Have you ever noticed that a business profile appears with all their info on the right side of the screen whenever you do a Google search about certain services?
If yes, then trust me; after you read this guide, you get the opportunity to feature your local business in this listing. Yes, you heard it right!
Now, think about how many people you can attract to your business by doing so. The numbers are huge because your business is reflected in the search results.
But, to be successful in this endeavor, you should make exemplary efforts in the right direction. Otherwise, you will fail to rank your business in the first result.
It is evident from a study that the companies ranking in the first result of the local business searches receive 24.4 percent of all clicks, which is indeed a big number.
Due to this reason, your main goal should be to acquire the first rank if you wish to boost your revenue significantly.
It is a great way to receive the most sought-after clicks to your business. Also, it boosts traffic from local searches and helps you gain much better visibility on Google Maps.
And for this, all that you need is to set up your Google Business Profile or GBP (formerly known as Google My Business or GBP) account.
But just setting your GBP listing is not enough. You must ensure it is optimized to make the most out of it.
Although GBP listing optimization is a time-consuming task, the rewards are worth the effort and time you will invest in the entire process. If you need any sorts of related assistance, then you can choose the local SEO packages by ZealousWeb.
Not sure about how to optimize your GBP? If this is the case, you have come to the right place!
This comprehensive blog post will inform you about the step-by-step process and the best tips you need to follow to achieve this objective. So, without any further ado, let’s get started with it:
What is Google Business Profile Or GBP?
Google Business Profile is a free tool that has turned out to be an incredibly effective way to display your business in front of potential customers.
It lets you represent your business on both Google Maps and Search. This tool can be a boon if you are a business owner targeting local customers.
While creating a GBP listing, you would be able to control how your business appears on a search.
You need to incorporate all essential details related to your business in the listing. It includes your business name, location, hours of operations, customer reviews, contact details, photos, and more.
But, as it is a Google product and completely free to use, the created listings must abide by Google’s Business Profile guidelines.
You can call it the new version of the homepage of your website. Your potential customers will see it first before even visiting your website.
Due to this reason, you should do your best to give them an extraordinary first impression so that they develop an interest in your business.
Now that you know what GBP listing is, it is time to learn about its importance, which we are going to uncover in the forthcoming section:
Critical Factors To Keep In Mind When Optimizing Your GBP For Local Businesses
Many businesses are still not focusing on leveraging benefits out of this robust tool. If you are one of them, then it is the time when you should stop thinking and start working in the right direction. And you are going to thank us later for this.
Below, we have enlisted some of the critical benefits of optimizing your GBP that you should essentially know about before you move ahead:
- It is regarded as an incredibly cost-effective means to gain new clients.
- Your GBP helps clients call or message you directly without visiting your website. In this way, it aids in effectively reducing the drop-out rate.
- Individuals who use Maps tend to have high intent and are ready to purchase. So, optimizing your GBP helps you to target those highly interested people.
One of the essential things you should remember is that most of your competitors are already reaping benefits from it. Due to this reason, you should not wait anymore to implement the best GBP listing optimization strategies. If you are searching for related services and local SEO packages, ZealousWeb has got you covered.
If you are unsure what strategies or steps to follow, don’t be concerned anymore! The following section will inform you about the detailed steps to help you succeed. Let’s find out:
Optimize Your GBP Listing To Boost Your SEO Score In 8 Easy Steps
Follow this step-by-step guide to perfectly optimize your GBP listing and utilize this social platform to master your local SEO strategy:
1. Fill Out All The Vital Info
Your Google Business Profile or GBP reflects your business, so you should never overlook it. Just creating one is not considered sufficient. You should add all the crucial details in your listing so that people viewing it can understand your business.
Some of the most critical pieces of information to incorporate includes the following:
- The name of your business
- Contact number
- Location
- Email address
- Hours of operation
- Site URL
You must include all this information in your listing. If you miss filling out any of these details, then customers can doubt the authenticity of your business. And as a result, they would shift their attention from your business to another.
Thus, focusing on the basics is extremely important if you do not want to lose prospects.
You will get this service as a part of our local SEO packages at ZealousWeb.
2. Get Your Listing Verified
Once you are done creating your listing, you must focus on getting it verified. For this, all that you need to do is to request your verification code.
Google will respond to your request by sending you a postcard in the mail. There you will find a code that is needed for the verification purpose.
After that, you should consider entering the code on your Google Business Profile account. And finally, you can edit any information you want.
Note that phone verification is available for some of the businesses. If you opt for this option, you will receive a phone call from Google on your business contact number.
Again, your location will be promptly verified if you have already established your presence on Google’s Search Console.
That’s it; you are now almost done. Finally, you must sign in to your Google Business Profile account, choose “website,” and tap on the “publish” option.
Congrats! Your GBP listing is now successfully verified.
Need any sorts of help in doing this? Check out our local SEO packages to know how we can help you.
3. Incorporate Keywords
Your primary focus should be to keep your listing as simple as possible. You can use your Search Engine Optimization skills to come up with the best keywords that people would type to search for the services you offer.
Also, it is important to incorporate those particular keywords into your title and description. Just by ensuring this, you would be able to handle this new platform effectively.
But make sure to check the character count before you write these sections.
Google has mentioned everything related to GBP optimization in their content guidelines for Business Profiles which you can check while carrying out this work.
4. Mention Your Hours Of Operation
As a local business, you should never miss specifying your hours of operation. You may have come across some firms that do not list their hours. But this is not at all a good practice.
In such cases, there are high chances for the potential clients to get frustrated. It can again severely impact your business.
That customer will then start finding your alternatives. So, your one mistake will allow your competitors to get on the advantageous side.
Customers always like and choose the services or products of those companies who have invested time in inputting all their business info.
