--YOUR GUIDE TO-- GOOGLE MY BUSINESS ScreenRelevance.com 720-298-9898
TABLE OF CONTENTS 1 Introduction, pg 3 2 Setting Up & Verifying Your Page, pg 6 3 Completing Your Page, pg 11 4 Reviews & Your Page, pg 15 5 Using Insights, pg 18 6 Conclusion, pg 19
INTRODUCTION An optimized local listing on Google is essential for your local web presence and SEO, especially if you promote your products and services to a local audience. Having your business claimed on Google is one of the best ways to help prospects find your business online when they conduct a local search on Google or Google Maps. However, 42% of local businesses 1 either don t have their business information claimed via Google My Business or don t know whether or not it is. If you ve done a recent search for your business, you may have noticed incorrect contact information about your business, and chances are, your prospects are seeing it, too. And this means you could be missing out on potential customers who may overlook your business or have a negative experience when they try to reach you. Managing your business information with Google My Business gives you some control over what people are finding across Google properties. What is Google My Business? Google has made some changes to how they name and define some of the key players in their listings ecosystem, so let s start by defining a few terms. Google My Business - This is a centralized dashboard where a local business can manage their business listing information across the Google listing ecosystem all in one place. It s a business-facing site, designed to make it easy for you to keep the information you are sharing directly with Google (and indirectly with consumers) consistent and up to date. Google listing - This is the consumer-facing information that people see when they search for your business directly via the Google search engine, and it s also visible other places like Google+ and Google Maps. This is a generic term that refers to the consumer-facing side of your local place s information that you enter and manage inside of Google My Business. Google+ - This is a consumer-facing, interactive social site where people go to share and search for information. Google+ pages display business information like your address, phone number, and website. 1 ReachLocal, 2016. 3
Google+ Local - This was a consumer-facing site which Google previously used to brand the local versions of its business pages. Google has stopped actively referring to its listings as Google+ Local, but technically, this feature still exists, because Google shares local business listing information with users inside of Google+ on your business page as mentioned above. Google Maps - This is a multi-platform information source where Google shares maps for desktop, tablet, and mobile users via search engines, apps, etc. Updated local listing information via Google My Business is critical to ensure that your business shows up with accurate info on Google Maps across all devices. While there are a lot of different terms and sites we talk about when it comes to managing your business listing information via Google properties, the main takeaway here is that Google My Business essentially simplifies this all for your business. Now, instead of worrying about what goes where, you only need to focus on getting your listing information updated in Google My Business then Google will take care of getting this listing information in all the right places! A Note About Google AdWords Extensions One thing to be aware of when it comes to your business information in Google is that if you re actively running search advertising via Google and leveraging their location extensions, your business information for these ads will be managed through your AdWords account, rather than via Google My Business. So, you want to make sure that you re actively keeping your information updated in Google My Business for organic (unpaid) listings in Google as well as via AdWords for your paid search advertising with Google. 4
What s the Big Deal About Google My Business? Your Google listing shares a lot of the most relevant information people want to know about your business like where you are physically located, what products and services you offer, how to contact you, where to learn more about your business, and how current customers have reviewed your products or service. Research shows that 75% of shoppers 2 are more likely to visit a business after finding helpful information about them in search results. So, the more information you provide on your Google listing, the better your chances of enticing customers to your business. In addition to showcasing information customers are looking for online, verifying and managing your information on Google My Business is imperative for SEO. Search engines look for a consistent business name, address, and phone number (referred to as NAP ) associated with your business across the web, and if your information is inaccurate or inconsistent, there s a chance you won t show up in local search results for your products or services. Managing your business information via Google My Business can help you maintain consistent NAP across the web and help boost your SEO efforts. This guide will walk you through how to claim, set up, and optimize your listing on Google My Business so you can start showing up and driving leads and even sales! from your listing across web, mobile, and app searches. Research shows that of shoppers are more likely to visit a business after finding helpful information about them in search results. 2 Google, 2016. 5
Your Guide to Google My Business. Ebook SETTING UP & VERIFYING YOUR PAGE To begin the process of setting up a new Google My Business account, go to www.google.com/business and click Get on Google. If you already have a Google or Gmail account, sign in with your existing login information. 6
If You Need to Set Up a New Google Account, Follow These Steps: 1 2 Click Create an Account Fill in the required information and follow the on-screen instructions. 3 Enter the verifcation code from Google; you can choose to receive a phone call or a text. This will fnalize your Google account setup. 4 Once your account is set up, navigate back to www.google.com/business. Note: Sometimes Google does not require verification when creating a new Gmail account, so you may be able to skip Step 3. 7
