Google Business Profile Listing SEO: How to Optimize Your GMB Listing

Did you know that 50 percent of people visit a store within a day of making a local search?

If you want to drive more local customers to your business, you must invest in Google Business Profile Listing SEO. By claiming and optimizing your Google Business Profile listing, you’ll be on your way to earning new local leads.

In this post, we’ll discuss how to set up your Google Business Profile listing, plus how to optimize your Google Business Profile.

Let’s get started!

How to set up your Google Business Profile listing

If you haven’t claimed or set up your Google Business Profile listing, it’s completely free for you to do so.

These listings appear in Google Search and on Google Maps. Having a Google Business Profile listing (and optimize it for GBP ranking factors) is a great way to connect with local visitors.

• To get started, you’ll want to claim your Google Business Profile listing (previously known as Google My Business).
• Once you claim your listing, fill out all the information on the page.
• Add your contact information, business name, and address.
• Then, verify that all your information is correct.
• Once you do, go to Google to get your listing verified. Without verification, your information won’t be displayed, and you won’t have access to analytics.
• The information will publish once your listing is verified.
• Once you have your listing verified, you can start optimizing your Google Business Profile listing.

How to optimize your Google Business Profile listing

Now that you’ve verified your listing, you can start doing search engine optimization (SEO) for Google Business Profile. Here’s how to optimize your Google Business Profile:

1. Fill out all your information

First and foremost, you must enter all the information for your listing. Local search favors the most relevant search results.

To appear in relevant search results, you must fill out your profile completely. Communicate everything on your listing. Tell people what your business does, where it is, and how people can get in contact with you.

Filling out your profile completely will help you appear in more relevant search results for your business. When Google ranks local listings, it takes three factors into consideration:

• Relevance: How relevant is your ad to the search results?
• Distance: How far is your business from the searcher’s location?
• Prominence: How well-known is your business in the offline and online community?

Businesses with more detailed and accurate information are easier to serve in the search results. There’s more content for Google to work with, so it can better determine if your listing is relevant.

In addition, completing your location information helps you appear in results that are relevant to the searcher’s distance.

In short: By filling out your profile completely, you’ll provide your audience with more information and they’ll be more likely to engage with your content.

2. Integrate keywords

Like SEO for your website, you’ll want to use keywords for Google Business Profile SEO.

This is how you improve your local ranking on Google. By incorporating keywords into your listing, it sends Google a positive signal that your listing is in the right place.

As stated previously, Google crawls through your provided information to ensure that it’s ranking your listing in relevant results. Adding keywords helps Google better understand your listing and its relevance to nearby shoppers.

The keywords you integrate into your Google Business Profile listing should also be on your website. You want to integrate these keywords into your website with the intention of getting to the top of the results for that search query.

If you are able to rank for that search query, it will create a double exposure for your business, which makes people more likely to choose your business.

In short: Integrate keywords into your Google Business Profile listing and your website to appear in front of more relevant leads.

3. Keep business hours up to date

If you want to drive people to your local business, you must keep your hours of operation up to date. While this doesn’t directly impact how Google ranks your Google Business Profile listing, it does impact how users interact with your listing.

It discourages and frustrates shoppers when your hours on Google Business Profile say one time, but your storefront says another.

Imagine someone seeing that you’re open until 10 p.m. only to get to your store at 9:15 p.m. and find out you actually close at 9 p.m. They would feel extremely disappointed and frustrated to find that the information was inaccurate.

You should always have an accurate and up-to-date listing, so revise your hours as they change. Include any changes for holidays or seasons. You can even update the hours if you’re planning to close for a renovation!    

In short: Keeping your hours of operation up to date will drive more leads to visit your business. You’ll avoid discouraging potential customers from visiting your business.

4. Add photos

If you want your GMB SEO campaign to drive shoppers to your location, add photos to your listing. This is how you can improve your local ranking on Google to reach and engage more leads.

Businesses tend to skip adding pictures to their listing, but photos can have a positive impact on your listing’s performance. Many people prefer visual elements to text.

They can see things better in a photo than reading and comprehending text. By adding photos to your listing, you’ll engage your audience better. They’ll get a visual insight into your store. You can provide photos of your staff, products, or place of business.

Let’s say you own a pizzeria. You could add photos of:

• The inside of your business
• Photos of chefs cooking
• Photos of popular menu items and dishes

If someone found your listing for the first time, they would get a lot of insight into your business.

In short: Uploading photos to your listing will drive more traffic to your local business. It’s a crucial part of being successful with Google Business Profile SEO.

 

5. Manage reviews

Reviews may be the most important piece of your Google Business Profile SEO strategy. Many people leave reviews about companies on Google Business Profile profiles.

Likewise, new visitors are highly likely to look at reviews before deciding if your business is a good fit for them. Review management is a crucial part of your GMB SEO plan.

You want to ensure that you’re monitoring reviews so that you can keep negative reviews from deterring business away. Not everyone will have a satisfactory time with your business, and that’s okay!

The important part is that you address their issues and concerns. People expect to see negative reviews, but they also expect that you’ll address the issues and concerns listed in reviews.

When managing reviews, take the time to thank people for their kind words. It will reinforce their positive perception of your business. As for negative reviews, address the reviewer’s concerns. You should offer them a chance at a better experience with your business. Some people may even change their minds and update their review to give you a better one!

