Why sign up for Google My Business?

In 2024, it is no longer enough to have a website for successful business development. To ensure that customers can quickly find your company online, it is extremely important to be present on Google maps. This is where the free Google My Business (GMB) tool comes in.

According to Bright Local, 87% of consumers search for local businesses online. And 92% of them choose businesses on the first page of Google's local search results. Having a complete and up-to-date page in GMB increases the chances of being at the top of search and mapping results.

GMB allows you not only to mark your company on Google Maps, but also to share all the important information about it:

• business description and categories
• address, working hours, contacts
• photos of goods, services, the company itself
• news, promotions and events
• links to the website and social networks
• customer reviews and ratings

According to Moz research, a GMB page is one of the top 3 ranking factors in local search. And business activity in the service (publications, responses to reviews) increases audience engagement and has a positive impact on website SEO.

Among the Ukrainian companies that successfully use Google My Business are Rozetka, Citrus, ATB, Vkusno i tochka, and Silpo. They regularly update information about their stores, post relevant photos and promotions, and answer users' questions. This helps them drive traffic not only to the website but also to offline locations.

In this guide, we'll take a closer look at what Google My Business is and how to get the most out of it for your company. You will learn who is suitable for this tool, how to create and optimize a page, and what features to use to interact with customers. You will also get tips on how to promote your business in Google local search.

What is Google My Business and why do you need it?

Google My Business (GMB) is a free service that allows businesses to manage their presence on Google maps and search. With its help, any business can create a public profile with all the key information and interact with customers.

The main functions of GMB include:

1. Placing a company on Google Maps. You specify the exact address of the organization, and it appears on the maps. Customers can build routes and find you offline.
2. Publishing up-to-date information. In your profile, you can specify your working hours, contacts, links to your website and social networks. You can also share news, promotions, photos, and videos.
3. Interaction with customers. Users can ask questions and leave feedback about your business. You can answer them on behalf of the company, demonstrating your customer focus.
4. Performance analytics. In your account, you can access statistics on profile views, the number of calls, and route requests. This allows you to evaluate traffic sources and the impact of optimization.

There are many benefits to using GMB for business:

• Increases the company's visibility in search. In the case of branded and geo-dependent queries, your company will be displayed at the top of the search results with extended information from your GMB profile. According to Moz, 33% of local searches lead to a click in this block.
• Strengthens online reputation. Reviews and ratings from GMB influence the decisions of potential customers. The more positive reviews, the higher the trust in the brand. BrightLocal found that 87% of consumers read reviews before visiting a local business.
• Increases traffic to your website and offline locations. From a GMB profile, users can immediately go to your website or build a route to a physical address. In addition, the service indexes the content of the page and takes it into account in the ranking for relevant queries.
• It helps to study the audience and competitors. Built-in analytics shows how people find and interact with your profile. It also allows you to compare your performance with local competitors who also have GMB.

The effectiveness of GMB is confirmed by the success stories of Ukrainian companies. For example, the Citrus chain of stores reported a twofold increase in calls and visits to its outlets after optimizing its profile in the service. And Zakaz.ua, a delivery service, used GMB to inform customers about the current working conditions during the quarantine.

Who is Google My Business for?

Google My Business will be useful for almost any company that wants to be visible online and attract customers from its region. Here are the main business categories for which a GMB profile will be especially effective:

1. Local businesses with a physical address. These can be shops, cafes, restaurants, beauty salons, car services, medical and educational institutions. The presence of a point on maps and up-to-date information about it will make it easier for customers to find their way to an offline location.
2. Service companies operating in a certain territory. For example, cleaning companies, delivery services, couriers, taxis, and repairmen. With GMB, you can specify the service area and key advantages, as well as share recent photos of the work performed.
3. Online business with the ability to deliver or provide services remotely. Online stores, educational platforms, and consulting companies can also benefit from GMB. Posting goods/services, publishing news and promotions, collecting reviews - all of this works to build brand awareness and audience trust.

Even if the main goal of your business is to sell through your website, a Google My Business profile will strengthen your online presence. According to Google statistics, having a page on GMB increases the likelihood that a user will click on a company's website from local search results by 7 times.

