<\/p>\n
- \n
- What Is Google My Business?<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n
- The Features<\/strong><\/a>\n
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- Photos<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n
- Business Information<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n
- Questions & Answers<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n
- Reviews<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n
- Description<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n
- Posts<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n
- Services<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n
- Social Profiles<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n
- Setting Up Your Google My Business<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n
- Verifying Your GMB Listing<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n
- Optimise Your Listing<\/strong><\/a>\n
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- Complete The Full Profile<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n
- Be Active In Your Management<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n
- Keep Encouraging Reviews<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n
- Be Specific With Your Category<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
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![\"what](\"\/ae\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/what-is-google-my-business.png\")
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What Is Google My Business?<\/h2>\n
At its core, Google My Business is a free profile for businesses that appears in the SERPs for relevant searches. Essentially, it acts as a form of knowledge panel dedicated entirely to the business and can be edited and managed by the company once verified. In a lot of cases, you could already have a GMB listing that hasn\u2019t been claimed, as Google can form a GMB listing by pulling information from your website or other relevant sites across the web.<\/p>\n
For any business, this tool offers a range of benefits that make it a no-brainer in most cases. From heightened visibility, to offering your audiences all the information they need in one panel, GMB is one of the most powerful tools available on the search engine. Any company with good reviews, full contact details and plenty of additional information (e.g. images, a biography, opening times), is likely to stand out amongst the proverbial crowd, simply by being there.<\/p>\n
The full panel typically appears to the right-hand side of the results on desktop and above the organic results on mobile, offering optimum visibility when it matters most. Google also provides full analytics to businesses that have claimed their listing. They offer insights into:<\/p>\n
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- Views<\/li>\n
- Searches<\/li>\n
- Actions\n
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- Calls<\/li>\n
- Website Clicks<\/li>\n
- Direction Requests<\/li>\n
- Followed<\/li>\n
- Bookings<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
These quick insights allow you to better track and manage your listing by determining its progress over time. This means that you can better evaluate which changes have worked for the best, or which might need to be reversed or amended.<\/p>\n
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The Features<\/h2>\n
Google My Business has a number of features that can be used to better optimise your listing including contact details, photos, posts, reviews and more. It\u2019s advised that you fill in as many of the below as possible:<\/p>\n
Photos<\/h3>\n
Consumers love visual content and thankfully, Google My Business gives you the perfect opportunity to not only upload photos, but optimise them to your advantage. Any business with photos on the GMB photo can earn upwards of 35% more traffic than those without, and can even encourage more of the customers finding your GMB to actually visit your store. You should always include photos of at least your logo, your building (interior and exterior), product photos and anything else you deem relevant to your business. The more photos you can offer a potential client or customer, the more likely they are to deem your business trustworthy and credible. In fact, studies suggest that 42% more customers will request directions to a location if a business has photos on their listing, than if they don\u2019t.<\/p>\n
Google provides the following guidance for photos:<\/p>\n
![\"Google](\"\/ae\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/Google-My-Business-A-Comprehensive-Guide_Table.jpg\")
<\/p>\nBusiness Information<\/h3>\n
Business information on Google My Business is the standard details that Google often fills in itself before you\u2019ve even claimed the listing. It\u2019ll feature your address, phone number and an appointment booking link if you provide one. You can also add your opening hours, or amend any that are already there, as well as a number of different details such as menu links, department links and more. This will differ from industry to industry.<\/p>\n
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Questions & Answers<\/h3>\n
The Questions & Answers feature is your audience\u2019s opportunity to get the information they need without having to contact you directly. They can ask questions via the listing, after which you can provide full, written answers that other users can then view should they be looking for an answer to the same, or a similar question.<\/p>\n
There is also the opportunity for business owners to \u2018upvote\u2019 the good questions, or some of the more frequently asked ones, in order to have them appear first on their profile.<\/p>\n
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Reviews<\/h3>\n
Reviews are some of the most powerful tools in any competitive market. 88% of consumers claim to put just as much faith in an online review, as they do a personal recommendation for a friend and for local businesses, that\u2019s an invaluable statistic worth taking full advantage of. Google My Business offers a review feature that allows any customer to leave a review directly on the listing. They can give you a star rating, as well as a written review, after which you can go through and reply to any reviews you see fit.<\/p>\n
Businesses that respond to reviews are often seen as being more credible, even if the review was initially negative. Being able to provide a reply that either offers a solution to the issue stated in the review, or even just offering support, can help reduce the impact considerably. In fact, 7 out of 10 customers claim that their opinion of a business changed after seeing them respond to their reviews.<\/p>\n
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Description<\/h3>\n
The description feature allows a business to put together a quick 750-character description of their company, services, or any other relevant information. It\u2019s a way for businesses to convince potential customers to investigate further, either by getting in touch or visiting their website or store. A well-written description can help to generate interest and engagement, even offering a more humanised element to an otherwise very business-based panel.<\/p>\n
It can be a useful feature too, allowing you to provide any additional information for consumers that might not be covered in the given business information. Talk about your brand, products, services or anything you deem suitable for your audience and their usual search intent.<\/p>\n
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Posts<\/h3>\n
Google allows GMB owners to upload short blogs or posts of around 100-300 words, which will then be listed on the main knowledge panel. These can be used for anything, from announcements, to short snippets that lead to key pages on your website. You can add images and videos to grab attention further, particularly for important information or new releases.<\/p>\n
Adding tracking links can add further worth to the posts you upload, by offering you insights into whether a particular piece of content is generating interest or engagement for the business.<\/p>\n
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Services<\/h3>\n
A new feature that Google has added for GMB listings is Services. This allows businesses to list the services they provide in a form of menu, providing this often crucial information right off the bat. You can add different section names and items underneath these sections, as well as short description and a price.<\/p>\n
This offers businesses the opportunity to inform potential clients of the services they provide without the user having to click through to the website first. In an age of zero-click searches, this has the potential to be invaluable for businesses, particularly those that offer multiple services that may not immediately rank in the SERPs.<\/p>\n
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Social Profiles<\/h3>\n
Your GMB listing comes with the opportunity to add links to all of your social profiles. This essentially puts all of your accounts in one place not only for your users to utilise, but also for Google. While social media doesn\u2019t have a direct effect on your ranking, the authority, expertise and trustworthiness you may be able to demonstrate through these platforms.<\/p>\n
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Setting Up Your Google My Business<\/h2>\n
- Be Active In Your Management<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n
- Business Information<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n
- The Features<\/strong><\/a>\n
![\"verifying](\"\/ae\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/0000_verifying-your-gmb-listing.png\")
<\/p>\n![\"keep](\"\/ae\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/0001_keep-encouraging-reviews.png\")
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