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GOOGLE BUSINESS PROFILE OPTIMIZATION SERVICES

Google Business Profile optimizations provides small business owners with the opportunity to get discovered online through clickless search. When you claim and optimize your Google Business Profile, your business can rank in the local Google 3-Pack as well as local organic search results which increases your online visibility and drives traffic to your business.

Google Business Profile Is A BIG DEAL for Small Business

Google Business Profile optimizations results in showcasing your business in the 3-pack which can completely transform a business’ lead generation. The more optimized your Profile, the more favorable reviews and the more regularly you post, the greater your chances of higher rankings and, ideally, in the 3-pack.

For the uninitiated, your Google Business Profile is a BIG DEAL. Through Google Business Profile, you can publish your hours, services, products, images, videos, events, Q&A, reviews and posts that help consumers quickly know, like, and trust your brand. By optimizing your Google Business Profile, you provide relevant business information to both the search engines and prospective clients which clearly communicate all the essential information about your business.

Local SEO Stats

Let’s consider some local SEO stats.

• 46% of all searches on Google include local intent.
• 97% of users searched online for local business.
• 78 of local searches on mobile leads to an offline purchase.
• 24.4% of all clicks go to the first position in the 3-pack.
• 62% of business will disregard a business if they can NOT find them online.

Google Business Profile Increases Your Small Business’ Visibility

You’ve likely noticed Google map and the accompanying list of businesses when you search for a company in Google. This is known as the “local pack” (or “map pack”). Here’s how it looks:

Local packs are available for location-specific searches (or terms that indicate location such as “roofers near me”) It also includes Google Maps results as well as business information.

Google Business Profiles that are optimized for Google Business Listings are more likely to be found in the search results. In recent years, mobile searches for phrases such as “where to purchase” and “near you” have increased by more than 200%. These are called “discovery search”. Users are not looking for a specific brand but rather for a category.

If a user searches for “plumber” in a general term, your business will be more likely to show up as a geo-located result. As such:

Google Business Profile Reviews Help Increase Your Small Business’ Credibility

98% of people read reviews online about local businesses. Google Maps’ star rating next to business names (which ranges between 1-5) is a summation of reviews.

Reviews provide valuable feedback about your business. Reviews can be answered, which can help you build trust with customers. However, customers don’t always expect perfect reviews. Google says that a mixture of positive and negative reviews makes a business more trustworthy.

It is a great way of building trust and credibility with current and future customers by responding to reviews, both good and not so good.

Google Business Profile Optimizations Helps Customers & Small Business Share Your Business Information

Your Google Business Profile allows you to share pertinent information about your business, respond to questions and text message with prospects.

You can display business hours, contact information and services. You can also inform your customers of temporary changes. You can, for example, display holiday hours and mark your business temporarily closed or completely reopened.

You can also post pictures and videos regarding your location, team members, services, events, etc. Posting numerous images is a great way to stimulate engagement and promote brand awareness. Additionally, you can regularly post about your business, provide useful content, curate news and other information from other sources.

You can also post frequently asked questions (FAQ) regarding your business, services, recommendations, pricing, etc. Customers can post questions to you about your business.

Google Business Profile also has a messaging feature that allows for text messaging so that you can engage with customers reviewing your Profile.

What can you do to improve your Google Business Profile ranking? To improve your rankings, consider that Google uses 3 primary rank factors to rank businesses in their local search results. These include relevance, distance and prominence. For optimal Google Business Profile optimizations, small businesses should thoroughly enhance their Profile and local SEO to address all three elements.

#1 – Relevance
Google is interested in how closely Google Business Profile (GBP) listings match users’ search queries. {There are many tactics small business owners can use to make sure their Google Business Profile optimizations are as relevant as possible.

For Google Business Profile optimizations best practices, start by selecting the most relevant category for your niche in your area. If there are more specific categories, select those as your primary category and then use the more general category as your additional category. For example, a pediatrician would select “Pediatrician” as their primary category and “Doctor” and “Medical Center” as their additional categories.

Thorough business descriptions: You can include keyword phrases in the description of your business and you can max out the character limit (750 characters including spaces) on the profile. Follow the Business Description Guidelines to ensure that your description is appropriate for your business.

Make liberal use of images and video. Add as many images and certainly more than your competitors. Profiles with 50+ images are more likely to be liked than profiles without images. You can also add videos of your company to your GBP listing.

Google offers sections within GBP listing profiles that provide detailed information about your practice area. If possible, use all 1000 characters and include your target keyword phrases.

Service areas comprehensive: List all areas your offices cover. Include cities that are near your home office in your profile, for example.

