Google My Business (GMB) is a free tool offered to businesses by Google. It allows businesses to provide quick and relevant information about their business to customers.
After searching for your business by name, users will see a GMB listing with your business information to the right of their screen (or at the top of the screen on mobile and tablet). From this, they can visit your website, ask for directions and make a call. Quick and reliable information is essential to drive customers to your business, and GMB ensures they receive the most updated business details.
So Why Should I Use Google My Business?
Google My Business is a completely free tool. What it provides is quick and relevant information about your businesses to customers. Not only is it free, but the user interface is very simplistic and easy to understand. Google even run you through setting up your listing and managing your posts.
There’s absolutely no reason you shouldn’t set up a Google My Business listing.
Essential Information to Include
When setting up your Google My Business Listing, it’s important to fill out all GMB information fields. It’s also great to include high-quality recent photos showing some of the recent products or services offered by your business. With the introduction of Google Posts in 2017, it’s also great to publish your current promotions and events through GMB.
· Business Information
When setting up your business listing, make sure you include:
- Business Name
- Product/Service Category
- Address & Service Area
- Business Hours
- Phone Number
- Website URL
As your GMB listing is the first thing users will see when searching for your company, it is important to make any changes to details as soon as they happen. This could be such things as a change of address, increased service area etc.
· Photos
Photos are a terrific way to show off the products and services offered by your business. A suitable place to start is to include some images of the exterior and interior of your premises. Include some images of your products or services so customers get an understanding of what your business can provide. Then, as time goes on, update and add photos to your GMB listing to ensure recent and relevant photos are always available to users.
· Posts
In June 2017, Google Posts was made available to all Google My Business users. These posts show up for 7 days and are located under your business details. They include a photo with a description and you can also add a call-to-action button which directs users to a page of your choosing.
Google posts are an easy and efficient way to provide information to customers about new products or promotions. As a small business owner, the ability to succeed with Google Posts depends on the small amount of extra effort you put in such as tracking click activity with UTM codes. However, in the end, it is very easy for any business owner to understand Google Posts and increase traffic to their business website.
What Insight Does Google My Business Provide?
Another great reason to use Google My Business is that it provides some great insights as to how your potential customers are accessing information about your company. GMB gives insights into:
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· Total Searches
How many customers that have found your business directly or through discovery.
- Direct – Found your company through searching for your business or address.
- Discovery – Found your business through searching for a product, service or category.
· Where Customers View Your Business
GMB insights allow you to see how many people viewed your website through Googles Search or on Google Maps.
· Customer Actions
This insight is a terrific way to understand how your customers are interacting with your business. It includes graphs to show you the number of customer actions you receive on any given day. This includes the number of customers that visited your website, how many customers requested directions and how many called your business.
· Photos
In the photo views and photo quantity section of GMB insights, you are given a comparison between similar businesses and your business. This helps you get a better understanding of how your business photos are performing so you can make changes to stay ahead of your competition.
If you are a small business owner, you should consider creating your Google My Business listing now. It’s a completely free tool that provides fast and reliable information to customers, which is what customers have begun to expect in this digital age. After creating your GMB listing, consider creating weekly Google Posts. It’s an untapped resource many businesses are not currently using which could differentiate your business from its competition.
Author Bio
This article is written by Alex Hamilton, on behalf of White Chalk Road – SEO and online marketing professionals based in Perth, Western Australia. You can catch him on Google+.
