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Google My Business is a free online service that allows you to create and publish a business profile on Google Maps. Adding your business to Google maps gives customers another way to find you, either via Google Search or directly from the search results page (mobile) and driving directions pages.
Google My Business helps customers find your place by adding info like opening hours, location map, and contact information.
The feature also provides additional information about your business, like categorization, reviews, and special offers. This information makes it easier for potential customers to make an informed decision before visiting your store or checking out an online website.
GMB Business Profile
With Google My Business, you can set up your Business Profile. This profile includes your address, contact information, operating hours, and the products or services you offer.
It also offers a map with your location so that customers can easily search for your place by typing in the business name.
Since Google My Business integrates with other Google services such as google maps, google reviews, google advertising campaigns, and google plus pages, it is essential to set up an account for every branch of your establishment should you have one.
Register your business on google my business to share special offers with your followers.
Upload posters, social posts, window stickers, and other content to your Business Profile for a personal touch.
How To Add or Claim Your Business
- Sign in to your google account.
- Go to google my business. Click on Add a Business. Enter the details about your business, such as name, address, phone number, etc., and click next.
- Fill in all the required data (upload photos of place/franchise).
- Describe the products or services you offer.
- Review your listing and complete it by adding links like Google Map.
Verify through Google Maps
If you have a google business account, please access google maps and find your location with Google Maps.
You can verify this by clicking on the three dots located at the top right corner of google map and choosing the option: Google My Business.
It will bring you to google my business dashboard. Here you see that the verified badge is next to your listing.
The badge signifies that Google has confirmed your place/franchise information through data sources such as public websites or third-party vendors and people like customer service representatives from your company.
Verify your Business Open google my account dashboard in another window. When you are logged out, click on the “edit info” button located below into google my account dashboard’s header image.
Google Website Builder
Create a google website with the google website builder. It’s FREE and straightforward to use google website builder.
Google Website Builder is designed for beginners; it allows you to create rich content without technical knowledge.
Here are the steps to setting up a Google Website.
- Go to google.com/website and click on “Get started” in the top right corner.
- Register your Business in Google My Business Before you can edit your business information, you need to confirm ownership of the listing.
- Confirm that this is the correct business listing for the google my account dashboard by clicking on the google verification link, which will be sent directly to your email id registered with google my account. This google verification link is also available at google my business dashboard.
- Once you log in, click on the google confirmation button from the google notification email or visit the google my account dashboard google verify page (see image).
- Once verified, you should see the “Business owner” section located under the company name into google my account dashboard header block.
Google My Business Reviews
Google My Business Reviews is a page that allows you to see all the reviews directly from your registered google my business dashboard.
It has certain essential features like- showing your physical address, maps, and phone numbers for customer support so that customers can contact you more easily.
You can also check how many stars have been given by your customers based on the service they received from you or your company via the google review system.
Providing genuine customer service will gain some positive feedback. It’s a best practice to respond to reviews left on your Google Reviews page.
It is one of the easiest ways to connect directly with your customers. It helps build brand reputation and even keeps a tab on your competitors by checking their google review page.
Google My Business Support
Businesses don’t have access to online customer reviews on google maps.
For further help, google provides a google my business support forum, and Google has provided google my business contact information too, so you can easily reach out google team.
Here is a Google Maps support number 1-833-838-3987 if you are stuck with your google review system. They will be able to help you with any problems or hitches you may run into while trying to use their services and software.
Google My Business App:
Go to your home screen Go to the Google Play Store Search for Google Reviews or Google Local Find the app (locate it by searching for google reviews)
- Click install
- Open the app Sign into a google account
- If you don’t have an account, make one first
Google My Business API
The google my business API is how the Google my business app accesses your data, so make sure that any changes you make on the website are updated accordingly in the Google APIs.
Creating Posts on GMB
Choose your category wisely because google will filter all posts for a specific type into their search results.
Your title should be self-explanatory. Make sure that it includes keywords related to your location and products or services. Make sure you use no more than 70 characters in length as google limits everything to this number of characters.
