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Step 1: Craft a Stellar Profile Why a Complete Profile Matters: Visibility: A full profile can make you 2.7 times more noticeable. Customer Visits: A comprehensive profile can lead to a 70% higher chance of attracting visits. Google’s Local Ranking Criteria: Relevance: The match between your profile and search queries. Distance: How close you are to the searcher. Prominence: Your online reputation, including reviews and ratings.
Exclusive Perks for Specific Business Types: Hotels: Display your star ratings, eco-friendly credentials, and direct booking links. Restaurants: Present your menus, delicious dish images, and handle reservations or orders. Service Providers: Enumerate your services offered.
Expand Your Reach: Labels That Tell Your Story: Appointment-Only: Clarify your availability. Accessibility: Promote features like wheelchair access. Extras: Mention amenities like free Wi-Fi and outdoor seating. Inclusivity: Highlight if your business is women-led or LGBTQI+ friendly.
Step 2: Showcase Authentic Images Not a Photo Pro? Consider Professional Help: Engage a photographer for a shoot and use those professional images on your social media, Google Business Profile, and website. Engage Your Customers: Organize a contest with incentives for customers to share their best shots of your business. You can introduce a cover photo and more during the initial setup. Alternatively, update your photo gallery anytime via your Google Business Profile dashboard.
Step 3: Craft a Captivating Description Step 4: Smart Keyword Integration Boost your discoverability by embedding relevant keywords into your Google My Business profile. Unsure which keywords to use? Explore Google Trends or tap into TikTok Keyword Search for fresh ideas. Start with terms that already lead people to you, which you can find in Google Analytics or through social monitoring tools. Remember, it’s about strategic placement, not keyword cramming—keep it natural to maintain your Google mojo.
Step 5: Harness the Power of Reviews Reviews can sway potential customers your way. Encourage feedback by sharing your unique Google Reviews link across emails, social media, and even in-store displays. Create a catchy, branded short link for ease of use, like “www.webo.mobi/review”. Respond to every review, good or bad. A heartfelt thank you goes a long way for positive feedback. For the not-so-great reviews, respond with grace and offer solutions where possible. And if you spot a troll? Report them and keep your profile pristine.
Step 6: Verify your street address If you didn’t already do so during setup, verify your business now. This is especially important if you have a physical location, since verified locations are more likely to show in Google Maps searches. Not sure if you’re verified? Check your verification status.
Step 7: Regularly update your information Make sure to keep your Google Business Profile up to date. Edit your profile if your business hours change, you get a new phone number, etc. Nothing annoys a customer more than looking up your hours online, then making the trek to your location only to find that you’re closed. For things like operating hours, edit that directly in your profile. For temporary or special updates, create a post to go on your page instead. To edit your hours or other profile information, click Edit profile. To create a post to share in your Google Business Profile feed, click on Add update. You can choose to add an update, offer, or event. Each post type has different attributes to help spread your message. For this example, I chose Add update. You can add up to 1500 characters, one or more photos, and attach a call to action button. Post something promotional like your new product launch, or use this space to communicate holiday hours (in addition to changing it on your profile!) or special parking instructions while construction is happening nearby.
Step 8: Import your products Last but not least, if you sell physical products via your website, add those products to your Google Business Profile. In addition to appearing on your profile itself, your products can appear in Google Shopping, the most popular price comparison portal in the United States. To manually add products to your Google My Business profile, click on Edit products from your dashboard. From here, a popup will appear where you can add your first product, including its title, category, price, description, URL, and a photo. If you only sell a few products, it may be easiest to add them this way. But for anything more than a dozen or so items, there’s an easier, automated way with the delightfully named Pointy app. You can either connect Pointy to your point-of-sale (POS) system or scan products with the Pointy scanner. Then your products will show up in Google search, Shopping, and on your Google Business Profile. However, there are certain eligibility criteria to use Pointy, including requiring UPC barcodes on your products.
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