Consistent information: Make sure your name, address and phone number are consistent with the information on other websites and on your site. Make sure you fill in the correct operating hours, website, and appointment URLs. Also, ensure that all fields contain information.

#2 – Proximity
Google uses proximity (the relationship between their locations and the information reported by an IP address or other methods to determine which GBP listing directory results will be shown to searchers) to determine which local GBP listing directory results should be displayed. For Google Business Profile optimizations, location pages on your website that are thoroughly optimized and discuss the geo-reach of your services should be fully optimized and expanded in great detail.

#3 – Prominence
The most difficult aspect of local search engine optimization involves improving a company’s prominence. Because of the competitive nature of the search engine optimization, the level of prominence required to be in the top three ranks is determined by the competition. There are many ranking factors to consider for Google Business Profile optimizations regarding prominence but the most important are reviews. See the section regarding reviews below.

To achieve higher rankings in the Google 3-Pack, you want to focus  your Google Business Profile optimizations and local SEO for your website or landing pages. They go hand-in-hand, especially when they are interlinked.

How To Rank In Local Search?

Google scans the web for information about your business and incorporates as much as possible into your Google Business Profile. To control the narrative about your business, you want t your Google Business Profile optimizations, your website, build back links, build your social media, build citations, list your business in directories, generate reviews and link all your digital assets together.

Local Links Building

Having authoritative backlinks that are more authoritative than your competition is, as we have already said, like having more votes for your place in the three-pack.

Articles

When you publish articles on other sites, this includes a link. It’s mutually beneficial then for you to write relevant articles regarding your industry knowledge and then receive a back link.  Be sure to include a post on your Google Business Profile regarding your article.

Images

As we discussed, prominence is one of the most important ranking factors for local search results. Increased prominence is directly related to having more imagery than your competitors on your website and through Google Business Profile optimizations. Having more images than your competitors can positively influence your local search engine rankings. 

You can also hire a Google Certified Photographer who can take a 360-degree tour of your office that helps maximize the use of imagery in your Google Business Profile.

Directory

These directories are similar to the Yellow Pages as they serve as contact directories. They can be used to locate a business but also help Google understand how to categorize it. These directories often include NAP (Name Address Phone Number) citations that help to determine the exact coordinates (latitude/longitude) for your specific location. It’s a good idea to pursue citations in these directories that are general, i.e. Yelp, as well as local and niche-specific directories.

Reviews

Reviews are not only important for the number of reviews, but also for the rating itself. Higher ratings will allow you to rank higher in superlative-based search results, for example, “best” or even “top”. Google won’t accept you for these types of searches if you have a low rating on your reviews. A search for “best restaurants near you” will not yield any results that have one- or two-star ratings on the map pack. See more about reviews below.

Whitespark tracks Google Business Profile ranking factors nearly every year. They report on the changes in ranking factors. The most recent report (2021) shows that review quantity and quality have become a far more significant ranking factor than in the past.

The star rating is displayed in search results if there is at least one 5-star review. Review results not only impact conversions via social proof but also affect your ranking position for certain queries.

It is important to respond to all reviews, whether they are positive or negative. This has three main benefits:

1. Consider reviews as content. As we all know, studies show that longer-form content ranks higher in search engines. It also strengthens the position of local directories in search engines when they receive reviews. Each review can be used to add content to the page or strengthen your web presence.
2. Consider your review responses as public relations. It can be difficult to communicate empathy and establish rapport digitally. By being kind and polite in your review responses, you reflect the human side to the business and that warmth improves the customer experience and can make someone more likely to recommend your services to others.
3. Your Google Business Profile review response markets your brand by showing you care about your community’s views.

What About Negative Reviews?

Negative reviews. Ugh.  The bane of many a small business.  The truth is that most every small business gets a few. The more important aspect is whether it affects your overall rating.  Most people trust a score between 4.5 to 4.9 because no business is perfect.

You absolutely want to respond to negative reviews. Don’t do it when you are triggered.  Focus on facts and be polite. Offer a remedy to their issue wherever possible. If they were not a client, report the fake review as a violation of Google’s Terms of Use and request removal.

What are the best review sites for small business owners?

It’s been said before: Being prominent means being everywhere. Not only does it improve your ranking, but also your perception of your company’s quality. It acts as a psychological trigger.

These are the best sites to find reviews:

Google Business Profile
GBP listing reviews can be hard to obtain because you need a Google account. It’s also the most important site for local SEO, so small business owners should try to get reviews here first. A caveat is that even if a client is an evangelist for you business, they should only leave reviews for the exact location where they had a client experience. All reviews left by the same person could be filtered, or triggered to a manual review.

