Google Business Profile

WHY?

Your Google My Business profile allows you to control how your business appears on Google Maps and google search results. You can adjust your hours, phone number, website URL, address, upload images, videos, products and virtual tours, reply to comments, post updates, add coupons and much more.

The more information you give Google the higher you will show up in Google search and map results making this a must do. 

 

Local SEO (SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION)

I like to think of SEO as points google gives you for doing the things it wants you to do. The more information you give Google the more points they give you and the higher your business will show up on Google search and map results. There are two types of SEO. Local SEO, which is what we are working on now, that helps you appear on local searches like “Best Plumber in my area” and then there is general SEO for searches like “How do I unclog my sink”. Your Google My Business profile is the most important step for local SEO on Google. Keep in mind that Bing and other search engines also have profiles you can claim and fill out. I have another post on citations (anywhere your business name, address and phone are listed. Also called your NAP) that covers the most important places to claim your business.

The three main categories Google uses to rank your business for local searches are relevance, distance and prominence. Relevance is based on how you fit the specific search. So if someone searches for “plumbers that specialize in kitchen sinks” and “kitchen sinks” is listed as one of your services you have a higher relevance than a plumber who doesn’t. Distance is based on the location of the person searching. If someone searches for “plumbers in Schaumburg” and that is one of your service areas then you are better off than someone who doesn’t take the time to list all their service areas and just relies on their address. Last prominence is based on your standing in the market. If someone searches “coffee near me” Starbucks is going to have more weight behind it because of its prominence. This is something you will continue to build as long as you have a business. Getting reviews and making sure your NAP (Name, Address, Phone) is in as many places as possible are two ways to raise your prominence.

 

Claiming your Google My Business Account

It is possible that you are already listed on Google Maps because enough users have told Google you exist. This is great, but you still want to claim your business to make sure the profile is correct and continues to be correct.

Go to https://business.google.com and click on add a location. Follow the prompts to claim your business.

  • Category. You can choose more later, but this will be your “primary category” and you can only pick one. The primary category shows up under your name on Google. If you search competitors, you can see what category they have chosen.
  • Services. These are niches of your business. The ones they suggest are best, but you can add your own as well.
  • Physical location of service-based business. Locations are helpful for ranking in Google Maps. If you don’t have a location, you can still pick service areas.
  • Phone number. If you don’t want to add your personal phone number you can use voice.google.com to set up a new number with your local area code.
  • Website. If you don’t have a website, you can claim a free website from Google. This is better than nothing, but a website should be a priority. You can also claim a Google website as another place your NAP (Name, Address, Phone number) will show up. The more places your NAP is the more trusted you are by search engines.

Verify your Business

  • Address. This cannot be a P.O. Box. If you don’t have a physical location, you still have to put in an address in your service area. This address will not be shared on your profile.
  • You will get sent a post card with a code on it. The post card will give you the URL where you type in the code or just go back to https://business.google.com and click verify. You are now good to go on editing the rest of your profile.

Home

The home page has short cuts to some of the features of your Google My Business profile along with reminders to update parts of the page. If Google adds in something new a lot of times you can find it here. You can see some of the possible options below. 

  • In 2020 and 2021 there is a Covid section to easily update customers on changes to your business due to the virus.
  • There is an offer to get a Google Business email address. For example, Patrick@trueeastmedia.com. If you don’t have a business email through your host provider this can be a good option. The link will set you up with a free trial of Google Workspace, formerly G Suite, which is a paid for suite of products by Google. You can see all the current products at workspace.google.com. The pricing is currently $6/$12/$25 for every user per month. This is dependent on which products you choose.
  • There is another offer for credits towards Google Ads. These are ads that show up at the top of Google search results. Sor example, you can pay to be at the top of a search for “Best vet in Denver”.
  • Google business manager. This allows others to edit your profile without giving them your Google log in.
  • Google phone app. These are links to add the Google My Business app to your phone and allows you to edit your information, post stories, photos and videos, respond to reviews, and most importantly chat with customers all from your phone.
  • Google Business review short link. The easiest way to ask for Google reviews is to send the short link that Google creates for you. The link opens a review panel for customers. 
  • Links to see what your business looks like in a Google search and on Google Maps.
  • This page can change at any time, but there is nothing here that you can’t also find inside the other options.

