Everyone wants to make their business outreach as accessible as possible for their customers. You can run a business of anything and make it prominent in online market in many different ways. One of these is through Google My Business or GMB Listing, which ensures high Search Engine Results Page (SERP) ranking.
GMB Listing is a handy and reliable tool that boosts your online sales and gives your business a prominent online space. It is necessary to rank on top Google Search results, in order to make your business prominent and worthwhile. Without these rankings, it’s unwise to expect your business to expand or scale up, in both online and physical sense.
GMB Listings get you closer to the potential customers as much as possible. Once you get yourself GMB Listed, you can see a remarkable augmentation in your clientele. Nothing is as important to the business owners as organic traffic that is steady and reliable. This is where GMB Listing plays its part in diverting more safe and valuable traffic to you.
HOW DOES GMB LISTING HELP?
With GMB Listing, you get a knowledge card that includes all the details regarding your business. It makes it easy for the customers to have a clear view and information about what you are offering and where. It also provides visual aids like images or videos to further satisfy the customers. In other words, GMB knowledge card brings customers to your shop even before they actually arrive there!
Here is an example of GMB Listing knowledge card:
You can notice that the above image contains much information about the business, like;
- Business Name
- Business Type
- Address
- Hours of operation
- Popular times to visit
- Phone Number
- Link to website
- Link to Google maps
- Images
- Reviews
- Rich Snippets like Overall Star Rating
- Related Searches, and more
HOW DOES GMB LISTING HELP?
An optimized GMB page helps Google understand more about your business. It does this by helping the customers to have an increased visibility in search for your business; enriching the shopping experience of the customers in terms of ease and more time for making purchase decisions; and by generating more clean and organic traffic to our website, social channels and front door.
Just as GMB Listing is important, it is much better to appear in Google’s Three-Pack, which is more valuable and many times more effective in grabbing customers. Let’s say you search for best dental services in your local search. Here is an example of how it will appear in Google’s Three-Pack:
Seeing the above image, the potential customers are more likely to go for the third service. It is because of Star Rankings and more reviews that help them go for this dental service, despite the fact that it appears third in rank! Hence, this is the power and benefit of Google’s Three-Pack.
HOW TO ENSURE HIGH SERP RANKING THROUGH GMB LISTING?
There are a few basic things you need to include in your knowledge card if you want your business to be GMB Listed. Some of them are highlighted below:
- Provide Proper and Complete Business Information and Description
For your business’s GMB Listing, it is important to provide proper, updated and complete information and description of your business. It should include NAP (Name, Address, and Phone), Website, Description, Category, and Attributes (special offers, prominent feature, etc).
In order to create a solid foundation for your local Search Engine Optimization (SEO), this information needs to be indexed by Google Maps and Google Search. The provided information MUST be accurate, up to date and authentic, for avoiding any Google penalties or blockages.
- Invest Time and Energy in Acquiring Positive Reviews
Every online marketer knows that reviews play an eminent part in increasing sales. Most people like to have an idea from others’ experience, before making any purchase. In this sense, reviews are very helpful to them, and of course, your goal is to make things easier for your customers. Also, make sure to regularly respond to these reviews to stay in touch with your clients.
According to research conducted by Local Consumer Review Survey, 2019;
- 96% of consumers looked online for local businesses in 2017
- 86% of consumers consider online reviews more convincing than personal recommendations
- 70% of consumers left a local business review when asked
- 33% of consumers say they’ve judged a business based on its reviews
Hence, reviews make shopping experience convenient for the consumers and help you to increase your sales.
- Do not Ignore the Importance of Customer Contact
Google introduced the direct mobile messaging feature in GMB Listing due to its easy access to the businesses. It was noticed that just phone numbers do not capture many consumers as not all are interested in talking on call. Therefore, the messaging feature made it easier for the customers to stay in touch, even on the go.
This feature creates a strong connection between your business and customers. Your business can be perceived as more transparent and credible, which can lead to increased sales.
Either through live calls or SMS texts, the point here is to stay in touch with your customers and answer their queries in a timely manner. It is also a good way of getting opinions from them and making positive changes in your business, according to their needs.
- Use Posts for Updates and Promotion of Events, Offers, and Content
Google’s knowledge card is an effective way of highlighting your star offers, promotional content or any update regarding your business or services. You can specifically, change or add Blog articles, Company news, Upcoming events, Special offers, Product promotions, eBook downloads, Call-to-actions buttons (e.g. Buy, Sign up, Learn more, Reserve, Get offer, Suggest an edit), etc. To become a bit more interactive, one can also add a GIF or 3D visuals.
According to Google Small Business Report, 2017:
“With 82% of people turning to search engines to find local information, your Google listing is the ideal place to showcase what is unique about your business. Even when customers know exactly what they’re looking for, they still want to get to know the business and see what it has to offer. That’s why Google My Business is bringing Posts to local businesses, which is an easy way to help attract new customers and build relationships with the customers you already have”.
Apart from these, Video Marketing is also becoming a booming business strategy in online marketing. It helps to reach out to many customers at once. Your video links can be easily engaged by customers for sharing your information on social media and other business platforms. After all, a video is more appealing to the eyes and ears than reading verbose stuff about a business.
- Track Customer Response through GMB Insights
Regular check on the customer activity, response and needs is essential to remain updated and connected with the clients. You need to know how much traffic is coming to your website and from what sources.
Google insights provide you with all metrics to keep a record of your marketing progress. It specifically tells you that;
- How customers are finding your business and listing (either using direct searches or indirect discovery)
- The actions your customers are taking on your listing (e.g. visiting your site, clicking on directions, calling you, browsing the photo gallery, etc)
- Total phone calls and time when customers are calling
- Areas that your customers are approaching you
Simply put, Google My Business tracks user actions in their insights dashboard, which can help you understand what your customers find valuable in your listing. Hence, it is now easy and important to see how much lead your marketing strategy is generating.
SUMMARY
GMB Listing is an incredibly powerful way to enhance your professional lead and make your business lucrative and effective. It is a reliable way of making yourself prominent in the online marketing world.
It is very important to get yourself GMB Listed if you want to rank high in Google’s SERPs. GMB Listing is a powerful tool to engage with your customers in an interactive way, through your contact details, posts, reviews, offers, and ways of remaining updated through customers’ activity record.
Hence, you should not ignore the power of GMB Listing for expanding your online business and making yourself reach out to the world!
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