But who will really find it difficult to benefit from GMB:

• Fully online businesses with no physical goods/services and no geographical reference (e.g. online exchanges, gaming applications)
• Companies without official registration and contact details
• Businesses that operate only on social media without a real offline presence

If your company falls into one of the main target categories, it's time to start creating a Google My Business account. Let's take a closer look at this process.

Create and verify a Google My Business account

To get started with GMB, you need to create or claim rights to your company page. To do this:

1. Go to the Google My Business website and click the "Manage Now" button
2. Log in to the Google account to which the business profile will be linked (it is better to use a corporate rather than a personal one)
3. Enter the company name in the search bar. If the page already exists, you will be prompted to request access to manage it. If not, proceed to create a new one.
4. Specify the main business category that most accurately describes your business. You can add additional ones (up to 10), but the main one affects your position in local search.
5. Enter the physical address of the company if you receive customers in the office/point of sale. For delivery services and online businesses, you can specify only the city and hide the exact address.
6. Select a service area on the map if your business operates remotely in a specific region.
7. Add a contact phone number and website address where customers can reach you.
8. Choose a way to verify your profile: by mail (you will receive a letter with a confirmation code to your physical address), phone, email, or instantly (not available to everyone).

After verification (usually within 14 days), your profile will be published and available to users. But in order for it to really work for the benefit of your business, you need to fill it out and optimize it.

A few important points about business categories in GMB:

• Don't use categories that are too general, like "store" or "restaurant". The more specific, the better: "comic book store", "Ukrainian restaurant", etc.
• Do not try to add categories that are not relevant to your business for the sake of better rankings. Google can block the page for spam.
• Make sure that the categories in GMB match the categories on your website and other directories (Apple Maps, 2GIS). This is a positive signal for local SEO.

If your business has several branches, you need to create a GMB page for each of them separately. This is called "bulk location management".

It is important to adhere to a single format for names and categories, as well as to ensure that the information in all profiles is up-to-date. According to Moz, contradictory information about a company on the Internet is among the top 5 negative factors in Google's rankings.

After passing moderation and verification, you will have access to the GMB page management account. With its help, you will be able to edit information about the company, publish content, respond to user reviews and questions. You can also track the statistics of interaction with your profile.

At the start, you need to fill in all the sections describing your business in as much detail as possible:

• Hours of operation
• Payment methods
• Company description
• Amenities (Wi-Fi, parking, etc.)
• Photos of the office, products, and team
• Frequently asked questions (FAQ)
• Virtual tour in 360° format
• Menu (for cafes and restaurants)
• Price list with a description of services

According to a Google study, the availability of detailed information in a GMB profile increases the likelihood of offline visits to an outlet by 31% and increases the conversion rate of visitors to customers by 37%.

The key to success on Google My Business is to regularly update your profile with relevant content. Publish company news, event announcements, special offers, polls, and other types of posts at least once a week. This signals to Google and your potential customers that your business is alive and well.

Optimizing your company card in GMB

Creating a Google My Business page is only half the battle. To make it really work for attracting customers and improving your website's search rankings, you need to carry out its comprehensive optimization. Let's look at the main areas of work on a GMB profile.

The first step is to make sure that all contact information about the company is correct and complete. The following must be present:

• Official business name
• Physical address with map reference (for online companies, you can specify the city)
• Current phone number and website address
• Opening hours, including holidays and weekends
• Categories that best describe the activity
• Attributes (amenities, payment methods, features)

According to Brightlocal, 68% of consumers stop trusting local businesses if they find inaccuracies in their online data. So make sure that the information in GMB matches the information on your website, social media, maps, and navigators.

The next task is to make your GMB profile visually appealing and informative. To do this:

1. Upload a high-quality logo and cover - they will be displayed in the profile header and in search results. Use a single corporate identity to increase brand awareness.
2. Include at least 10 photos of the company - the exterior and interior of the office, the team, products, and the service delivery process. Give preference to live photos rather than glossy catalog images. Profiles with photos receive 35% more clicks to the site and 42% more route requests.
3. Write a detailed description of your business - what you do, what problem you solve, what sets you apart from your competitors. The optimal length is 3-4 paragraphs of 250-300 characters each. Organically enter the keywords you want to rank for in local search.
4. Create a short menu of services or product categories to help visitors quickly navigate your offerings. Optimize titles for relevant key queries.
5. Answer frequently asked questions to save customers time and increase their satisfaction. Publish questions and concise answers to them right in the company description.
6. Set up the reception of messages and bookings so that users can contact you or sign up for a service directly from their GMB profile. This is convenient and increases the conversion of visitors into leads.
7. Encourage customers to leave reviews and photos - positive ratings and UGC content significantly increase trust in the company. Place signs in the office with a call to rate you on maps, send a link to your GMB profile in email newsletters, ask for feedback after a successful transaction.