In short: Managing your reviews allows you to have more control over how your audience perceives your business. By managing reviews, you’ll see better results from your Google Business Profile SEO strategy.

6. Add posts

Adding posts is one of the newest features Google implemented into their Google Business Profile listings. This feature triggers when people search for your brand.

It’s a little box that appears below the rest of your Google listing. With these posts, you can have up to 300 words in length and include a photo. It’s a great place to post about an event or sale at your business. These posts only last for a week.

If you’re posting about an event, the post will remain until the event is over. This is a great way for you to attract people to your listing and get them to choose your location. For instance, let’s say you own a bowling alley.

You have an event at the end of the week when everyone can bowl for two hours for $10.  If someone was searching for a bowling alley, found yours, and saw your event, it could tempt them to choose your bowling alley.

These posts are a great way for your business to attract more people to your listing. You’ll see better results with your Google Business Profile SEO campaign by adding posts to your listing.

In short: By adding posts to your Google Business Profile listing, you will catch your audience’s attention and get them to engage with your content.

7. Support appointment bookings

Google Business Profile also has a feature that allows customers to book appointments and make reservations with your business.

This feature includes a link that users can click, which takes them to a landing page where they can schedule an appointment from your site. This feature is a useful tool if your business continuously receives calls for appointment bookings and requests.

If you can promote this page of your website through your Google Business Profile account, then you can make booking appointments less of a hassle for your customers, as well as your employees. Appointment booking via Google Business Profile is an excellent tool for businesses such as:

• Healthcare offices
• Restaurants
• Law firms
• And more!

This feature is another worthy addition to your Google Business Profile. It benefits not only your company, but also your target audience. Plus, it’s a tool that enhances the search experience of consumers.

8. Post questions and answers

Another useful Google Business Profile optimization tool is an easily accessible questions and answers page for your business.

You can view this feature in the Frequently Asked Questions section of your Google Business Profile. Your company can also monitor it 24/7.

Consumers are always coming up with questions to ask about your business, and this feature lets you provide them with answers fast.

The Q&A feature is accessible through the Google Maps mobile app too. That means you can read and answer questions from any device at any time.

The Q&A feature of Google Business Profile also offers your company maximum control. You can remove complaints and irrelevant questions that you don’t want on your results page, for example. This feature allows for you to be in control and only make visible the questions and answers that will help your target audience the most.

9. Use messaging

Google Business Profile comes with a messaging feature that is similar to an online chat service. Like the Q&A feature, having a chat service as a part of your Google Business Profile allows you to answer a person’s questions instantaneously from your mobile device.

To get started, enable the “chat” feature and enter a phone number that can send and receive SMS messages. Something to be aware of is that your average response time is visible to users.

While you do have the option of replying to messages at your convenience, a slow response time could negatively impact your online reputation.

You can make this feature only available during operating hours to prevent slow response times. Even though this feature allows you to provide consumers with quick responses to questions, you need to avoid sharing sensitive content.

Protecting confidential information, like credit card numbers, usernames, and passwords, keeps users and your business safe. If you don’t want to use this messaging feature, you can disable it in your account.

10. Print Small Thanks

Google Business Profile also includes a feature referred to as Small Thanks.

Small Thanks allows you to take your positive Google Reviews and turn these into digital posters that you can print or share online. These posters are customizable and are an excellent way for you to share customer reviews visually!

By using Small Thanks, you can use reviews to add value to how consumers view your business.

You can use these free posters to promote your business and show potential consumers how your current clients feel about your company. The words of your shoppers can have a tremendous impact on how others think of you and your business.

For example, did you know that 80 percent of users credit online reviews for changing their mind about a purchase? That means reviews for your business can convince people to choose your restaurant, club, or store for their next outing.

11. Create an optimized business description

Adding a business description to your profile introduces another level of Google Business Profile optimization. A well-written business description is a great way to promote your business and allows for you to briefly describe what your company does and how you bring value to consumers.

A business description can also assist with differentiating your business from your competition.

Google Business Profile allows business descriptions to include up to 750 characters, which is around 250 words, so make the most of this opportunity.

Treat your business description like a page on your site by providing users with helpful content and not just words that are there to fill up space.

For the best results, Google recommends using your description to cover the following:

• What your business offers
• What sets your business apart
• How your business started

While you may want to use your business description to alert users to limited-time promotions, deals, or everyday prices — don’t. Google doesn’t recommend it, and it can leave shoppers disappointed if you don’t update your description after a sale.

Bonus: Invest in local SEO

GMB SEO will help you drive local traffic to your business, but if you want to maximize your reach to local customers, local SEO is the solution.

Local SEO helps you appear in more local search results and helps people in the nearby area find your business.

If you invest in local SEO, you’ll find that Google Business Profile optimization services are typically part of your package. These two strategies work together to maximize your reach in local markets. With local SEO, you’ll:

• Optimize your website for local searches
• Update your name, address, and phone number (NAP) across local directories and listings
• Earn reviews across the web
• Create locally-relevant content to drive traffic
• And more

When you use Google Business Profile optimization services with local SEO, you’ll maximize your local reach and generate more customers for your business.

Get local customers in your store with Google Business Profile SEO

When you invest in GBP SEO, you’ll help drive more local traffic for your business. It’s a great way for you to help your business grow and reach more new leads.

If you’re looking for a Google Business Profile SEO service, contact us online to see how our team of more than 500+ digital marketing specialists can optimize your listing and drive ready-to-buy shoppers to your store.