Any local search engine optimisation work a small business does must have a good GMB (Google My Business) listing as its backbone.

It doesn’t matter if you’re creating a page for a local business or a national or even international operation, one of the first things to do is to create and optimise the GMB listing.

What is Google My Business (GMB)?

GMB is a free tool provided by Google that business owners can use to manage their online presence across the whole Google-controlled realm. Think of GMB as Google’s equivalent of services like Yelp!, Facebook Places or Bing Places.

But given the fact that Google has by far the biggest market share when it comes to internet-related services, it’s basically the only thing that is absolutely essential.

You absolutely need to tend to the Google My Business listing of a business if you fancy the idea of showing up in the local rankings.

A GMB listing is critical if you want your business to appear in Google Maps and in the local pack listings returned for local queries, this is the bit in the box on the right of a search engine results page, or center screen if you (or your prospective customers!) are using a mobile device. Google wants to always try its best to give its users (people doing the search) the very best results. And the way it makes sure it gives them what they want, it uses info that it has collated on all the businesses that fit the search term, and shows the searcher the ‘best fits’.

The easiest and best way to get google to choose your business is to tell it what the business is and what it’s doing. And the best way to do this is with a solid and accurate google listing and GMB page.

You can’t trick or play the algorithm. You have to give Google what it wants, and in return, it will give you the exposure you want.

As well as showing up on the search engine results page (often called the SERP) the review section of GMB is one of the most trusted sources used by prospective clients and customers. Online reviews are also, very importantly, among the most important local SEO ranking factors.

So you can see the importance of creating a solid GMB listing, here’s a shortlist with some opportunities that this tool provides:

The business has an increased chance of showing up in Google’s Local Pack (on the SERP).

The business has a chance of being featured in the Local Finder.

The business will appear in Google Maps.

The business will receive an organic search ranking boost.

Prospective clients and customers can click-to-call/message/book.

The business is more likely to get positive reviews (as the desire to leave a good review is often fleeting, and if it’s easy to leave a review, more good reviews will be left).

The business appears to be more trustworthy and reputable if it is openly presenting itself with an info-full GMB listing.

Setting Up and Optimizing a Google My Business listing

Now that we’ve established the opportunities available to you and your business once it has a great GMB listing, it’s time to get to the actual work.

Let’s create a new GMB listing from scratch (a real one, for one of our local clients) and show you the steps taken to optimize it.

We are also going to show you how to use some new features that Google has added in the past couple of months. Follow the steps below in the order that they are presented. If you already have a GMB listing and you’re only looking to optimise it, skip straight to Step 2.

Step 1: Claiming and verifying the GMB page.

The very first step to any local SEO strategy is to claim and verify the Google My Business (GMB) listing of the business you’re targeting. To do this, you’ll need to head over to Google’s My Business page [https://www.google.com/intl/en_uk/business/] and click the Manage Now button in the top-right corner.

Next, you will be taken to a series of steps in which you’ll need to insert various information about your business: name, address, postal code, type of business, contact details, etc.

This is a tedious process (and it really is) but take the time to input the required data correctly. The information that you’re providing now will serve as the backbone of the GMB listing, making it easier for potential customers to find online information about the business.

Pro Tip: If the targeted business is delivering goods, make sure that you check the ‘I deliver goods and services to my customers’ checkbox, but make sure that you leave the box associated with Hide my address unchecked – otherwise the physical address will not appear in the Local Pack listings. Of course, if you are a business that doesn’t serve a particular locality, then you can check this box. But, make sure you are dedicated to filling out the box that asks you to tell Google about all of the areas you do service.

It’s vital that you do this all correctly and it has to all be congruent with your other information online. For example, if your website or Facebook page has your phone number in one format, make sure that your GMB has it in the same format. Congruency is essential.

Before the GMB listing will become operational, it will need to get verified. This process is mainly automated and will take up to 3 days to complete. Keep in mind that unless you complete the verification process, your listing will not show up in Google Search or Google Maps.

To complete this first step, click on Finish to gain entry into your GMB listing.

Step 2: Adding the business hours

Now that you have access to the dashboard of your GMB listing, it’s time to get to work.

Keep in mind that Google will allow you to complete the optimization process before the listing goes live. We found this strategy to be preferred instead of starting to optimise after the GMB listing becomes visible.

With this in mind, click on Add hours (under Complete your listing) to set up the hours in which the business is open to customers and clients. This step is really important to your online visability, so make sure you set the hours in exact accordance to how the business operates, and again, make sure it is absolutly congruent with any other social or web page.

We’ve had clients who have been negatively reviewed by customers because their business hours were incorrect. Important: Keep in mind that anyone else can suggest a change or edit to your business listing – so if you don’t set the business hours right, someone else might do it for you in a detrimental manner.

Once you’ve set your business hours accordingly, click the Apply button (top-right) corner and move down to the next step.

Step 3: Completing the business description

Once the business hours have been set up, the next step is to enter the business description. You can do this by going back to the main dashboard menu and clicking the Add description button.

A description is not only good for letting people know what the business is all about, but it also helps Google to place your business into the appropriate search bracket. This is essential that you do this step so that your business appears on the right SERP’s.

