1. What is Google My Business?
Google My Business is a free tool that can help you reach more customers. It can help your business show up in search results on Google, YouTube, Google Maps, and Google+ when people are looking for your business. You can use Google My Business to create or claim your listing so it appears in Google Search, Google Maps, and other Google services.
Claim and manage your listing
The best place to start claiming and managing your GMB listings is on your own site. This is what you'll typically see once you have an account. Once you have a Google account, there are two more things you should know about: editing your listing and adding stars to your listing.
Editing your Google My Business listing
You see your Google My Business listing as a real-world place on the internet. In order to edit your listing, you'll need to click on the little gear icon in the upper right corner of the Google Search box on the desktop.
You'll then see a box for editing a location or business name, adding locations, or changing information.
Changing information
If you've been to a forum or seen some information mistakenly provided to you about your business, Google wants to address these concerns. If you have an issue you'd like to discuss, you can click on the link to the Knowledge Panel for your business. This pops up a box where you can click on the options to respond.
When you click on reviews or feedback, the box changes to show a warning. Click on the warning to open the box to reply.
Adding stars
Your Google My Business listing contains three compartments: reviews, profiles, and topics. Once you click on the star icon next to the first piece of information in any of the sections, the next step will depend on which option you clicked.
Adding profiles
There are three ways you can add profiles for your business. One good way to use this mechanism is to create your business category.
2. How To Get Your Business Listed in Google My Business
Businesses can be listed in Google My Business, where you can add your business information, photos, and a map. In order to be listed in Google My Business, you need a Google My Business account. You can set up an account by going to business.google.com/about/dashboard/ and clicking “Get listed for free.”
. Get the basics right
Google My Business is your one-stop-shop for managing your online presence. If you don’t manage your GMB listing, make sure you know the basics before you create or modify anything. It’s important to develop a routine that allows you to always stay updated on any changes made to your Google My Business information.
If you live in the United States, you’ll need an active Google My Business Account. If you’re not sure how to create one, it’s more helpful to contact Google to set up a business account. Please note, Google will not be able to track sales or book appointments until you have a Google My Business account, so prepare to spend some time getting this account up and running. Google has also created a Google My Business Help video to explain the most common questions about Google My Business, so I would recommend watching this before creating or managing your business listings.
Google My Business highlights on Google.com/maps.
Google have also created a game for businesses to keep track of their location data. You can check this by going to google.com/maps/businesses and searching for “your business in [location].” You’ll see a summary of all the locations for your business in Google Maps. Now you can keep track of where your business is located by:
Location: On your Business Profiles page, you can add your Location, “From,” and “To.”
Hours: Adding hours shows you how many customers a typical day service your business. Soon you’ll be able to see this data in Google My Business.
Accommodations: Google has also created a way for businesses to indicate whether or not they have a Reservation Tool, such as Yet.
3. Tips For Using Google My Business for Local SEO and Online Marketing
As you're probably aware, Google owns the world's most popular search engine. It's also the world's biggest digital advertising platform, which means that if you're not taking advantage of Google My Business for local SEO and online marketing, you're missing out on a huge opportunity. In this post, you'll learn how to guide new business owners through a solid GMB implementation, in order to boost their Google My Business profiles.
49,000 local searches a minute
When you search for something on Google Discover, the GMB search box is first. With 26% of searches in the Discover database, GMB is by far the most popular of the three platforms.
Step one of the Google My Business for local SEO process is to determine which local listing websites help you grow your market presence. There are three types of local business websites: city-and-county listings, service area or franchise listings, and mapped locations. A local business website can only be part of one of these five platforms, so the best option for you probably boils down to your goal:
Here's how to select the best local business website for your business, based on your location, industry, and Google My Business goals.
If you're a small to medium-sized business, the most ideal way to optimize your Google My Business profiles is for each location to be listed on their own website. Here's the reasoning:
If your lists are too similar, chances are the terms will be matched in the SERPs, and at best, you may struggle to rank for the targeted keywords that you ultimately want to rank for.
If you're an established business with multiple locations, the time and effort invested in listing each location on its own website doesn't add as much value for you, compared to each website being able to link to all listings of all locations.
If you're an established business with multiple locations, this might be the way to go.