Profiles with reviews, photos from customers, and responses from business owners receive 70% more calls, 55% more route requests, and 36% more website visits than silent pages.

And finally, regularly publish content on behalf of the company - news, promotions, events, polls. The frequency of posting affects the ranking of your profile in local search results. The optimal schedule is 4-5 posts per week. Use all available types of content:

• Text and graphic posts (up to 1500 characters)
• Photos and videos, 3D tours
• Goods/services with description and prices
• Events and promotions with the date and link to the landing page
• Questions from the audience with multiple choice answers

According to Google's internal data, companies that maintain a profile on GMB increase offline sales in 70% of cases.

Impact of Google My Business on SEO and local search

Active management of a Google My Business page is not just a way to present information about a company on maps. Optimization of GMB directly affects the position of the site in organic and local Google search results.

Local search is the results for geo-dependent queries that are displayed above or below the main search results and include a map with business marks. For example, for the query "coffee shop near me," Google will show the three most relevant establishments in the city with a rating, address, and opening hours.

Google uses data from the GMB to rank in local search results. Business positions are affected by:

• Relevance - how well the categories and description of the company in the profile match the user's search query;
• Distance - the remoteness of the business's physical address from the user's location or the center of the city they specified;
• Popularity - the overall rating and the number of mentions of the company on the Internet: reviews, links to the website, social networks.

Local factors in GMB account for about 25% of the weight of all offline ranking signals on Google. At the same time, 8 out of 10 search sessions with local results end with a visit to a business outlet or a purchase within 24 hours.

In addition to ranking in the local block, GMB optimization indirectly affects the position of the company's website in the main search results, especially for low-frequency geo-dependent queries.

Search engines consider the presence of a managed profile on Google My Business to be a signal of high business quality. The completeness and accuracy of the data, regular publications, ratings, and reviews all increase the credibility of the resource and its chances of being ranked in the top.

Local SEO in GMB should be an integral part of search engine optimization for any business that works with customers in a particular region. The basic checklist for working with the platform includes:

1. Creating and verifying a page for each point of business;
2. Adding the exact address, opening hours, contacts, and a link to the website;
3. Select the main and additional categories of activity;
4. Writing a detailed description of the company with keywords;
5. Posting high-quality photos of the office, products, and team;
6. Receiving feedback from customers and responding to them;
7. Weekly publication of posts, promotions, and products.

It is equally important to monitor the correctness of your company's data on third-party platforms - maps, catalogs, aggregators. Discrepancies in information can negatively affect the trust of search engines.

To analyze the results of local SEO, use Google's accurate ranking services - Rank Tracker, SemRush, SERPstat. Track the positions of your website and GMB profile for key queries with geo-referencing. Focus not only on traffic, but also on real conversions - calls and visits to outlets.

And remember: the higher the relevance of the information in Google My Business and on the related website to the user's search query, the greater the chances of a high ranking. Therefore, study your audience and their pain points in detail, create useful content, and update your profile regularly. This will bear its local fruits.

Analytics and statistics in Google My Business

Optimizing and promoting your Google My Business profile is half the battle. It's equally important to regularly track the results of your actions and analyze performance by key metrics. Fortunately, GMB offers quite extensive analytical capabilities right in the interface of your personal account.