POSTS

Like other pages Google will update the types of posts depending on your type of business and other outside forces. For example right now there are options for Covid19 posts.
  • Covid-19 Support. Some businesses can qualify to accept donations directly through Google. There is a process you have to go through in order to qualify.
  • Covid-19 Update. This allows you to update customers on changes to your business based on Covid and will be highlighted in your profile.
  • Add Offer. You can add a coupon directly to your Google results including a specific time frame. This works by sending the customer to a specific page where they can take advantage of this offer. You can add an image or video to go along with the offer.
  • What’s new. This is for general updates. You can add an image, video and message. You can include a button that says one of the following, “Book, Order Online, Buy, Lean More, Sign Up, Call Now. “
  • Event. You can show off an event that you have coming up along with start and stop days and times. You can add photos, a videos, a description and add a button with the following, “Book, Order Online, Buy, Lean More, Sign Up, Call Now. “
  • Product. This has it’s own section below. 
  • Posts only stay up for 7 days unless they are events. Events will stay up until the end date has passed.

INFO

When filling out your info keep in mind two things.

First, your NAP (Name, Address and Phone) needs to be exactly the same wherever you post them. If they are all the same search engines trust your business more. Even small details like Lane vs. Ln need to be the same. 

Second, think about how they rank local searches. As stated above the three main categories Google uses to rank your business for local searches are relevance, distance and prominence. Relevance is based on how you fit the specific search. So if someone searches for “plumbers that specialize in kitchen sinks” and “kitchen sinks” is listed as one of your services you have a higher relevance than a plumber who doesn’t. Distance is based on the location of the person searching. If someone searches for “plumbers in Schaumburg” and that is one of your service areas then you are better off than someone who doesn’t take the time to list all their service areas and just relies on their address. Last prominence is based on your standing in the market. If someone searches “coffee near me” Starbucks is going to have more weight behind it because of its prominence. This is something you will continue to build as long as you have a business.

Location

  • You can adjust you location here.
  • More importantly you can change where the pin is dropped on Google Maps to represent your location. Sometimes you are placed inside a parking lot and not the actual building. Edit the location and drag the pin to the exact location of your business.

Hours

  • Pick the days and hours of day.
  • To add a lunch break, click “Add Hours” to the right of the time.

More Hours

  • Add specialty hours for brunch, deliver, happy hour…

Special Hours

  • Add holiday hours, or special days for you personally. Taking a vacation? You can add that here.

Phone Number

  • You can add more phone numbers if there are multiple places you can be reached.

Short Name

  • Choose a short name to share your Google profile more easily. Once Google has accepted your short name you can share your profile with others by sending them the link g.page/YOURSHORTNAME

Appointment links

  • If you accept appointments online you can add links to your website and/or a scheduling app to allow people to jump right into your calendar from Google.

Products

Services

  • If you picked your services while signing up, you can now go back in and add details to those services. 

Highlights

  • These are check marks that get added to your profile and change from time to time and depend on the type of business that you run. There are two types. Factual, like “Black-owned” or “Women-led”. Subjective, like whether “locals like your business”. You can only fill in the factual attributes. Other attributes have to be filled in by customers.

Business description

  • This will tell visitors what your business is about and help people find you. You want to use as close to the 750 character max as possible. You should add keywords that people would be searching for like your location, products, services and specialties.

Opened on

  • You don’t have to, but you can add the date your business started.

Photos

Your business is live on google

  • These are links you can use to see what your business looks like in a Google search and map result. 

Close your business

  • If you need to temporarily or permanently remove your business you can do that here.

Google Assist Calls

  • This allows people to use their Google assistant to call you. This can be used for something like booking an appointment or checking business details. So google assistant would call you and work out a time that the user could set up an appointment.

Advanced Info

  • Store Code – If you have multiple stores a store code is used when exporting a spreadsheet of all your information.
  • Labels – If you have groups of locations you want to group together, Like west coast and east coast, You can use labels to put those in a group. This can make it easier to search for specific locations you have.
  • Google Ads location extensions phone – If you have a location specific phone number you would like to show up in Google ads replacing your main number you can put that here. Now people can call you exact store instead of the main help number

 

INSIGHTS

These are the analytics for your Google My Business page. You can see how people find you, how they interact with you and more. 

