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Improving your Google My Business ranking is essential because a high ranking means more visibility. It means your target market can easily find you online when they search for businesses in your industry. Especially for local businesses, a Google My Business (GMB) account is a vital tool to enhance your local search engine optimization (SEO). After creating such an account, here are the things you need to do to rank higher on search engine results pages:
1. Complete Your Google My Business Profile
The first thing you need to do is fill up your account with up-to-date, comprehensive, and accurate information. This data will appear when people come across your business, so a complete profile will help you stand out. And here are the essential parts you need to fill out:
- Description: Prioritize the information you enter here since the knowledge panel can only accommodate the first 250 characters. These characters are what Googly only displays, but your GMB allows you to enter 750 characters on your listing. And what you need to remember here is to highlight eye-catching information that’ll resonate with your business or brand. You must also add at least one keyword to improve search visibility, but don’t stuff it with search terms.
- Business Category: Connect with customers looking for your services by choosing the right category to describe your business. It is also one of the many factors that significantly impact your GMB ranking. That’s why it’s also best to use appropriate keywords when choosing a category. For instance, it may be best to add ‘Chinese Restaurant’ as your primary category instead of ‘Restaurant.’ This means becoming more specific rather than being too general.
- Name, Address, Phone Number (NAP): If you have a website, it’s best to use the name of your business listed on it. Then, you should pin the accurate location of your business on GMB. Lastly, your contact number will help customers to reach you easily. These essentials in your listing enable your potential customers to click your profile.
- Others: The other information you can add to your profile such as availability, hours of operation, and website URL. Take advantage of such to make you more visible and reachable to your customers.
2. Automate Google My Business Posts
GMB profile is like a social media profile that requires posts or content. You don’t have to do it manually, though. Either hire local SEO Services to help you manage your posts or automate them using social media automation tools. When you hire local SEO services, they’ll be the ones to think about relevant posts that’ll help your listing rank higher.
Meanwhile, a social media automation tool helps you handle your content. For instance, you can schedule your posts in a shared calendar. It includes adding call-to-action buttons and photos for all types of GMB posts. You can do this once a week since the posting will be automated after scheduling them.
3. Add Images Or Videos To Your Listing
Vital information isn’t enough to promote your business. You should also include virtual tours, videos, and images to show your services or products. Doing so allows you to let customers take a peek into your business, so it’s best to upload appealing photos or videos.
By making them more interested in your business, customers are more likely to check your website or contact you to avail yourself of your products or services. It’s also better if previous clients upload photos about your business, and this feature will be available once your business listing is verified. So, when Google search results pages show your business, they’ll also display the videos or photos with the most views.
You should also add your brand’s cover photo or logo to make them more familiarized with your business. But you must upload photos with JPG or PNG formats and have sizes between 10KB and 5MB.
4. Take Advantage Of Reviews
Another ranking factor that you can take advantage of is customer reviews. Aside from using it to boost your reputation, customer reviews encourage people to trust your brand. When previous clients share their experience with your business online, it can encourage more potential clients to do business with you.
Moreover, show that you value each customer’s feedback by responding to all reviews. If they leave positive thoughts, then thank them. Or apologize and address issues if customers leave negative feedback. You should also answer queries as doing so can help make you more professional. You can do this by accessing your GMB profile, which is one of the powerful features of GMB that you should utilize.
5. Include Special Attributes And Features
Although particular features will depend on your category, you may want to consider this to help customers learn more about your business. The following are some examples of category-specific features:
- Different types of buttons such as orders, reservations, and appointment bookings
- Health insurance information included for healthcare providers in the US
- List of services displayed for service-oriented businesses
- Popular dishes, dish photos, and menu uploads for bars and restaurants
- Amenities, check-in and out times, highlights, sustainability practices, class rating display for hotels
The best thing about this is your chance to choose up to 10 categories to ensure that you can become eligible for one of the said features. You may even include factual attributes to your GMB profile for specific customers. For instance, adding outdoor seating, free Wi-Fi, or wheelchair accessibility can encourage more potential customers if they need such services.
Editing or adding attributes is also easy. You need to click ‘Info’ from your dashboard and click ‘Add Attributes’ under the ‘From the business’ section. For revising the already added attributes, click the pencil beside the ‘From the business.’ Check all the attributes suitable for your business, then click ‘Apply.’ Voila! You’re done, and your prospects can quickly check these attributes included in your profile.
The higher your GMB ranks on search engine results pages, the more customers can check what your business is all about. And when you consider all the tips mentioned above, you have more chances of being on the first pages of search results. Doing those things may require some time, but it’ll be worth it in the long run.