Facebook

Facebook reviews are also beneficial. Google scans Facebook for this information and it is posted into your Google Business Profile. 

Yelp
Yelp has clear policies against soliciting reviews, so be aware that you could get banned or penalized from Yelp for requesting reviews. Avoid sending a direct link to your profile. Instead, send a link to Yelp and request that they navigate to your business profile to leave a review. 

Better Business Bureau (BBB.org)
The BBB is a great resource for small business owners. Google also references BBB several times in its content quality guidelines, so it is reasonable to assume that Google considers them a trustworthy authority.

Yellow Pages

Yellow Pages is a popular choice for search engines because of its high rank and review rating. It has many indexed pages and a high traffic count. 

What is a Citation?

It is an online reference to the NAP of your company (Name, Address, and Phone Number). They are similar to a backlink and are a ranking factor Google uses when determining your site’s authority. A citation, unlike a backlink, does not have to be linked directly to your site in order to benefit.

Top Citation Sites

Here’s a list of the top ten local citations in America. 
Facebook
Apple Maps
Google Business Profile
Bing
Foursquare
Mapquest
Yelp
Yellow Pages
Superpages
Merchant Circle

Because your Google Business Profile feeds valuable details about your business directly to Google and Google Maps, the best optimization tactic is to supply as much information as possible. Fill out everything you can. Sign in to your Google Business Profile dashboard and click on your business. Here are the elements you want to optimize.

• Use your actual business name. Adding additional keywords is against Google’s Terms of Service and can get your listing penalized.
• Make sure your address is correct. If you are a service-based business without an address for customers to visit, do not list your address as this violates Google’s Terms of Use and can get your listing penalized.
• List a local phone number. It’s a key signal, or ranking factor, that you’re a legitimate local business. If you use a call tracking number, enter the tracking number in the primary slot. (That’s what will show up to users.) Put your actual local number into the secondary slot.
• Make sure your hours of operation are correct.
• Make sure your primary category is specific and accurate. Then be sure to list as many additional, relevant categories as possible.
• Write a compelling description. Let people know who you are. Don’t stuff this section with keywords, which is the practice of loading a page with keywords to boost a site’s ranking, because the description doesn’t have any effect on how you rank in searches.
• Upload lots of high-resolution photos. This includes exterior, interior, and product shots. Add photos of your team.
• Upload videos, if you have them. Videos must be 30 seconds or shorter and smaller than 100 MB.
• Describe your services and products in detail.
• Tick off all the justifications that relate to your business, i.e. veteran-owned, etc.
• Turn on messaging.
• Link to your website and appointment pages.
• List frequent questions & answers regarding your business.

To start, make sure that your Google Business Profile is optimized, complete, accurate, and up-to-date. Your rankings depend on how optimized your Google Business Profile is. 

Do not allow Google Business Profile spammers to take your leads. People try to be ethical and follow the rules with their Google Business Profile. They optimize their profile and adhere to Google’s terms of service. Yet, this approach leaves them vulnerable to spammers who post fake listings.

To fight Google Business Profile Spam:

1. Monitor the keywords in your local 3-pack. You should also keep an eye on the rankings of your competitors.
2. Report Keyword Name Stuffing: Various local SEO studies have shown that your keyword in your name can increase your rankings in the 3-pack. If your competitors have keywords that you do not, then you lose that advantage. Check to make sure that a business that uses a keyword + location, i.e. “Plumber Seattle” is legally entitled to use that name. Check with the Secretary of State to find out their business entity name and then check DBA (doing-business-as) through your State or County registrar to see if they, in fact, have a DBA for that name. If not, then report them to Google as violating their TOU.
3. Fake listings: Listings using a virtual or mailbox address are prohibited by the Google Business Profile guidelines. Google will often accept a photo or video showing the exact location. Multiple listings can be made for the same company.
4. Fake reviews: Google reviews can have an effect on your ranking. Review swapping is a common way small business owners use ineligible reviews. This involves having clients review their locations and reviewing other businesses. Google will remove both of these types of reviews if they are caught.

If one of your competitors is using these tactics and ranking well as a result, you can report them on the Google Business Profile forum.

Digital Muzes provides Google Business Profile optimizations services. As an authorized Google Business Profile digital marketing agency, we provide optimization services for small businesses seeking  Google Business Profile optimization and local search optimization.

Contact us today. We would love to help you optimize your local business digital assets to help your rank higher, expand your reach and grow your revenue.  We look forward to partnering with you.