  • Queries used to find your business. This is what people type into Google and then interact with you.
  • How customers search for your business.
    • Direct – They type in your name or address.
    • Discovery – Type anything like “coffee near me” and get your store.
    • Branded – Search for a brand like Starbucks and you are added to the list because you also make coffee, or a brand that is sold like “Gevalia Traditional Roast”.
  • Where customers view your business on Google. Either search or maps. This will give you an idea what you need to work more on. Hover over the map to see data for specific days.
  • Customer actions. Depending on your type of business you can get 3 results. Visit your website, call you, get directions.
  • Phone Calls. A breakdown of how many people call on which days.
  • Photo Views. How many photos are viewed per day and if they were taken by you or someone else.
  • Photo quantity. How many photos you and other users have uploaded to your page. If someone takes a photo and tags it to your business that will show here.

REVIEWS

Reviews are one of the most important things for a business to have and show off. 72% of customers won’t take action before they read some reviews*. I have created another class all about how you can get reviews, where you should try and get reviewed and how to respond to reviews. 

*Source: My Testimonial Engine

 

  • On home page click on “Share Review Form” to get a link to easily ask for reviews from customers.
  • On the review page you can respond and flag any reviews.
    • You want to reply to all reviews good or bad.
    • If bad don’t be aggressive but try and show you want to make that person happy.
    • Reviews (Social Proof) is one of the biggest reasons people use businesses these days. If you are active with the reviews it also makes you look like you care for the customers.
    • Also, when you make someone feel special they are more likely to suggest you. These people have already gone out of their way to review you, so they are ready to pass on your name.
  • There are three tabs, all reviews, those you have responded to, and those you have not responded to.
  • To flag a review for being inappropriate click the three dots to the right of the review.

PHOTOS

The more photos the better. Depending on the type of business you will have different categories available. 
  • Overview. Shows all your images and videos.
  • By Owner/By Customer. Shows all the images uploaded by your busines or your customers. 
  • 360/Virtual Tour. You can add images taken with a 360 camera that allow your customer to rotate the image in 360 degrees. Google now allows you to add full virtual tours directly to Google Maps. This way when someone finds you on Google Maps, they can tour your space before visiting and see if they would like to make the trip.
  • Interior/exterior. Any images inside or outside of your business should be labeled with these categories.
  • At Work. Any images of you/your staff doing their job. This will help others see how you do your work.
  • Team. Images of individuals that are on your staff. Headshots or casual.
  • Identity. This will be your logo, or an image that represents you, and your cover image for your business profile website, if using it.

PRODUCTS

Products added to your Google My Business page will sometimes show up in search results. Products are not sold through google, but link to the page where that product or service is sold.

  • Already created products are split up into tabs on the products page. The first tab is all products. The other tabs are the categories that you create when adding a product. 
  • Click “add product” and add a name, photo and pick a category to help organize your products.
  • Fixed price or price range. Keep in mind that this links to any page you want. So, if you sell t-shirts instead of listing them all out you can have an example picture of a couple t-shirts and then a price range they are sold at. You also don’t have to list a price.
  • Add a description thinking about how someone might search for your product in Google to give yourself a better shot of being found. 
  • Add a link with a button (Order online, Buy, Learn More, Get Offer).

SERVICES

Adding services to your Google My Business page can help you show up in searches for those services in your area. Unlike products these won’t link through to your site, so if you want to link directly to a service on your site add it as a product as well. 

  • Add a full description of your services. Use as many of the 300 words as possible. Try and use words that people would use while searching for that service.
  • Prices are listed as (Free, Fixed or From), but you don’t have to add a price. 

WEBSITE

Google offers free websites through your Google My Business page. These are very simple sites with almost no customization. Your site would be listed at “Business-name.business.site. The only reason to use this feature is to add another location for your NAP (Name, Address, Phone). Google does a good job of grabing the important information off of your Google My Business profile, but these sites won’t win any customers over.
  • If you use a Google website you are limited to what you can add and how the site looks. 
  • The top has buttons for “Get Quote” and “Call Now”
  • Some of the information is automated by what you add to your profile.
    • Your hours and if you are open. If not when will you open next.
    • Phone number.
    • Photos.
    • Header.
    • Updates.
    • Reviews.
  • There is an “About Us” section, but you can change the title to anything you want like “Why use us”. 

