Optimise Google My Business Listing & Promote Your Business

Do you want your small business to land on the coveted first page of Google search? Does your business have a presence on Google Maps? Today, Google dominates the online space and the most visited website in the world is google.com. Search is the most preferred way to find goods and services, and Google is the leading search engine.  A well-developed Google Maps listing can help nearby customers discover you.

According to Google, 97% of people search for local businesses online. For your business to grow, you need an online marketing strategy that will help you to find new customers. This is done to drive physical and website traffic, as well as online leads through bookings or phone calls that come your way because of Google My Business listing.

For local search marketing, brands create pages that include a map to show viewers where the location is. They are effective for driving low-cost leads for local businesses. People are very attached to their phones, and spend a large part of their time on them. So, as a small business owner, you have to make sure that people find you there.

Google Maps gives users a personalised experience and good recommendations, like, for example, when you are looking for new restaurants. There are three different areas in which these new local search ads show, and there are also different ways in which the user can interact with them. These areas are-

• Google desktop, mobile, and tablet sites.
• Google Maps app.
• Google.com Expanded Maps results.

This article will help you to appear in local business searches online using Google Ads and a location extension.

What is Google My Business?

It is a very powerful marketing tool developed by Google, where small business owners can give details about their companies, to get noticed better. As a local business owner, setting up Google My Business listing should be a crucial part of your online marketing strategy. Why? See some of the reasons below:

• It is the quickest route to be found in Google search results and Google maps, which is where most of your customers will be searching.
• It includes a large number of businesses linked to their geographical location on Google map.
• It is free, hence very cost-effective for those who are just starting.
• It provides a place for people to post reviews about your business.
• It provides the basic details about your business to customers, without them having to visit your website.

In this article, we are going to show you how to create a Google My Business listing, step-by-step.

You can get started by clicking on the link https://www.google.com/business/. You can log in using your Gmail address. You can also create a new Google account, in case you don’t have one. Choose the ‘manage my business’ option.

1. Provide details about your business

You have to provide personal details like your first name and last name, contact number, recovery email address, date of birth, and gender. Details regarding your business include location information, photos of your business, and working hours to Google Search and Maps. You can choose your business name as the user name. Select a password, and then click on ‘next’.

You will be asked to verify your phone number by a code that will be texted to you. Enter the code, and then click on ‘verify’.

Google lets you write a 750 character description about your business, your objectives, and what you expect from clients. To optimize your Google My Business (GMB) properly, you can hire an SEO agency.

2. Include an offer to your Google Business Listing

There is a new feature in the Google Business listing that you can take advantage of. Google has developed a new tool for GMB profiles that highlights posts that ‘offer’ something. In a few steps, you can add a special offer, events, promotions, and more.

• Once logged in to Google, click on to ‘posts’ on the left side of the menu
• Click on ‘write your post’.
• Fill in the details of your event, offer, or promotion.

3. Why are Google Maps important for your business?

Most web pages of businesses nowadays typically include a map to show the location and landmarks, so that customers can easily reach them. A study by Manifest has shown that 77% of smartphone users use some type of navigation app regularly. And, Google Maps are the preferred navigation app of 67% of customers.  The ads placed in Google Maps are also called local search ads. For example, if somebody wants to find out about a particular business near them, they will search on Google Maps.

A listing on Google Maps will help you to achieve the following:

• It enables a user to easily find your location and increases the brand’s chances of conversions.
• A vast majority of people are using their smartphones to search. A listing on Google Maps app will help you to rank higher on Google local search results.
• Users can scroll down and see pictures of their business.

A new feature of Google Maps, Your Match, gives users a personalised approach, especially when they are trying something new, like a restaurant or a bar. Once you click on a place’s name, it shows a ‘match percentage’, that shows whether you will enjoy a visit to that food or beverage joint.

4. How to advertise your business on Google Maps?

You must first create a Google My Business account and a Google Ads account. You can sign your business through the Google local service, which will then locate it on Google maps. You have to give your details like address, hours of operation, your company description, and some keywords of some of the things that you do.

You can set up a location extension by going into the AdWords and click on the blue Create Ad Extension button. Then click on the plus button for the Location Extension. You can connect either to an existing Google My Business (GMB), or request access to one. If you have an old GMB account, it will pull all location information from that account, as well as your hours of operation.

Once finished, this extension will get linked to your various campaigns or an ad group in particular. You can set up a campaign for each one of your locations and associate that with the appropriate GMB location. You can set up a tracking number on your GMB instead of providing your actual phone number.

5. Google Posts

This is an easy way to help customers learn more about your brand, products, and services. Through this, businesses can share their information or messages directly with their customers, which show up on the local panels of Google Maps. Small business owners managing the GMB profiles can also post content directly into the search engine results pages.

6. How to rank number one on Google Maps?

With the growth of local search marketing, you need to be at the top of Google local maps. For this, you have to sync your Google My Business with Google Maps.

The objective of Google Map marketing is not just to rank higher on Google Maps, but also to get a high placement in the local business listings, appearing in Google search results.

Proximity is an important factor that Google Maps take into account in rankings. Provide the correct location and physical address, checking all the numbers, zip codes, and spellings. The more information that you provide to Google, and the more precisely you describe your business, the higher your chances of ranking well in Google Maps.

Google is the place where customers ask questions, and your business can be the answer. As per Google’s data, searches for local businesses such as ‘restaurants near me, have grown by 80% year over year.  We hope that this article will help you to reach more customers using Google’s free business tools.

Also read:

1) How to Use Google Adwords for Digital Marketing?
2) Tips & Tricks to optimise the Google Maps Listing for Your Business
3) Is Market Research Useful for a Small Business?
4) Top-10 Things & Technologies that will be trending in the year 2021
5) OkCredit: Simple, Paperless & Secure solution for businesses

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FAQs

Q. Do I need to refresh my GMB profile?

Ans. Updating new information on your GMB profile will help you to keep ahead in organic search results.

Q. Do SEO professionals use GMB listings to find local leads?

Ans. Yes. This is because a Google My Business feature like local search provides a list of nearby businesses with specific information like the category of business, address, and business hours.

Q. Which are the most popular searches in Google?

Ans. They are:

• Searches for local businesses.
• ‘Restaurants near me.·      
• Searches for ‘who has in stock?’