Also, if the title adds up to more than 100 characters, Google will truncate the page name so make sure that there are no spaces in between words that would get cut off like “Google My Business” Turns into: “google my business
. “
Next, add a description to your post. Google will cut off your description if it is too long, so keep in mind the google character limit.
Make sure that you include keywords in your description in a natural way. In addition, Google allows you to add one image to your Google post.
Use this space wisely to show an example of what you sell or the services you provide.
Choose the featured image option, and google will automatically display an image from your google account.
Be sure to add your URL or the landing page for the specific service advertised on your google blog.
If you want to step up your marketing game, use video in your Google My Business Posts. Add a video to your post by clicking on the share icon in the google my business dashboard and upload your video.
Sharing your Reviews Link
You’ll want to seek out ratings from happy customers actively. You can use your Google My Business link to share and get more google reviews. If someone is already a google advocate, you can have them share your google business link for you.
Google My Business Services
It is possible to hire a service to set up and maintain your Google My Business Profile. Bright Local is google my business management service that can help you set up your Google account and google placements.
BrightLocal is an excellent tool for local SEO marketing. It’s fast, accurate, and produces quality reports. As a result, more and more local businesses realize that a robust digital presence is a key to business growth, and they’re turning to tools like BrightLocal for assistance.
Grammar Checks
Always use good grammar, spell correctly, correct punctuation, etc., in your google profiles. Of course, many factors go into a search result ranking, but these things matter to google.
It may not be as crucial to the human eye, but google does notice these kinds of details. I use Grammarly to check spelling, punctuation, and grammar.
Google My Business Dashboard
When you log into google my business, this is the first screen that comes up. This is your dashboard, and it gives you a good overview of everything you need to do for google my business.
Inside the dashboard, you can link google plus, google maps, google ads, Gmail, and all of your google sites.
Here, you’ll be able to see your Google Reviews, how many times google has called you, view google traffic to your website, and see google’s google plus pages.
Google My Business Optimization
There are some top strategies for optimizing your listing to increase the chances of it appearing on Google.
Register your business online with Google to have it featured on their pages.
Ensure images uploaded are clear, blur-free, and within the correct size limits to ensure it shows up correctly.
When people see your google listing, they’ll click on one of two tabs: google reviews or google plus page.
If you want to rank higher in Google for searches related to your industry, write a compelling google review page.
Thanks to its responsive design, people can read and contribute to this page from any smartphone or mobile device!
The second tab is Google Plus Page – It looks like Facebook, but it allows for google search engine optimization too!
Take advantage of this opportunity by adding high-quality content that intrigues the visitor.
You can add keywords to your Google reviews, Google Maps listing, google plus page, and google business profile.
Google does not reveal precisely how a business ranks in the local search results, but there are a few factors that we take into consideration to determine rankings.
For example, proximity is one of those factors. Our algorithms may rank a business farther away from your location higher than a business closer to you if it understands that they have what you’re looking for.
Google also uses prominence to determine a ranking position for a particular user. Prominence can come from your Google+ reputation, google reviews, google maps plus page, google my business listing and google business profile.
To rank high in local search results, you must have the appropriate prominence to your google ranking factors.
If you do not have these standings, then google will only show your website when there is an exact match of search term query and what is being provided on the website.
As well as this, the google mobile-friendly factor may play a role in determining rankings for specific local searches.
Websites optimized for viewing on phones and tablets will rank higher than sites that aren’t optimized because google wants to give searchers what they’re looking for as quickly as possible.
Google explains that it uses your location data to rank your profile. Therefore, you must fill in all available information about your company, including any phone numbers (Google will verify the number with a google recorded message for businesses).
The google map attached to your profile helps Google to index the place of business. For example, you can point out that you are within walking distance from the venue and indoor seating or an outdoor patio.
You can also add links to sites such as Facebook and Yelp!
Google also requests that you keep your business hours updated. People googling for your business information can see what hours you are open, if you deliver, etc.
Optional: You can keep an up-to-date calendar with google so people can see when your events will be taking place if you hold events.
In Closing
Google My Business is a must for any business that operates from a local storefront. You can verify your business, add your location, contact information, and hours.
You can add posts, videos, and images, and collect reviews that are displayed on your business profile.