MESSAGING

Allow customers to message you directly through your Google search result.

  • To use messaging through Google you need to use the Google My Business app on your phone.
  • How quickly you respond to people will be noted publicly on google so customers know when to expect a reply.
  • You can add a welcome message for when someone first messages you. This would be an automated response thanking them for contacting you and letting them know you will respond ASAP. 
  • If you don’t respond within 24 hours this feature might be turned off by Google so make sure it is a feature you will take advantage of.

EXTRAS ON MOBILE

There are some tools and options that are only available through the mobile app. 

  • Add a welcome offer for people who follow you. People follow you through the Google Maps app. Followers will also see all your updates.
    • On your profile page under “Turn followers into customers,” tap Create welcome offer.
    • You can add a photo, video, title, description, and coupon code.
    • You can choose to only offer this coupon for a limited time.
    • Add a link to where they take advantage of the code.
    • Choose whether to add terms and conditions.
    • Only new followers see this offer.
  • The mobile app is also where you see your followers.

USERS

Users are able to update your page without having your Google login info. 

  • Owner. There can be multiple owners, but only one primary owner. The only difference is the primary owner cannot be deleted without first handing off the primary title to another owner. Owners can edit anything on the page
  • Manager. Managers can do everything the owner can except for removing the whole profile and managing users.
  • Site manager. A site manager can edit attributes, Food delivery link, hours and address, posts, photos, logos, products, respond to reviews and download insights.

CREATE AN AD/GET CUSTOM GMAIL

Both of these send you to another Google service. You can create an ad account and then post ads on Google searches or you can sign up for Google Workspace apps, which includes an email account using your own URL.

ADD NEW LOCATION/MANAGE LOCATION/LINKED ACCOUNTS

You are able to manage many different Google My Business accounts from the same Google ID. Click add a new location to start the process over for a new location.

If you manage multiple locations, this can include locations other owners have given you ability to edit, you click “Manage locations” to pick the location you want to edit. If you manage multiple locations for different businesses you can create location groups to break up the list into sections. Lastly you can import locations from a spreadsheet. On the locations page click add location, import location and then download the template. This is helpful if you have a lot of locations to put together or if you want someone to put together all the info for your location without giving them access to the Google My Business profile.

Linked accounts sound similar, but you are actually linking different Google products together like adwords or merchant center. This allows you to do things like connect ads directly to your location on maps.

SETTINGS

The settings are where you can pick your language, email address and messaging settings. You can uncheck any of the boxes if you aren’t interested in receiving those types of updates

The mobile app has setting for turning on and off messaging, editing your welcome message and having google suggest photos from your camera to add to your profile.

GOOGLE SEARCH CONSOLE

In order to change the links that show up under your website in search results you need to sign up for the Google search console search.google.com

  • Put in your URL and they will step you through set up. If you have verified your URL with another google property in the past this will happen automatically.
  • Click on removals. Under new request put the URL that you don’t want to show up and it will block it from showing up in google searches for one month.
  • This used to be a much more robust system where you could both add and remove links. Hopefully, this will happen again, so make sure to look around. 

NEXT STEP: CITATIONS AND OTHER SEARCH ENGINES/MAPS.

  • There are many websites like Yelp, Bing, Yellow Pages, Apple Maps and BBB where you can claim and fill out your business information. These are called Citations. 
  • The more Citations you have the more trusted you are by search engines which helps you show up in searches. 
  • Make sure to fill out the same exact Name, Address, Phone, URL and any other details. This both adds credibility and bumps up your local SEO
  • Also website like yelp can show up next to your business on Google search results making customers feel more comforatable with your business.
  • There are many niche citation sites depending on your business category. Moz has broken some of these categories down for you moz.com/learn/seo/citations-by-category.
  • For detailed information on where and how to fill out citation pages check out my article Where to list your business online.

How can we help you?

info@trueeastmedia.com

847.372.6507

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