A Step-by-Step Guide to Optimizing Your Google My Business Listing

| Updated at January 9, 2024

These days, it’s becoming a real struggle to get visibility to the online business. But what if we tell you that there is a third entity that could help you in luring the desired traffic?

Yes, you heard right! And that is Google My Business Listings. It is the most powerful strategy that highlights your business’s features and helps the audience find your business.

So, if you are interested in making your business successful, go through this post and get to know how to optimize your Google Business Profile. This optimization will help in ranking your website’s local SEO on Google.

What is Google My Business?

First, let’s get to know what it is. This platform had some changes, and the latest update in Google My Business caused it to change to Google Business Profile.

It is a free marketing tool provided by Google that helps you manage how you appear in Google Search and Google Maps.

Let’s see how it works: When you set up a Google Business Profile, Google uses your location, products, and services to increase your visibility in the online search. It uses your business description effectively to lure in interested customers.

It doesn’t matter whether you have a physical setup or not, Google Business Profile is all-inclusive; anyone can use it.

How to Set up Google My Business Listing?

To optimize your business account, first, you need to set up your profile on the platform. Below are the steps you can follow to set up a profile:

Create a Google Account
Log in to Google My Business Listing
Add Your Business Description
Select the Business Category
Enter Your Location
Add Contact Details
Add Photos
Mention Products and Services
Add other Basic Details
Verify Your Business
Optimize Your Business Profile

Did You Know?
Complete Business Listings are 7x More Likely to Get Clicks Than Those Left Unfinished.

Steps to Optimize the Google My Business Listing

Now that you are done setting up your profile, it’s time to optimize your business! You can do that using effective SEO practices and make sure you stay relevant.

Before that, let’s get to know how Google sets apart your business from the others:

How does your business description match the customer queries or intents?
How far your location is?
What is your ranking based on the ranking factors?

You need to remember these three factors while making a business profile. Moving on, we will now discuss how to optimize the listings:

Complete Every Action During Registration

When you start making a profile, you notice that there are way too many steps and sections to fill out. It is because the detailed description of your products helps your profile rank higher in the local search results.

The above image shows the menu you are required to fill in to set up a profile.

That’s why you should prioritize filling out all the sections and providing the right details.

Write “From the Business Description”

If you are a beginner, you must know that your main business description is provided by Google. Hence, you are left with only one option to promote your business, and that is using “From the Business Description”.

The above image shows the example of “From the Business Description”.

So, you need to leverage this section to your maximum abilities, and here’s how you can do it:

Google provides you with 750 characters to use, so make sure you advertise your business within the first 250 characters.
You can also rephrase your About Us page statement.
Use keywords that best explain your business type to reach the right audience.
Make sure to not repeat the information that you have already filled out in other sections.
Never include links or HTML.

Remember to Add Special Attributes

When you select the categories, Google gives you an option to check out the attributes of the business. These attributes are special features of your ventures that customers tend to seek out.

Suppose you have a restaurant, and you offer takeouts and home deliveries, then you would check out the option of takeout and delivery.

Add Photos

Many studies have shown that customers are more likely to click on the website or request a location when the business has images.

So, make sure you add high-quality photos of your location, products, and services. Remember to not overdo the pics, that result in scaring away potential customers.

You can also optimize the images to improve your SEO search ranking by following the tips below:

Update photos every seven days.
Upload your logo as the thumbnail image.
Make sure the uploaded photo has no special effects or watermarks.
You can also refer to the Google guidelines for photos to get the best results.
Put your main focus on the quality images.

Get Google Reviews

Customer reviews affect the customer’s decisions, and Google is fully aware of this fact. That’s why it came up with the feature of Google reviews.

You can leverage Google reviews and ask your clients to leave a review after a happy visit. Make them realize the power of reviews and urge them to participate. When they do leave a review, post a reply to appreciate their efforts.

It will be a good idea to make a review section on your website that calls for action.

Post to Your Business Profile

You can consider these listings like a social media account, as they both use the algorithm to rank the posts.

However, in Google Business Profile, regular postings send positive rankings to Google and increase the possibility of consumer engagement.

So, ensure posting regularly and updating the clients on the latest features. You can also use various events and offers to entice the clients.

Monitor Your Google Business Profile Insights

Did you know about the analytical data that Google offers? Now, it has changed to Insights; it helps you to understand the business’s performance and the customer’s ways of interaction.

This data will give you insights into your business and enable you to manage the business marketing operations.

Conclusion

We know that optimization takes a lot of time and requires creative skills. However, it could be the key to success if you use it in the right manner.

So, if you are looking to level up your business, Google Business Profile is the perfect option for you. We guarantee that it won’t let you down and lead you to the road to success.