Google My Business (GMB) enables you to manage your Google+ local business pages, Google+ brand pages and Google search listings all in one place from a single dashboard. It even has a free basic website design tool. Its main aim is to provide businesses with a  platform for company showcasing, increasing visibility and driving traffic to your website.  GMB is an extremely efficient tool for connecting businesses with customers and prospects and is one of the biggest drivers of local SEO success.

The whole idea is to make it easier for customers to find  and interact with your business .  This is the place where you manage all your business information across Google, such as search, maps,  interaction with customers on Google+ and reviews. Here I look at the main benefits of using GMB effectively and how it can help your business get itself noticed.

Improved SEO and ranking factors

There is no doubt that GMB is very important for search engine ranking and is the biggest driver of local SEO results.  GMB uses many factors to determine rankings for business, the most important three are:

1. Relevance and  whether your business description fits the search intent. Make sure you clearly define what your business does with no ambiquity.
2. Location – being clear about where you are and providing accurate evidence of location will have a big effect on local search.
3. Prominence – acquiring lots of reviews, local postings, quality links and being active on Google+ will all help  local search rankings. Keep your profile current, be active, promote local information and continue to acquire reviews because activity is a large determinant with regards to SEO.

What are the other benefits of GMB?

It’s free ,easy to use and very effective, enabling you to manage a variety of services form one dashboard and for those of you who are constantly on the go,  Google have made it available on mobile devices for that extra flexibility.  So here are its main functions:

• To manage business information contained on Google properties.
• To aid and facilitate interaction with customers on Google+ and reviews.
• To provide metrics and information through Insights which can be used to further improve your presence.
• Manage your website for organic search.
• Upload images from YouTube and connect to Google+
• Access G Suite (Apps).
• To be able to optimise search engine ranking.

Free business updates with Google Posts

New on the scene is Google Posts which has been rolled out to users this year and is available on desktop, android and iOS. Posts will show up in search and maps and provides a great opportunity to promote events, new promotions, showcase products and much more.  GMB is generally user friendly, so to create a post just go into your account and then on the left hand menu click posts and start constructing.

 Insights

Insights provides a view into your customer journey and  will enable you to learn how people are interacting with your business. You can also find out where interactors come from? Where did they find your business? And other important information.

More about Insights?

• Customer Actions – clicks, calls, listings and other interesting behaviours
• Find out geographically where your viewers are coming from.
• Which photos are popular and compare results.

Get reviews to increase search rankings

Get customers to share their experiences to rank even higher on the search results, plus reviews increase credibility and are able to influence potential clients who make comparisons.  The good new is, no longer do reviewers need to have a Google account to leave a review, making the process easier and more accessible.

Multi Location Handling

Because GMB is location sensitive, businesses with multiple locations are required to set up a Google Business Page for each location which can be done through one GMB Account, the same applies to businesses who have distinctive separate areas. For larger companies there is a Google My Business Locations Dashboard, specially set up to make life easier for businesses with more than 10 locations.

If you have any questions that I wasn’t able to answer then please get in touch for some informal advice.

Need help setting up your profile in Google My Business then we can help, why not get in touch today and speak to one of our team.