Once you are logged in to Google, you ll be prompted to search for your business. Enter your business name and address, and then click the magnifying glass to search. If your business appears in the results, click the existing listing and certify that you are authorized to manage it. If your business does not appear, select Add your business. 8
Add Your Business To Add Your Business, You ll Need to Enter the Following Information: 1 Business name 2 Country/region 3 Street address 4 City 5 State 6 Zip code 7 Primary business phone number Google may use this to verify your business 8 Category Google has predetermined categories, so choose the one that most closely describes your business. When entering this information, make sure it s up to date, accurate, and consistent with what s listed on your website, including small details like how you punctuate the word Street or if you include terms like LLC in your business name. This helps Google recognize and trust your information across the web and is critical for your web presence. 9
Verifying Your Listing You ll need to verify your listing with Google before it will show up in local searches. You can choose to verify your business either by phone or mail. If the phone number listed is correct, it s best to choose that option so you can instantly verify your business. Simply click Call me now and enter the verification code once you ve gotten your callback. It usually only takes about 30 seconds for Google to call you, but if you haven t a received a call in two minutes, try clicking Call me now again. If aren t able to verify your business using the phone number listed or Google doesn t give you this option, you can have Google send your verification code via a postcard to your listed address, and it should arrive in 1-2 weeks. Once you receive your postcard in the mail, enter the verification code using the following steps: 1 Log in to Google My Business 2 Navigate to your business page and click Enter code in the top blue banner 3 Enter your verification code, and now your listing is verified! 10
Your Guide to Google My Business. Ebook COMPLETING YOUR BUSINESS LISTING Once your Google My Business Page is set up and verified, it s time to add content that local searchers want to see about you. Upload Identity Photos Google now allows you to upload a profile picture in addition to your logo and cover photo. Profile picture: Your profile picture is something that is supposed to help people recognize your business across Google. Google suggests a picture of a product you offer. The best dimensions for this picture are 250 x 250 pixels. Logo: Your logo is typically a 250 x 250 pixels version of your business logo. If your logo is horizontal, you may need to use a picture-editing website to resize or reformat your logo. If your logo still looks strange once uploaded, try using an icon that is still representative of your business. For example, the ReachLocal logo is horizontal, so our profile picture is an icon associated with the brand. 11
Cover photo: Your cover photo is displayed on your Google+ page and should be something that showcases your business s personality and helps potential customers identify you. One idea is to use a high-resolution picture of the exterior of your business, your employees or team members, or the interior of your location. For example, if you re a salon owner, you could have a picture of you with your staff, you with a client, the outside of your building, or your waiting area (and make sure you have written consent from staff or clients you include in any photos you publish online!). The best dimensions for your cover photo are 2120 x 1192 pixels. Uploading Images To upload your images, either click the circle next to your business name in the dashboard, or click PHOTOS at the top of your dashboard. Upload each photo in the correct box. It s suggested that you upload all three photos, but if you would prefer to upload either a profile picture or a logo, you can choose to use just one of these. Make sure all your identity photos are clear and legible. 12
Add or Update Your Business Information Go back to the My Business section and click Edit or click EDIT INFO at the top of your dashboard. Fill in as much information you can. Make sure your business name, address, phone number, and website are correct and are consistent with your business information across the web. This information ties into NAP, which we discussed earlier, so make sure all the information you add here is accurate in terms of how you spell, punctuate, or abbreviate your business name. Add in your hours of operation, additional business categories if applicable, and a short introduction about your business. Your introduction should include your business name and one or two of your top products or services. Then click Done editing to save the information. 13
Add Business Photos Click PHOTOS and upload relevant business pictures. Google suggests adding at least three photos in the following categories to show customers what they can expect when doing business with you: Interior photos: Let customers know what it looks like inside your business Exterior photos: Help customers recognize your business Photos at work: Showcase the services you offer Team photos: Show off your employees (with their consent) Additional photos: These are any pictures that don t fit into the other categories but that you would like customers and potential customers to see Completing your profile by adding images and the information suggested by Google can boost your chances of appearing in search results for your products and services, and it gives users a good indication of what it s like to work with your business, which can be a deciding factor in whether or not people buy from you. 14
