GMB or Google My Business is Google’s instrument to help enable business owners to manage their presence on the internet. Brands seeking local exposure benefit a lot from Google My Business. Naturally, businesses needing targeted and localised visibility on Google needs this very important channel. If you are one of these businesses, then here is your guide to Google My Business 2020: 13 Essentials Optimisation Points.

A Quick Guide to Your Google Business Profile

Businesses who wish to stay ahead of the pack on search engine results usually do two things: optimize their site and optimize their Google Ads. However, there is another thing that needs optimising and that is Google business listing. Also known as your Google Business Profile, this is a free snapshot of your business that customers can quickly search and scan to learn more about you and how to interact with your business. 

Google My Business

What does a good business profile in Google look like?

  1. Photos – Images must be available to give customers an idea what the business looks like.
  2. Signs of Life – It must also have links to a working website, ratings and reviews, and other indications that the business is alive and thriving.
  3. Contact Information – A working phone number, complete address, and driving directions to the business must also be included to help customers reach out to you.
  4. FAQs – Always answer customers’ questions to invite engagement from customers.

Why do you need to optimise your Google Business Profile?

  1. To improve customer engagement
  2. To improve your local marketing
  3. To boost your business’ local ranking
  4. To improve your conversion rates

Therefore, it is imperative for businesses to make sure they have a and optimise their business profiles to make sure their business thrives.

Now, let’s talk about the 13 things you need to pay attention to when optimizing your business profile. 

Google My Business 2020: 13 Essentials Optimisation Points

  1. Google My Business Account – You need to first create a GMB account to be able to create and optimise your business profile. To create an account, all you need is a Google or a Gmail account for your business and sign up on Google.com/business.Google My Bysiness - Start
  2. Fill in everything – Filling in every section in your business profile helps Google give you a better rank in local search results. In other words, the more complete your profile is, the better it is for your local SEO. A complete profile also provides customers with all the information they need to engage with your business. The following are key information about the business that really need to be filled in:
    • Business name
    • Physical and website address
    • Phone number and other ways to contact you
    • Hours of operation

Google Business Growth

Once that’s done, you can start filling in the rest of the information such as business category, products and services, questions and answers, posts, reviews, and others.

  1. Contact information – Optimise your contact information in your business profile. The business name on your business profile must appear exactly as it does in your physical store, other signages, and other listings across other platforms and sites. Your address and contact information must be accurate and your hours of operation must be indicated correctly to inform customers and avoid disappointing them.
  2. Business description – While owners cannot control the description that appears directly below the business name in the profile; there is a “from the business” section. This appears under the “reviews.” Optimise the business description by using all 750 characters provided. Make sure to fill in the first 250 with key information. You can use the information found on your website but try not to repeat information already found in other sections.
  3. Category – You must choose a category to optimise your business profile. Be specific in choosing the right category, and when possible, choose a secondary category,
  4. Shtudio Google My Business

  5. Attributes – After choosing a category, select attributes to describe your business further.
  6. Photos – Photos tell customers that the business is active which helps your ranking. It also helps get your business in the images results. Most importantly, it increases engagement. Upload high-quality photos regularly, every few days, if possible.
  7. Reviews – Reviews influence buying behavior big time which makes them a huge ranking factor. Encourage your customers to leave a review and respond in a personalised and professional manner to each one.
  8. Posts – Create posts about events, offers, and other announcements on your business profile regularly. This increases customer engagement and tells Google your business is active.
  9. Questions – This is a tricky one because anyone can ask a question and answer them. As the owner, you must stay on top of the questions to ensure accurate responses are posted on the question section.
  10. Products and services – Add your product and services to add content to the business profile. Content helps your profile to rank better. To optimise better, add the name, product descriptions, and prices.
  11. Messaging – For added value to your customers, give them the option to send a text to your phone from your business profile. This helps increase customer satisfaction which is a key ranking factor. Enable this feature on your GMB
  12. Google My Business Strategy – The last of the 13 essentials optimisation points for Google My Business in 2020 is a strategy to maintain the business profile. Your business profile must continually evolve so it needs updated information, new posts and content every few days, a steady stream of engagement from your customers, timely responses to questions and reviews, and others. A solid strategy will ensure all these are taken care of.

We hope this guide to the 13 Essentials Optimisation Points for Google My Business 2020 will help you optimise your business profile so you can stay ahead of the pack. If you need help, then company Shtudio is always happy to help you.