s free, it’s easy and can work wonders with proper optimization.

Yes, setting up Google my business account is one thing and optimizing is where it starts working and bring you more customers.

Optimization of google my business account ensures that you are found in top results, improve your ranking and hence has emerged as an affordable marketing tool.

#2. Credibility:

The information that comes directly from the source seems more reliable and relevant to the client as compared to that coming from the third parties. Hence, having a GMB account will gain your customers trust in you.

The final purchase decisions of customers are dependent on customer’s trust in you and GMB adds on to their trust.

#3. Reviews:

Google My Business reviews for your business play a vital role in the purchase decisions of your customers. They earn you recommendations as “81% of people perform some type of online research before making an actual purchase.” And positive GMB reviews will gain your customer’s confidence in you.

How to set up Google My Business: The 5 Easy Steps:

#1. Sign in to Google My Business: This is the basic step with any online portal. Visit www.google.com/business. If you have a pre-existing Google account, you may sign in using it or you can create a new one. Remember to use your business email.

#2. Enter your business name: On signing in, you will be asked to enter your business name. With an already existing online presence, it might show up in the drop-down list. If it doesn’t appear, there’s an option of adding your business on Google. Just click on it and go-ahead to add your business category.

#3. Enter your business location: So, now you have to enter the address of your business if you have a physical location. If you are an online seller of services, you may skip this step and enter your service area. But, for local SEO and on-foot customers, it’s very essential. On Google maps, you can position the marker for your business’ location.

#4. Enter your contact details: For your customers to contact you when they find you for inquiry or purchase, you need to provide accurate data. So, fill in the relevant details. Do cross-check for accuracy. You can add your phone number(s), mobile number(s), E-mail id(s), website or link of your business page on Facebook, Instagram or any other social media platform or an affiliate link, whichever is relevant.

#5. Manage your listing and complete the Google My Business account setup: For receiving notifications and updates from Google, you can click Yes upon asking for the same. Next step is to click the Finish button. This completes the setup.

But, it’s yet not complete. Your business will be verified. For verification of your business details, see the below-mentioned steps.

How to verify Google My Business: The 3 Easy Steps:

#1. Sign in to your Google My Business account.

#2. Click on verify now option.

#3. Choose the verification method. Google My Business verification occurs via three channels: phone, email and the postcard. The default option is Postcard by mail. Choose the method that you may prefer.

A postcard is sent by Google at the business location. The postcard contains a five-digit verification code. It may take a few days for the arrival of the postcard. Upon arrival, sign in to Your GMB account and click on Verify location. You will be asked for the code. Enter the code from the postcard and that’s it.

It may take from a few hours to a few days for your business to be listed.

Manage Google My Business Account: It’s easy.

Managing the GMB account has been made very easy with all in-built features. You just have to fill in the right details wherever relevant.

You can add your products and services. You can always edit them as per their availability. You can also update your business hours as and when necessary. Then, you have options for adding multiple locations for the same business just a few clicks away. Go to manage locations and add the locations manually or by pointing on the Google Map.

Your GMB dashboard has all the pre-existing options to be filled and edited whenever the need be. You can add photos also here in the Photos section.

You can keep your customers informed about any updates, upcoming events, offers, new launches, etc.

How to optimize Google My Business:

This is very much important when it comes to a reliable rank on the search engine. You can always choose to do it yourself or can hire a professional SEO services provider to do the job the best way.

Here are a few tips and tricks for optimizing your Google My Business account:

#1. Profile: Always add maximum details of your business in your profile. More the information, better the information, better are the search engine rankings.

If you know the right keyword, this can be the best place to hit the mark. Either you can use Google Autosuggest or Google Trends or feel free to contact a professional to pick and optimize the right keyword.

For local SEO, Google will rank your business for the given keyword based on its relevance to the customer, the distance in case of a local store and the positive reviews and several other markers like professional SEO services for your business, your website and for the keywords.

#2. Photos: Original pictures of your business location, your products, your works have a great impact on the customers’ purchase decisions. Many decisions are just a few pics away. Besides, how the user recognizes your business as the brand depends largely on your online appearance. With social media channels playing a major contribution in online market share, pics are really important. Photos can be added in the Photos menu with ‘Add new’ button.

#3. Updates: Keep your customers informed about the upcoming events, offers, new launches and any information you have as a NEWS to share. This will help you stay connected as your customers stay updated.

These can be added in the Posts section.

#4. Special attributes: There are special Unique Selling Points (USPs) that each business wants to highlight to look loftier. And these special attributes can get the job done. This is just like adding products, services, portfolios, menus in case of eateries, product brochures, etc.

#5. GMB reviews: The positive reviews your business gets you more customers than you can imagine. Maximum purchase decisions rely on the past experiences of previous customers. Make sure you encourage your existing and new customers to leave their feedback and rate your business.

#6. Respond: Though you can always hire professional SEO provider for their reputation management services, responding to all reviews, good as well as bad and managing them tactfully does a wonderful job in getting your customer’s confidence. Make it a habit to always respond wisely.

This guide gives you an insight into how to create google my business account, edit it and optimize it in basic steps free of cost. You can always opt for technical optimization by SEO Pros to do the job as you save your focus and time for your prime work motives.