Google! It’s a massive search engine and it’s become synonymous with searching for information online. It’s even become part of our everyday lexicon.
Just ‘Google It’! If you are trying to give your business the advantage and leverage of being found when someone does a search for your type of business, it makes sense to use as many Google products as you can! Google is more than a ‘search engine’ these days. People use Google to navigate and explore their local areas, discover answers to common household problems, seek out product and service recommendations by reading reviews as well as writing their own reviews about their experiences with businesses!
What is Google Business Profile?
Google Business Profile is a free listing service that literally puts your business on the map! It was created to help businesses manage their online presence and connect with local customers. Quite literally your business gets a location-specific listing in the biggest directory in the world. These listings help curious prospective customers discover the important information about your business, such as your business address, online reviews, and where they can find you online!
Benefits of Google Business Profile
There are a number of benefits to your business for setting up and getting your Google Business Profile listing optimized. Getting your Google Business Profile listing set up properly is all about visibility for those closest to your business! As a local business, you want to get in front of as many businesses as possible, right? The whole idea is to show up in the search engine for your type of business locally!
1. Rank better than #1 with the Local 3-Pack
Here is a subtle but important thing worth considering. When you search for a local business, even before the SEO-driven search results come up, Google shows you a list of nearby businesses that it considers to be the most relevant to the search. These results show up on a map, complete with star ratings and all the business information that is important to searchers (also known as your potential customers). By filling in your Google Business Profile profile as much as possible and getting Google reviews, it will help boost your chances of being included in the 3-pack!
2. Show up on Google Maps searches
Achieving 3-pack visibility is definitely a great accomplishment but it’ll only work for you when the customer is already in your area. Setting up your Google Business Profile account helps you come up on Google Maps when people search locally. These days, 86% of people are searching for businesses on Google Maps with 30% of all mobile searches are related to location! More searches mean more traffic, which means more sales. Over 50% of “____ near me” searches result in a store visit and a chance for a sale!
3. It’s Easy, Fast and FREE!
Marketing and SEO can be complicated, super expensive, and time-consuming. Setting up a Google Business Profile account is a fast and free way to get your business found on Google. It’s easy to update your business details so that customers trying to reach you have the right information. Local SEO delivers great ROI… Google reported that 46% of searches have local intent! That’s HUGE!
4. Build trust and social proof with reviews
Having positive reviews of your business is favorable! When someone searches and discovers your business, seeing positive testimonials and reviews are a great way to display social proof that your businesses is reputable. Reviews on your Google Business Profile listing make your business that much more legitimate and trustworthy! It’s been said that 73% of consumers will trust a business based on their positive Google reviews!
5. Access the smartphone market
Do you know how much time the average person spends on their mobile phone? 4 Hours! That is a massive amount of time! And a lot of that time is spent searching for businesses! Over 50% of all web traffic comes from mobile phones! Considering that information and the fact that 78% of local mobile searches lead to an in-store purchase, its clear that a winning formula is literally at your fingertips!
6. A FREE Website!!
While many businesses already have a functioning website, there are so many more that may be just getting around to moving online. For local businesses that prefer to sell offline but want to be found on the internet when someone searches for their type of business, they can get a Google Business Profile page set up in minutes! A Google Business Profile page is a simple website that shows off your business, helps searchers know where to find you, and facilitates things like placing orders, sending messages, and calls to your business!
How to start using Google Business Profile
The best part about setting up a Google Business Profile listing aside from being Free is how easy it is to do.
- Head over to Google.com/business (or log in to business.google.com if you already have one)…
- The page will prompt you to provide information that makes it easier for potential customers to get in touch such as your phone number, website URL, your physical address (which will show on the map), business hours, and photos of your business…
- Make sure to complete your business category…
- Click ‘Finish’ to verify!
Google will send you a postcard with a code to the address you entered to make sure it’s your actual address. Don’t miss this last step! Once you get the postcard (it should only take a few business days), log back in, enter the code, and you’re done!
Is Google Business Profile right for you?
Some businesses don’t have a physical location or storefront. If you don’t want everyone online to know your home address, you’ll still have to put it in during the Google Business Profile setup process to get the verification postcard but you can change the settings so people don’t see it. You can choose what information is visible to searchers. You can also select the areas you service. And this is ideal for businesses who want to specify the locations where you offer delivery or if you have a service rather than a product. As a local business, this should sound interesting particularly if you want more customers!
If you want new or more customers, go set up your Google Business Profile profile today and start tapping into all those extra searches! By the way, if you need help with this Google Business Profile stuff and don’t want to deal with all the technical aspects, we would be elected to help you.