Due to this reason, you must mention your hours of operation in your GBP listing. Also, consider adding seasonal and holiday hours and update that information whenever required.
Our team of expert professionals at ZealousWeb can help you to successfully accomplish this step. To know more, consider checking out our local SEO packages.
5. Add Images To Your Posts
You must incorporate clear and eye-striking images of your business in your GBP listing.
As per Google , businesses who have added photos receive 35 percent more clicks to their site and 42 percent higher requests to drive directions in Google Maps.
Due to this reason, you should take this aspect seriously.
Whenever it comes to incorporating images, there are again many different types of photos that you can consider adding to your listing. It includes the following:
- Profile photo
- Cover picture
- Additional images
But, the images you use should essentially be in PNG or JPG format, ranging between 10KB to 5MB. Also, note that the minimum resolution should be 720 px by 720 px.
Another important thing is to make sure that your images appear as they should on both desktop and mobile devices.
If you use too large-sized photos, then Google will crop them, and ultimately, they will not look the way you want. So, it would help if you were careful about this to avoid such problems.
If you are not sure what photos to use, then below are given some suggestions that you can have a close look on:
- Event pictures
- Office rooms
- Photos that reflect your company culture and team photos (Google recommends using a minimum of three images that show your employees and your management team)
- Service or product photos (Google suggests using one photo per service or product)
- Interior photos (As per Google, you should use at least 3 of these images)
- Exterior photos (Google recommends adding a minimum of 3)
We hope all these suggestions will make your work easy. For more information, contact us or check out our local SEO packages.
6. Focus On Incorporating Other Visuals
Adding a photo of your business is not enough. It would be best if you did something extra to stand out in the fierce competition.
As a part of this, you should focus on incorporating your company’s logo and other visuals like additional photos or a short video.
Keep in mind that the file size should be under 100 MB with a 720p or higher resolution. In the case of a short video, you should try to keep its length under 30 seconds.
7. Always Go For The Right CTA
Google includes a wide diversity of buttons which you should necessarily check. Among those options, you should focus on choosing the right CTA button.
Specific texts that you can add to your CTA button are “Send a text message,” “Schedule an appointment,” “Get in touch,” “Call us now,” etc. It is also suggested to have a “Service” button.
Here, you can use the keywords again that you have already used before to refer to the services you offer. It would help if you focused on incorporating as many of the relevant options as you want to make it simpler for people to interact with your business.
8. Include Q&A Section
Google also allows you to include the Questions and Answers (Q&A) section. It is regarded as an excellent opportunity for your business to stand out. Adding a Q&A section will also allow your readers to post their questions.
Again, you can interact with them by responding to their queries. It would help if you tried to be the business that always instantly responds to queries. In turn, it will increase the trustworthiness of your company.
Robust GBP Listing Optimization Tips To Follow To Make Your Listing A Success
Now that you are done optimizing your GMB listing, it is the time when you should implement specific tips that will help you in making your efforts successful.
Below, we have enlisted some tips and tricks you can consider for your benefit. So, without wasting any more time, let’s get started with it:
Posts
GBP is much similar to a social media platform, especially for businesses. Most companies overlook the importance of creating a post on their listing. If you are one of them, we can tell you that you are missing something big.
Even if you are posting weekly, then also it is not going to work out. And seven days is an eternity in the social media realm.
So, similar to your other social media platforms, you should maintain regularity in your postings. You can schedule a day or time for this.
Once you do this, you need to stick to this schedule. You can post several things, such as valuable tips, photos, current promotions, or other helpful information for your clients. You can even try out using a scheduling tool to make things easier.
These tools allow you to create and save the posts in your queue. Posts you have created will be automatically published at your scheduled time. Finally, you can carry out your other tasks.
Therefore, regularly posting will help boost your brand recognition, increase your SEO rank, and increase traffic.
Reviews
Similar to other websites, you can also post reviews on your listing. To get genuine reviews from your past clients, you can approach a few satisfied customers and request feedback from them.
Don’t worry; many of them will agree and happily give you feedback.
Once you have collected some reviews, you need to develop a plan for receiving more feedback or reviews. As a part of it, you can reach out to many of your old customers.
The first thing is to get the reviews posted. And after that, your main work would be to respond to those by thanking them.
If anyone has posted any concerns or queries, you need to respond to those as well. The more interaction you do, the more beneficial it is for your online reputation.
About 97 percent of the people focus on reading local business reviews before they choose one. So, it would be best if you took advantage of this opportunity to engage with your customers.
Analytics
Using social media is an integral part of your marketing. Similarly, if you neglect to analyze your data, you will lose the chance to augment your potential.
So, in this regard, you can use different social media metrics tools to track various measurements. It will help you to know how your listing is performing.
In A Nutshell
When used strategically, Google Business Profile or GBP can be a robust tool to improve your business’s online visibility and local SEO. It, in turn, will help you bring many clients and customers to your business.
By adding relevant information, images, posts, and keywords to your GBP listing, your company can attain a higher rank and ultimately ace at local marketing.
Implementing a few easy steps, as mentioned above, will help optimize your GBP listing and help you gain an extra edge over the others. Our local SEO packages include all of these services.
Why Choose ZealousWeb’s Local SEO Packages?
If you come across any difficulties in implementing these strategies and steps, then it is always recommended to choose an expert local SEO service provider.
ZealousWeb is one such agency continuously dedicated to offering top-notch local SEO services
ZealousWeb’s Local SEO packages are designed in a manner to ensure that your business gains visibility, gets more customers, and ultimately boosts its revenue.
As a reputed local SEO company, we bring together the latest SEO practices and innovation-led approaches to help your local business reach its targeted group of customers.
Get in touch with us to achieve similar results or have a look at our local SEO packages today to get an overview of our services.