Google Gifts Power to the People | DMDU Connect

 

GOOGLE My Business is a free and easy, powerful tool to manage your online presence.

Having a business profile on Google My Business helps you drive engagement with local customers across Google Search and Maps.

Plus, you can showcase products and services in posts and receive client reviews that can then be used on your website.

Why would you pass up that opportunity?

Yet so many businesses fail to tap into this essential resource or benefit from its full potential.

Just go on to Google and search for Google My Business. Sign up and follow the steps.

You will receive a six-digit code that needs to be verified because Google wants to ensure you are a real business and at that location.

Once you’ve verified the code, go step by step to fill out as many details as you can for the business profile – from the website URL to tags and a link for online bookings – to boost local search results.

Google determines local ranking based on three factors:

1. Relevance: how well a local listing is matched for the search.
2. Distance: how far that business is from the location where the person is searching.
3. Prominence: how well-known the business is across the web (its links, articles, directories and Google reviews are all factored in).

 

Combined, these factors help find the best match for what the user is searching for because Google is “user-intent” (seeks what the user wanted when he/she typed search terms into a search engine).

Elisha recommends posting regularly – at least once a week – and responding positively or negatively to Google reviews (because not only does that show you value customer feedback, a response also will help rank your business higher in any Google search by feeding the algorithm).

Take the example of someone in Murwillumbah searching for a plumber.

Three businesses that have Google My Business immediately appear: Murwillumbah District Plumbing, Daniel Gray Plumbing and Bomford Plumbing Pty Ltd.

Customers quickly see where the businesses are located on the map, how far away they are, and directions to their premises.

They can see the stars ratings from reviews (Murwillumbah District Plumbing has 3.9 stars from seven reviews, Daniel Gray has 5 stars but only one review, and no reviews for Bomford).

Other useful information the businesses have included in their profiles are website links, phone numbers and the next opening times.

Google My Business profiles feature an option for photos so prospective customers can see the quality of work, the process or products available.

Several “call to action” features are available to engage prospective clients, including a direct phone number plus a hyperlink to the website. When customers click through to the website, they’re instantly part of remarketing.

If you have a business appointment link, you can include a “request a quote” button.

Social media links such as the Facebook icon appear at the bottom and once hit, that customer goes into the remarketing bucket, too. If the Google My Business profile accurately reflects the business social media profile, Google links them together.

Customer reviews also have their place. And if you, as a business owner, have the Google My Business app and you’re talking to or with a client, you can share the link as a text message or on Messenger, for example, so they can give an instant review.

The power of posting on Google My Business becomes obvious quickly.

This local plumbing business, for example, had 348 views and 300 searches over one month.

Of the photos posted each week, some received 50 views.

That’s 50 people looking at that business and the type of service offered.

Through Google My Business Insights, customer actions can be gauged.

This business had 80 visits to the website which adds to the remarketing bucket and also comes in handy for cheaper rates when running paid ads.

A further 22 people called that business and three others sent a message.

If he wasn’t on Google My Business, this plumber would not have been found so easily and quickly.

He wouldn’t have received those 22 calls and would have missed out on business.

Not bad for a free marketing tool that’s frequently under-utilised.

Use it wisely and reap the benefits.

Blog Post created from Elisha de Jong’s DMDU Connect LIVE 2020 Presentation.

If you would like to watch the full presentation, CLICK HERE and start your FREE 7 Day Trial.