Updated: 6th June 2020
Why You Should Optimise your Google My Business listing
Google My Business traffic can significantly improve a local businesses bottom line. And the best thing about it? It’s completely free and the traffic is high converting – people like supporting businesses in their area.
Did you know that roughly 33% of all google searches is location based? That means people are typing in a location with their search terms. For example, ‘plumber clayfield’ or ‘electrician brisbane’.
Now Google will probably have a fair idea of where the searcher is located based on IP addresses and other geo signals, but the search results are always different with and without using a location based keyword.
Despite this, if your business depends on targeting customers in a specific area, you need to optimise your website and your Google My Business listing to get more of this high converting local traffic.
How to Optimise Your Google My Business Listing
Make sure your Google My Business Listing (if you don’t have one yet, sign up here) is completely filled out. Fill in your business hours, website address, business address, email, phone, services, products, service area, photos etc. Make sure your address is your real business address (you can choose not to show this to the public). Put in as much detail as you can.
Google will give you a percentage complete score so you know how you’re going. The main thing you should focus on with your business listing is to be as accurate (and as honest) as you can. Don’t try and say you serve an area that you don’t serve. Don’t put your uncles address as the business address. Just be a realistic as you can. It will make the long term results far better.
Have an Informative Contact Page on Your Website
Make sure the contact page on your website is completely up to date with all your business details. Google will crawl this page and it will give them information about your physical location. Put your Name, address, phone number, an embedded map and contact form on the this page. Also put these details in the footer area which will be on every page of your website.
A citation is an instance where your business details have been mentioned on the internet. It may be on yellow pages, other business directories, other websites or social media pages.
Always make sure that these details (Name, Address, Phone) are correct and consistent. This will give Google more ‘evidence’ and credibility to you business – and Google will rank you higher in Google local searchers.
If there’s inconsistencies in your business info across the web, you won’t rank very high on local listings and potentially Google may think that your listing is spam. It will also negatively affect your organic search rankings.
Get Plenty of Google Reviews
Easier said than done but plenty of reviews will bolster your Google business listing and provide more visibility in search results. It will also give people confidence to work with you (as long as you have good reviews!)
So if you have people who compliment you on your service or your product, just ask them to go to the Google places listing or send them a link (here’s how to find your google reviews link) and get them to leave a review. Build this into your usual marketing system at the completion of a transaction or as part of a follow up email.
Be Community Minded in Your Business
Work with other businesses in your area and mention them on your website (especially if they offer complimentary services). You may even ask a partner business to provide an article for your website and vice versa.
As well as the relevant information to your website visitors, the link between sites will also show Google that you are an active business in your community and you should get more search visibility from this.
Conclusion
So why not follow some simple principles and get your listing to the top in your area. Build it up, make it a powerhouse, fill it with lots of great content that’s useful to your customers and with that base, your other marketing channels will flourish. If you need help with your Google My Business listing or other local SEO services, get in touch with me today.
Will Mullins