Your Guide to Google My Business. Ebook REVIEWS & YOUR PAGE Reviews are important for your business. Research shows that 97% of consumers 3 say they read online reviews about local businesses, and 90% of consumers 4 say positive reviews have influenced their purchasing decisions. Once your Google My Business information is verified, users can begin leaving reviews about your business on Google. This star rating will appear with your organic listing when people search for your business on Google, so reviews are an important factor when it comes to managing your Google listing. There are two aspects to managing reviews: getting new positive reviews and monitoring and responding to negative reviews. Here are a few steps you can take to manage your reviews so that your reputation impresses searchers who find your listing. Getting New Reviews To encourage customers or clients to leave you reviews on your page, there are a few things you can do on your marketing materials, such as: Add the Google+ icon to your website with a link to your listing Create signage to place in your physical location directing people to your Google listing Ask customers to leave you a review on your Google listing after buying from you Encourage loyal customers to leave you a review through an email newsletter 89% of consumers 5 say, if asked, they would leave a review for a business after they ve had a positive experience, so make sure you re taking advantage of this by asking for reviews regularly. Research shows that 97 % of consumers say they read online reviews about local businesses. 3 BIA Kelsey, 2015. 4 Marketing Land, 2013. 5 Yodle, 2015. 90 % of consumers say positive reviews have infuenced their purchasing decisions. 15
Responding to Reviews To respond to a review, you can log into your Google My Business portal and click REVIEWS on your dashboard. This will show you all the reviews you have received via Google. When you find the review you want to respond to, click View and reply. A User The User left just a rating. Responding to Negative Reviews: Here s a quick checklist for responding to negative reviews: Stop: After you read the review, stop and take a moment to process what you read and see if you can identify the main complaint. Drop: Write a preliminary response, and then make sure you drop any hint of defensiveness. Keep your response positive, helpful, and sincere. Roll: Try to roll the conversation offline by leaving a phone number or email address where the reviewer can contact you for a resolution. 16
Flagging Reviews When necessary, you can fag a review for removal for the following reasons: Review contains content that is hateful, violent, or inappropriate Review is off-topic Review contains a conflict of interest Review looks like spam or an advertisement Once you fag a review, Google will review it and determine whether or not it should be removed. You ll be notified via email either way. Your Google My Business page is a great place to start managing your online reputation and create a way to interact with happy customers and resolve issues with other customers. 17
Your Guide to Google My Business. Ebook USING INSIGHTS Verified Google My Business listing offer useful Insights. This is where you can see how users are interacting with your Google listing and Google+ page. To access your insights, click INSIGHTS at the top of your dashboard. What You ll See In the insights section, you can see information about: Views: How many times your Google listing appeared in search results and how many times users viewed your Google+ page, posts, or photos Clicks: How many times users clicked your listing to visit your website, get driving directions, or call you Driving direction requests: How many times users requested directions to your business and the approximate location they are traveling from Phone calls: How many users called you from your Google listing You can change the date range of the data you re viewing in the right-hand corner for each section, and you can also drill down into this data to see insights from your Google+ posts and your audience. This data is helpful so you can track the activity on your Google listing and Google+ page. Your views and insights will start off low until you build up traffic to your listing or page, but the more you drive traffic, engagements, and reviews, the more views, calls, and website visits you ll get from the local search results. 18
Your Guide to Google My Business. Ebook CONCLUSION Once you have a claimed and optimized your information on Google My Business, your page can start showing up for local and map searches related to your business and business name. Plus, you can drive more visits and conversions with a fully optimized profile that impresses consumers. You can also use our tips for managing reviews on your site and using Google Insights to track your page s performance. READY TO GET STARTED? Verifying, optimizing, and managing your business information on Google My Business may seem like a time-consuming process. But, without accurate information on these listings, you may not show up on local searches, and you could be losing leads to competitors who do have an optimized listing. If you re like our readers, chances are you ve seen inaccurate information about your business online, but did you know you can do something to fix it? Though extremely important for Google-specific searches, Google My Business won t get you found everywhere and isn t the end all be all of your local presence. In fact, there are over 50 local listings that can help your business get discovered online, including directories like Yelp, Yahoo, and Bing. You not only need these listings to be complete and engaging, but they also need to be consistent with one another so that search engines know they all belong to your business. If you think managing your information on Google My Business is time intensive, just think about all the work that needs go to into finding and updating all the directories that can impact your business local presence. Screen Relevance can help. with ReachListings, we set up and optimize your Google My Business account, a Yelp branded profile that stands out both on the Yelp website and in local searches, and optimized business information on more than 50 recognized directory listing sites to ensure your business can be found and impress consumers when they search. CONTACT US TO LEARN HOW YOU CAN GET STARTED TODAY. SCREENRELEVANCE.COM 720.298.9898 19 2016 ReachLocal, Inc. All Rights Reserved. REACHLOCAL is a registered trademark. All other marks are the property of their respective owners. No reproduction without permission.