Google Maps is my favorite tool for travel planning, restaurant finding, directions, and anything else where I need to venture out into the world. If you want your business to show up for coveted “near me” searches, “best ___ near me” searches, or any other query that results in people stepping into your brick-and-mortar store, GMB is the key!
I’m digging into the ABCs of GMBs, this is like Google My Business 101. If you’re ready to create, optimize, and monitor a Google My Business listing for your business, you’re in the right place. If you’re looking to learn more about pottery making, you’re in the wrong class so please go down the hall into room 402. But take me with you! I really want to learn about pottery making.
Understanding GMB
GMB is the hip way (ok, I might be the only one who thinks this is hip) to refer to Google My Business, which is Google’s free tool to create a Google Maps location of your business online. If you have a business you’d like people to visit, or if you have a local service area-based business that you’d like to show up on Google Maps, you need a GMB profile. If you’re running an online-exclusive business where you’re never visiting your customers and you don’t want them to visit you in person, a GMB may not be necessary.
If you’re attempting any type of local SEO, a GMB is absolutely crucial. This is because Google loves ranking its own products in results, such as YouTube and GMB. Try searching for “lunch restaurants near me” on Google and what do you see? Boom! A map pack on the search engine results page with GMB listings. These listings can show up on Google.com, Google Maps, and in additional spaces where users are searching for businesses just like yours. When it comes to the mystical land of local SEO, GMB is the key to unlocking the secret door.
How to Create a Google My Business Listing
Google offers its own comprehensive guide on creating your GMB profile, which you can find here. You’ll need the following:
- A Google account
- A physical address for your business that can receive mail
- A phone number for your business that can receive automated phone calls
You’ll need a physical address of your actual business where customers can visit you and where you can receive mail. If you’re setting up a GMB for a service area-based business, the rules may vary slightly upon sign-up. For most businesses, a postcard verification process will need to be completed. After you complete your GMB profile setup, Google will need to verify the business which is generally done through a phone call or postcard verification. Both involve receiving a special code from Google, either by mail or by automated phone call, which you then enter into the backend of your GMB listing and you’ll be good to go.
In some cases, additional information may be needed to verify your business on GMB. This may include an exterior photo of the business with identifying information like a street number showing, or a copy of a utility bill to the business in question that has been sent to the correct address. These additional verification items are rarely required for GMBs.
Your GMB Listing is Your Second Homepage
Google loves to continuously innovate its products, and GMB is no different. Today, users can read about your business, see its hours, look at photos, explore reviews, read FAQs, and even order food from your business (if your business is into that kinda thing) all within GMB. This is a serious zero-click experience where customers can interact with your business without ever going to your actual website. Because of this type of experience, you should be treating your GMB profile like a second homepage for your business. This means making sure it’s as polished as possible to provide a great user experience. Follow this checklist for cleaning up and optimizing your Google My Business profile:
- Set the business logo.
- Add high-quality photos of your business.
- Add a 360 walking tour of your business.
- Ensure your business is set at the proper spot on the map.
- Add regular hours and holiday hours.
- Add special hours, like delivery hours, if this applies to your type of business.
- Set service areas, if this applies to your type of business.
- Add your phone number and website.
- Create a unique bio for your GMB’s about section, this can help give users more. valuable info about your business and offer some SEO benefit.
- Add photos of your products, such as dishes if you’re a restaurant.
- Review the GMB Q&A section of your profile to ensure there are no off-topic questions or answers.
- Regularly publish GMB posts highlighting your offers, updates, or other information.
- As a bonus, add FAQs to your GMB Q&A section.
- Review user-submitted photos as they are uploaded over time and remove any photos that are of the wrong business, such as gas station photos that have been uploaded to a beachfront restaurant’s GMB.
This is just the beginning of the adventure when it comes to updating your GMB. There are additional features that are always being added to this platform, so be sure to continuously check your listing and GMB listings of similar businesses to see what you may be missing from yours.