The statistics section is called My Actions and contains several reports:

1. How customers find your company. Here you will see the number of visitors to your profile for the selected period, as well as the ratio of two types of search queries: direct (by company name) and discovery (by business category). The higher the share of discovery queries, the better your page is optimized for keywords.
2. Where customers go. The total number of interactions with the profile: website clicks, route requests, calls, chats, bookings. Data is broken down by device type - computers and mobile. Compare the dynamics of indicators and identify growth points. For example, a low CTR to a website may indicate irrelevant categories or a broken link.
3. Photos. How many views your photos get compared to your competitors, how often your company is searched for by photos. High-quality visuals increase user engagement and their desire to click on your profile. The optimal number is at least 100 photos in the current state.
4. Reviews. The dynamics of growth in the number of reviews and the average rating, the percentage of reviews that have been responded to. Companies with a rating of 4+ receive 28% more clicks than those with a rating of 3 or lower. Therefore, it is important to constantly work on getting fresh reviews and responding to negativity.
5. Chat messages. Summarized statistics on the number of chats with customers, average response time, and user satisfaction. It is important to respond promptly to all requests and maintain a high percentage of resolved issues. Ignoring customer messages can negatively affect the reputation of the business.
6. Bookings. If you have enabled the online booking feature, you will see the number of booked slots and the percentage of successful appointments. The higher it is, the better. Make sure that there are free windows in the calendar and remind customers of upcoming visits.

Be sure to compare the indicators in the dynamics by month and analyze what leads to their growth or decline. For example, a sharp jump in calls may be due to the launch of a new promotion, and an increase in route requests may be due to the addition of a point on the Maps.

In addition, use the Comparison feature to benchmark your performance against competitors. GMB will show you the average number of views, photos, and searches in your industry. This will help you understand what level your business is at and where to strive.

Don't forget about Google Analytics and Search Console. Connect your profile to these services through UTM tags and track how many conversions to the site are generated by each GMB element (call button, price, promotions). This will help you identify growth points and focus on the most converting formats.

The main GMB performance metrics that are worth tracking:

• Number of profile views
• The ratio of direct and discovery requests
• Percentage of interactions with the profile (clicks, calls, routes)
• Average rating and number of reviews
• Profile and website positions in local search results
• Traffic and conversions from GMB to the website
• Real visits and sales

Optimize the elements that bring the best results and test new hypotheses. GMB is an ongoing process of improvement, not a one-time campaign.

Common mistakes when working with Google My Business

Now you know how to create, optimize, and analyze a company profile on Google My Business. Now it's time to analyze common mistakes that entrepreneurs and marketers make when working with the platform. Here is what to avoid:

1. Mismatch of data in the profile with reality. Publishing an out-of-date address, phone number, or working hours not only misleads customers, but can also lead to a decrease in the profile's search rankings. Google scans sources daily for correct information and penalizes those who find errors. Be honest with users and search engines.
2. Duplicate company profiles. Do not create two or more profiles per location. This scatters the indicators and prevents you from accumulating social capital in one place. If you find a duplicate page, request a page merge from GMB support. And ideally, check for automatically created pages before adding a new one.
3. Posting unreliable reviews. Buying positive reviews from bots or writing them yourself from fake accounts is a bad idea. Google is able to recognize unnatural patterns and impose sanctions for them, up to and including page blocking. Work on the quality of your service, and good reviews will come to you.
4. Ignoring user reviews and questions. Just collecting feedback is not enough, you also need to manage your reputation. Respond to all comments, especially negative ones, and solve customer problems. This will show potential visitors that you are a customer-oriented company. At the same time, don't argue with trolls - state your position in a restrained and professional manner.
5. Publishing low-quality photos. Don't post blurry, dark images or images below 720 pixels. Visuals are the face of your business, so photos should be clear, informative, and professional. Use the possibility of a 360-degree virtual tour to make a wow effect on customers.
6. Lack of regular publications. It is not enough to set up a profile once and forget about it. You need to constantly update your content - post news, promotions, and product updates. The frequency depends on the specifics of the business, but at least 3-4 posts per week. This signals to customers and search engines that the company is "alive" and actively working.
7. Neglecting analytics and optimization. Many companies do not track profile metrics on GMB and miss opportunities for growth. Study reports, compare yourself with competitors, and identify growth points. This will help you optimize your content and communications with your audience.

Google My Business is a powerful online marketing tool, but it requires competent and regular management. Avoid the listed mistakes, follow the best optimization practices, and your company's profile on GMB will attract new customers like a magnet 🧲.

Also, don't forget to monitor competitors' profiles - what they post, how they respond to reviews, and what categories they are ranked in. This will help you find fresh ideas for content and approach to communications.