Having your own business can be quite challenging, most especially since competition can be extremely stiff. With today’s digital world, it’s not enough to have excellent products and services—your business also has to rank first on search engines like Google so you can have a wider audience reach.
One way to promote your business is by having a Google My Business entry to help your customers find you better.
Google My Business is a free tool from Google that allows a company to manage its online presence on Google search and Maps.
To successfully maximize this feature, you must apply search engine optimization (SEO) techniques that can influence how you appear on Google.
However, boosting your business’ SEO ranking might not be as easy as it sounds, so getting help from professionals like Balmer Agency for SEO services can ensure that you achieve your target ranking.
On the other hand, if you’re interested in knowing how to optimize Google My Business for SEO continue reading below.
Tips To Optimize Google My Business for SEO
Verify Your Business
First and foremost, it’s important for Google to know that your business is legitimate and they’re not merely promoting a scam. This is why you must first verify your business.
When you apply for verification on Google My Business, you’ll be sent a PIN code in your mail, which will be used to verify the legitimacy of your business.
This could take up to 5 to 14 days to arrive at your business’ physical address. Your business profile won’t go live on Google unless you verify it with them.
Complete Your Profile Details
Having to include complete details for your Google My Business account won’t only help your business rank first in Google, but it would also help your customers engage with your profile when they find it in the search results.
Make sure you use your real business name and not stuff it with keywords in the hopes of ranking first on search results. This will just look spammy and might confuse your actual customers by leading them to a different company.
Along with this, you should also include all of the products and services offered on your business account so you can attract more customers. When you add more listings to your business account, people will tend to stay longer on your profile, making Google think that it’s more important than your competitors’, thus making you appear first on search results.
Update Accurate Details
Keep your contact information constantly updated so your customers can easily connect with you. This applies to both your website and anything pertaining to your business’ physical address.
It’s essential that your business details are accurate as most people won’t manually search for your business name and information on Google when another listing has all the details they need.
In light of this, you should also ensure that your service area is accurate so your business could appear first on Google when someone searches for you locally. To optimize your local ranking, you can work with local SEO services.
Ensure Consistency Across the Internet
Not only should you keep your Google My Business profile accurate, but it should also be consistent all throughout the internet. The most important part of your business that should be identical is the NAP (name, address, and phone number).
Having consistent NAP details will help Google verify that you provide accurate services, and you deserve to be ranked high since you provide correct information globally.
Select a Proper Category for Your Business
As basic as it seems, many businesses tend to play around with categories and add irrelevant ones in the hopes of dominating the search results. While this may help, it won’t convert visitors into customers.
There are 4,000 categories you could choose from, and they regularly change, so it’s helpful to check for any updates if there’s a category best suited to your business.
Choose one main category and up to nine subcategories that support your business’ services. Just make sure that your subcategories are accurate and relevant.
Add Photos
Adding photos is more important than it seems, especially in this digital and highly visual world. With photos added to your business, you’ll be able to gain the trust of Google and your potential customers that your business is legitimate and is running.
For better results, optimize your photos by adding alt text, titles, captions, and geotagging for a greater chance of ranking well in the search results.
Get Good Reviews
When you have good reviews, Google will tend to put your business first compared to your competitors as reviews can prove that your business is more popular compared to others. It’s vital that you gather the most positive reviews that you could get for your business.
Conclusion
Creating an amazing company doesn’t just end with hiring the best people; it also starts with allowing more customers to view your business. With Google My Business, promoting your brand has never been easier. Make sure that you complete all of the details needed and optimize everything that you can to be on top of the search results.
If you’re having trouble optimizing it yourself, you can always hire an SEO agency to help you promote your business.