Keeping Your GMB Listing Accurate and Up to Date
When you think of your GMB as another homepage for your business, it becomes clear how important it is to keep the listing as clean as possible. You wouldn’t upload false information to your website, and you shouldn’t let inaccurate information find its way onto your GMB either. Because Google My Business relies heavily on user-generated information from Google Maps, you’ll need to ensure that any user-submitted updates to your listing are accurate. Routinely check your GMB listing and keep an eye out for inaccurate user-submitted updates, photos, or questions and answers. If anything inaccurate is submitted, you’ll either be able to reject the update or flag it for removal.
Most users are not trying to be malicious when they’re submitting information on Google Maps about the businesses around them, but mistakes can happen which is why it’s important to keep an eye on your listing’s information.
How GMB Listings Bring Traffic
Google loves ranking its own products, especially Google My Business listings. When a Google user is searching for any location-based business on Google, they’ll very likely see GMB listings in their results. Google often mixes a map pack, which is a small collection of 2-3 GMB listings, for a specific query. The query “dry cleaners near me” may bring up a mixture of result types in the search engine results pages including normal websites and GMB listings. If you don’t have a GMB listing for your business, you may miss out on a potential spot to rank for searches related to your business.
Google Maps itself can be a powerful tool for your GMB listing. After all, it’s where the listing lives. People can search for location-based businesses right on Google Maps, cutting out the middle man of searching on Google.com first. A growing number of Google Maps users are also finding out information about the world around them directly on Google Maps, which gives your business another opportunity to gain more online impressions that can translate to real-world success.
Your GMB listing has the potential to bring organic and paid traffic to your business through Google Maps, standard Google.com searches, and more. For many businesses like restaurants, it’s especially crucial thanks to GMB’s updated capabilities with online ordering, photos of your menu, hours, specials, and so much more.
Putting Your Best Foot Forward with GMB Reviews
Reviews on your GMB are just as important as the optimization of the rest of your profile. Reviews can make or break your GMB listing, so gathering honest reviews from your customers is crucial. The reviews are averaged into your listing’s star rating and can give a quick overall impression of your business.
Reviews for your listing on Google My Business can also influence how well your business ranks for certain queries. For example, if your business has a high star rating on GMB, it may be more likely to rank for “best ___” queries. Try out this search yourself, all of the roofers that show up for “best roofer” on Google Maps have high star ratings, don’t they?
The content of your listing’s reviews may also play a role in the queries it shows up for. If you’re searching for a specific menu item from restaurants nearby on Google Maps like biscuits (I’ve really been craving biscuits from Loveless Cafe, ok!?), Google Maps may display restaurants where users have mentioned the word “biscuits” in their reviews. Go ahead and give it a try, and please let me know of the good biscuit restaurants near you.
What Not to Do on Your GMB Listing
While there’s an exhaustive list of what to do on GMB (seriously, we’ve barely begun to scratch the surface here), there’s also a list of big no-nos for what to do on your GMB listing. Google is all about authenticity and honesty both for the websites and GMB listings it ranks. You may be tempted to try to fool GMB so your listing will get a better standing, but this is likely to backfire.
Here are some things to avoid on your Google My Business listing for your business:
- Fake reviews, which are obvious to Google and will more than likely get removed.
- Fake addresses, which can make it practically impossible to verify for your listing and can cause customers a lot of frustration.
- Keyword stuffing in your about section, this technique doesn’t work anywhere anymore.
- A set it and forget it mentality, you need to keep an eye on user-generated updates for accuracy.
- Photos you do not own the copyright to. If you upload photos you don’t have the rights to upload, they may get taken down.
Remember, Google loves a positive user experience. Your GMB listing should be honest, accurate, and informative. If you follow those guidelines, you’re positioning your GMB listing for great rankings.
Monitoring GMB Success
So you’ve got your shiny GMB profile up, verified, and you’re keeping the information relevant by routinely reviewing user-submitted updates. Congratulations, but there’s still so much to do! You can also explore the insights page on the backend of your GMB listing for in-depth information regarding your listing. This is a great way to monitor the success of your GMB listing with quantifiable metrics.
There are countless ways to optimize your GMB listing, and there are also countless ways to monitor its success. As with all Google products and SEO topics, this is just the tip of the iceberg. Be sure to keep an eye out for GMB updates, new products, and additional features. Happy Googling!
