by Julia Belkin | Mar 28, 2019
Your Google My Business profile is an important part of your online presence and findability on Google. Google My Business (GMB) is the secret weapon to your online success—making sure it is accurate, updated, and complete is key to driving more customers and sales to your business.
Your business’s GMB listing should be your top priority when trying to get found on Google, but knowing how to optimize your profile in addition to maintaining it is vital to your SEO success. Here are 3 ways to optimize your Google My Business profile to stand out, get found, and get selected.
1. Claim and Verify Your Business
The first step to optimizing your Google My Business profile is to verify and claim it. In order to claim your GMB profile, you must first create a Google account for your business by going to https://www.google.com/business/ and opting to “Manage Now”.
From there, you should find your business on Google Maps or Search and select “claim this business”, or if it does not appear, you can create a new listing from scratch by clicking “add a place” on Google Maps. Once you have claimed your business, the next step is to verify your listing.
Verifying your Google My Business profile is just as important as completing it, so in order to build trust, strong SEO, and optimize your GMB profile, you must follow these steps. If you do not verify your listing, you will not be able to make any changes to your profile once it has been published.
There are several ways to verify your Google My Business profile via PIN. Once you have requested verification, Google will send you a code or PIN either through the mail on a postcard, to the phone number associated with your business, the email address displayed on your GMB profile or through Google Search Console if you have already been validated. In order to optimize your Google My Business profile, show up on Google results and build strong SEO, you must claim and verify your profile.
2. Post Regularly
Your GMB profile is like a garden, it needs to be tended to in order to grow. A great way to optimize your profile, build strong SEO, and get found on Google is by posting relevant and engaging content on a regular basis. Your GMB Posts should include information about and photos of events, promotions, blog posts and behind-the-scenes peeks at your business.
Posting regularly to your Google My Business profile will help to boost your online presence, improve your search ranking and get seen by more potential customers.
Your profile Posts should follow other social media best practices and should include topics such as:
- New products, services, or offerings available
- Discounts or promotions you’re currently running
- Photos of customers at parties or in-store events enjoying themselves or mingling
- Any business updates, such as extended holiday hours or new locations opening
As long as any content, links or images you push to your site are relevant to your business, high-quality, and accurate, you will be optimizing your GMB profile with every post. Make sure each post includes an image, caption and call to action.
3. Collect Reviews
Collecting reviews is important for optimizing your GMB profile. By building strong Google reviews, you will improve customer trust and loyalty, help establish strong SEO and create vital brand awareness. The best proof that you are a reliable business with a fantastic product or service is happy customers, and reviews are the best way to show that.
Collecting reviews will also help to strengthen your SEO by improving your search engine ranking, making sure your business is getting seen by more potential customers.
If you are struggling to get organic views to your website, asking regular, loyal customers to write a positive Google review is a great way to optimize your profile and improve your search ranking. The more reviews you collect, the better optimized your Google My Business profile will be.
Optimizing your GMB profile is a great way to get found, stand out and get selected over your competition. The more complete, accurate, and updated your Google My Business profile is, the stronger your SEO will be, and the higher you will rank on Google.
Check to see how your Google My Business listing ranks with our free tool. By following these 3 simple tips, you will be able to optimize your Google My Business profile in no time at all.
by Julia Belkin | Mar 5, 2019
While discussing popular social networking platforms, sites like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn dominate our conversations. But a close runner up to the big four is Google+. The feature Google+ was first launched in 2011, and while it never saw the popularity that other social media sites have, it accumulated more than 100 million active users since its inception and release.
Despite this, Google+ plans to shut down the application entirely in April 2019 and remove all data in just a few weeks. So, what does this mean for you, and what should you do with years worth of content from this soon-to-be defunct site? The answer lies in Google My Business (GMB), Google’s new headliner that acts as an information portal, directory listing, and media site in one. Here some information about the shutdown of Google+ and how to make the switch from Google+ to Google My Business.
Google+ Shutdown Details
Starting on April 2nd, any Google+ content, pages, or accounts created since its inception will be deleted and unable to be re-accessed. This includes any images or videos stored in Google+ albums. Rest assured that the removal and deletion of Google+ will not affect any other Google services or applications—any images in Google Photos and your Google account will continue to function as usual. The shutdown is exclusive to the Google+ application, the social aspects, and content stored on the Google+ platform.
If you aren’t sure if you have a Google+ account, search your Gmail account for the line, “Your personal Google+ account is going away on April 2, 2019”. If you received an email with this as the subject line, that means you may have personal information saved on Google+ that will be deleted and removed, unless you take these steps to download it.
How can I Save My Google+ Content?
If you have been a regular user, the Google+ shut down announcement may come as somewhat of a shock or disappointment. But have no fear, the content you created will not go to waste. Rather than lose the content you’ve spent time creating for your customers, make sure you are taking all steps necessary to save it. Although the Google+ platform will be shutting down and will be inaccessible after April 3rd, you will still be able to download any posts or pictures you created and uploaded up until then.
Google recommends downloading all your Google+ data as soon as possible to avoid data loss. Simply visit this Google page and follow these instructions in order to make sure your information is not lost.
What do I do With My Google+ Content?
Once Google+ shuts down, the Google+ content you created will no longer be accessible, providing the perfect opportunity to reuse and recycle that older content for your customers on Google My Business. Any content on Google+ should be migrated to Google My Business, where it will be useful in helping your business rank higher on search results and attract new customers. There are endless opportunities to save and repurpose your Google+ content, so don’t let it go to waste.
How to Transition to Google My Business and Set Up Your Account
If you haven’t been using Google My Business, now is the time to start. While Google My Business is a different application than Google+, they share similarities that will make the transition easy for Google+ users. Google My Business is an instant starter pack for getting the word out about your brand and is also how you get your business on Google Maps.
First, create a Google account for your business at https://www.google.com/business/ and search for your business on Google Maps. If your business isn’t listed, you’ll be given an option to create an entry from scratch for the business location in Google Maps. The link to click on will be titled “Add a place”, and it will appear in the left panel on the Maps results page. Google will ask for your physical location. If your business is purely virtual, create a listing based on where you work — the location of your home or service area, perhaps. If your business has a storefront or office, use that address. When you create an entry, a business listing creation dialog will pop up and you can add in relevant information.
How to Use Google My Business
Google My Business is a completely free Google feature that easily allows for you to claim and verify your business, answer common questions in a public way, and improve your Google ranking at the same time. Google also favors Google My Business accounts with more content, such as photos and complete profiles, so the more content you move over from Google+ to GMB, the more you will improve your SEO. Now is a great time to get started with Google My Business without losing any of the hard work you put into your Google+.
Already have a Google My Business account? Make sure you’re optimizing it so that you can derive the benefits of it, including ranking higher on Google and getting found by new customers. See how your business ranks on Google with ThriveHive’s free tool — it will assess your Google My Business listing, show you how your business compares to competitors and tell you how to improve your business listing.
