I’m not sure if you know this, but over 67,000 searches happen on Google every single second. Today alone, there will be over 5.6 billion

If your business is not set up on Google My Business and on Google Maps, you are losing out on a tremendous amount of exposure for your business. Out of all of those Google searches, about 84% are discovery searches. If you’re not on there, you’re not discoverable.

Today, we’re going to talk about optimizing your Google My Business profile, getting yourself on there, why it’s important and how to get the most out of it. So without further ado, let’s roll into it!

Optimizing Your Google My Business Listing

Google My Business Optimization Tips 2020If you don’t have a Google My Business listing yet, you need to do it right away. But that’s a subject for another day; today’s video is all about optimizing your existing listing. I’m going to cover 10 important factors today that you need to know. 

This is going to be a little more in-depth than some of my other videos, but it’s going to give you a better understanding of Google My Business so you can get the most out of it.

You’ll start getting more discovery searches, increasing your volume, and getting more clicks and calls. Get that activity up and build your momentum!

1. Complete All Your Information

I can’t stress enough how often I see businesses that don’t have all their information filled out. They’re missing their services, their products; even their social media links. 

There’s so much information that gets left empty, that needs to be included. If you don’t have that set up in your business, that is the first thing you need to do.

There’s a list of things that you can have in your profile: your social links, your phone numbers, your hours, and any other special information. If you’re a Black-owned business or a women-owned business, that’s important information to include in your Google My Business profile.

It’s also very important to include your website and logo. You can even upload a header image. There is so much information that needs to be included in your profile. On top of that, you have to make sure it’s all SEO friendly.

Make It SEO Friendly

Google My Business Optimization Tips 202046% of Google My Business searches are local. In fact, 46% of all online searches are local. That’s a big number! And you want to make sure that your business shows up in those searches. So, use the right keywords for your area and your niche. 

You may not know this, but there are over 3,900 different categories that you can pick from inside your Google My Business listing. There are tons of options for you, and you want to make it as specific as possible.

If you’re a septic company, for example, don’t just put in “septic company.” Put in “septic contractor,” or “septic pumping.” Get specific about what you do.

If you’re a graphic designer, what kind of graphic designer are you? If you’re a web designer, what’s your specialty? Is it landing page design, or brand identity design? Be as specific as possible in your profile description. That way, when people are searching for “best brand identity design,” your business comes up in the search results.

You also need to be specific about your services. List every single thing you do in your profile — you have 300 characters, and you should use all of them. Include a couple of keywords that are specific to things people search, including your geographical area.

2. Use A Tracking Number

Google does something really cool that most other directory listing sites don’t: they allow you to put multiple numbers in your listing. You want to set your primary one as local tracking number.

Whatever area you’re in (916, 530, etc.), put your tracking number in there. Below that, you can put your main business number.

What that allows you to do is to track how much business is coming from your Google My Business listing. You’ll be able to track your growth — from 10 calls to 30, and so on.

If you need help with that, we have a great tracking service called LeadButler.io. You can look that up. We have an amazing call tracking system that you can utilize there.

3. Fill In Your Business Description

Google My Business Optimization Tips 2020Next is your detailed business description. Not just what your company does, but what makes you different? What makes you stand out? What’s your Big Differentiator

Go look at your competition. Type in the competitive keyword that you’re trying to rank for, and see what other companies are writing in their description. Like I said, make sure you have those local geographical keywords.

Your description should be inspirational. Include things that move people physically, emotionally, logically, and ethically. Those are very important pieces to include.

4. Upload Great Images

If you’re a graphic designer or web designer, you need to showcase your work. You need to showcase your office. You need to showcase your team. 

Anything you can do to add more humanity, credibility, and authority to your business. Those images are going to help you do this.

One really cool part of what I do is visual design. As I like to put it, we translate people’s words into images. We create ideas and brands out of nothing, and that’s something I showcase on my Google My Business profile. I can tell a story with images that way.

5. Post Regularly

This next step is something most businesses seldomly do: posting regularly. You should be on your page at least 3 days a week, or once a week at the very minimum. 

There are software you can use to help you out with that, so that whenever you post to your Facebook page, you’re also posting to your Google My Business.

If you don’t have the time to do that, reach out to us. That’s something we here at Adrian Agency would love to help you with. Posting 1-3 times a week on your Google My Business profile is going to help you get more exposure, reach more people, and build credibility.

6. Generate Reviews

Next, and this is something that a lot of people fall off on, is generating reviews. We’re going to create a short document about this that will go into more detail — check the description in this video for the link. 

When you make your Google My Business Profile, you’ll get a short little link that you can email out to your past, current, and new customers. That link is going to be like gold for you. Every single person that you do business with should be writing a review on there.

Make sure those reviews are authentic, real, and well-thought-out. It’s okay if some of them are shorter, but they have to be relevant to what your service is.

Those reviews will also contain SEO-friendly keywords. “These guys developed an amazing website, created great click funnels for me,” etc. Those reviews are so important.

7. Respond To Reviews

Google My Business Optimization Tips 2020This is a very sensitive area for most people, because you’re not always going to get positive reviews. 

You can’t make every single person happy. So, you need to be able to respond to those reviews in a positive, courteous way, while also holding the person who wrote that negative review accountable. Then, show that you’re grateful for the positive reviews.

Those responses show humility. They show that you care and that you’re not a jerk. Some people will write negative responses to negative reviews, but that’s not helpful.

Keep it professional: “I’m sorry for the disagreement; how can we help?” Share your side of the story, without being mean or negative.

Responding to every single review not only looks good, but it will boost you up in the Google My Business listings as well. That’s the goal in all of this! Those listings in the “map pack” (the first three listings) are getting all the sales and the majority of the traffic. That can be your business.

8. Social Links & Citations

Next up is adding social links. Google lets you put the links to your Facebook page, your Twitter, your Instagram, and other social media profiles. You should include all those social links in your profile. 

Then there are citations. Citations are mentions from other businesses and directories, or as Google sees them, “votes”.

Every citation is a vote for you. If you send citations back to your Google My Business listing, you’re going to see your listing climb in the search results — especially if you’ve done all the things we talked about above.

9. Update On A Regular Basis

Google My Business Optimization Tips 2020You need to be going into your Google My Business listing on a regular basis. That means at least once a month, but preferably 2-3 times a month. 

Update new offers, post photos, and create posts. Google lets you post offers and special events. Even coupons. There are a lot of cool things you can do in your posts.

So you should be getting online at least twice a month, if not once a week, and updating your Google My Business listings. If you wait too long, you can get penalized, and Google will take down your listing. Then you would have to work your way up from the bottom again.

I hope that was helpful to you. Like I said, we’re going to have a document posted in the description of this video to tell you more. Thank you guys so much for watching, and as always, keep looking up!