If you want to attract more customers to your local shop, then you definitely need to optimize your Google My Business page.
How to Optimize Google My Business for Local SEO
A good local SEO strategy should always start with optimizing your Google My Business (GMB) page. And it is not just about claiming your Google Business listing and forgetting about it. There a lot more to it to get the desired results.
Tips
Make sure that your business name, address, and phone number match exactly on all of your properties. For example if your business name is Mable’s Confectionery and Sweets Co, don’t mark down on your GMB as just Mable’s Confectionery. Why create confusion for Google? The same goes for addresses. If your business address on your website is 12A Jalan Loke Yew but on your GMB page it is abbreviated to 12A Jln Loke Yew, then it would impact the performance of your local SEO. The same goes with your business contact numbers. Be consistent (exact) in your entries. These seemingly small discrepancies, when taken together would affect your local SEO in a way that your business would less likely appear in the local pack.
Select The Most Apt Category For Your Google My Business Page
The Google Business Page has an exhaustive list of business categories. Peruse the list carefully and choose the category that best represents your business. Make sure you settle on the most specific category for your business. Trust Google to infer related categories. For example, let’s say you mark down your business as “tobacconist”. Google would associate your business with “vapes” too. Or if you business caters to multiple markets; let’s say you run a clothing store that sells both men’s and women’s clothing, then select “Men’s Clothing Stote” and Women’s Clothing Store”.
For Single Location Business- Link Your Google My Business Page To Your Website
The good news is you can link your GMB to your business website. But make sure you get your linking done properly and correctly. It is advisable to link to your homepage. If you are using SSL, which you should, make sure the links is to your HTTPS version of your website and not to the HTTP version.
For Multi Location Business- Link Your Google My Business Page To Your Website
If your business has multiple locations, then your linking strategy would be different.
Set up a separate Google My Business page for each location. It is informing Google about your businesses in different locations. It would therefore also make sense to devote separate web pages on website for each business that are also promised for optimization for local SEO. Then within each of your GMB property, link back to the corresponding page.
Describe Your Business
You get 750 characters to describe your business of which the first 250 characters show up in the knowledge panel where people see a synopsis of your business in the search results. That is indeed a marketer’s dream. Use the first 250 especially wisely as click bait to attract your target audience. Needless to say, make sure you prudently input relevant keywords into that description for SEO purposes. And by relevant, we meant to include your location, city, township, nearby landmarks etc
Include Videos and Images to Your Google My Business Page
Nothing is more compelling than pictures right? Include pictures into your GMB too. Start with a handful of pictures and over the course of time, say weekly or monthly, add some more. Google now allows you to add videos of up to 30 seconds long to your business profile as well. There is no better boon to promote your business. Your videos must not exceed 100MB and must have resolution. 720p or higher. If you have two or more videos on your GMB, you will get a video sub tab that mobile users will see.
Integrate Booking Facility on Your Google My Business Page
If your business is pretty much service oriented like a dentist or restaurant, you can include a booking feature so that customers can make appointments directly from your Google My Business page. Sign on with GMB’s supported scheduling providers and GMB will automatically add the booking button to you page. As easy as that. The convenience you provide to your customers would be appreciated and you will certainly attract more call to action.
Encourage Reviews On Your Google My Business Page
Customers these days rely on reviews to shape their buying decisions. The positive reviews you get will help you with search rankings. And positive rankings draw in new customers. GMB actively encourages businesses to solicit reviews. Google will use those reviews to determine where your listing ranks in the search results. While soliciting reviews is encouraged, “incentivising” practices are negatively viewed as a conflict of interest. What’s even worst are “fake” reviews. Google will find out and can easily backfire on you.
For a detailed discussion and understanding of this subject, get in touch with us at enquiry@simple-seocompany.com