With this in mind, when you create the description for your business, include some keywords related to your business niche. But do it naturally and without making the whole thing seem forced. Google uses Natural Language Patterns or NLP (no, not that NLP) as a search engine ranking factor, so make sure you are writing something that will sound useful and informative for a human looking for your business, not like something that is trying to appeal to a search engine. And stay away from keyword stuffing!

For your reference, let’s say you create a GMB listing for a computer service. In this case, make sure your business description includes a couple of niche-related keywords like ‘IT’, ‘computer repair’ or ‘PC service’. For the best results, pair them up with regional keywords (“We’ve been voted the best computer repair shop in Tampa”).

The initial configuration part is almost finished, but you still have a few additional pieces of information that you can add and, the more bits you fill out the more Google will favour you.

Step 4: Extra but essential

Click on the action button (top-left corner) and click on Info.

Here you can let Google know about the service area of the business, special hours, and an Attributes section. Make sure to fill out all this information because it really helps with the optimisation effort.

Honestly – it will be worth it as everything else you do to try to get an online presence, from SEO work to paid traffic, uses what you’re doing here as a foundation.

Google will prioritize a complete GMB listing that has correct hours, descriptions, and attributes over a GMB listing that has superior reviews or which is geographically closer to the searcher but lacks optimisation, or one which has incongruencies.

Step 5: Adding rich media

The most important next step is to add as much rich media as you can to your GMB listing. This is arguably the most important part of the whole GMB optimisation strategy.

Since the whole world is moving towards visual content, it’s understandable why photos and videos are so important for a GMB listing. In fact, a recent study showed that businesses with photos in their listings receive 42% more requests for driving directions inside Google Maps. The same study also found a 35% increase in the number of click-throughs to the business website.

This doesn’t all have to be done at once, but do get some rich media onto your GMB page. And, update it every so often, as you would a social media page.

With this in mind, return to the dashboard of your GMB listing and click on the button associated with Add profile photo.

In the Photos menu, start by adding the business logo in the Profile menu.

Then, upload a custom Cover – use nice imagery that will draw the customer in. It looks positively trashy to include business-related information (like contact number or address) in the cover since the space is quite small and that information is directly available below.

Try to include as many pictures as possible to your listing. Use the various categories to organize your photos accordingly. If you have a presentation video, that’s even better – upload it to your listing by using the Video category. But perhaps the most important aspect when it comes to visual optimisation of your GMB is to make sure that you include photos with both the Exterior and the Interior.

Aside from making it easier for the customers to find the business, it’s proven that doing this will increase the conversion rate of your GMB listing.

As an optional extra, (and this is more about social optimisation rather than search optimisation) people are more likely to do business with people they know, like, and trust, so add some nice photos of you and your team at work, or looking happy. Or, looking happy whilst you work.

Step 6: Start posting

Now that the initial optimisation part is over, it’s time to get used to giving people (and the Google algorithm) updates from your GMB listing about the business.

This is a fairly new feature of GMB and a lot of business owners are not using this, so you’ll have an advantage here. It seems that Google will boost the local rankings of a GMB listing if it sees that it posts regular updates through Google My business.

You can post regular updates by going to the action menu (top-left corner) and clicking on Posts.

Think of GMB posts as mini-ads that you can run inside Google search for free. Sure, they don’t reach nearly as many people as a paid ad does, but the info is shown to people activly looking for what you’ve got, so it’s good for you, for them, and for Google.

Even more, you’re also showing Google that you maintain your GMB listing, boosting your chances of being featured in the 3 Local business pack.

You can post anything from offers, events, or updates about new products or services that have just hit the shelves.

The key is to maintain consistency and post regularly.

Step 7: Create an ad (not essential)

Although Google says that paid advertising has nothing to do with the organic results, some say that a GMB listing is a lot more likely to remain in the Local Pack after it was boosted by a paid advertising campaign.

This is not a required step, but if you can afford to allocate around £50 on a 3-4 day campaign, we recommend that you do so. But only after you make sure that your profile is complete and you have at least 3-4 Posts (Step 6).

You can create an ad campaign for your GMB listing by going to the dashboard and clicking on Create ad. You’ll then be redirected to Adsense to customize and deploy the campaign.

Bonus Tip:

Manage your business on the go It’s very important to check on your GMB listing frequently in order to make sure that troublesome users have not submitted detrimental updates to your listing. For example, a user might change a listing’s business category from Computer service to IT Technician – this will automatically impact the search rankings in a matter that you don’t agree with.

This is why you might want to use the mobile GMB app to stay updated with the latest changes to your listings. This way, you’ll get notifications whenever a user submits a suggestion.

On top of getting various Insight statistics related to your listing, you’ll be able to respond swiftly to any review or user suggestion.

Speaking of reviews

We encourage you to respond to every review (good or bad). On top of showing the clients that you care, you’re also sending positive social signals to Google that will contribute to the local ranking position of the business. And, people who look for bad reviews often just want to see how you handled the dissatisfied customer or client. No business is expected to be perfect, and how you respond when things don’t go so well is more important than getting a five-star review every time, so don’t fear bad reviews – see them as an opportunity to impress people who look for them and their response.

As an aside, the most trusted profiles are those that have at least 40+ reviews, with 200+ being preferred, with an average star rating of 4.6-4.9.

The Wrap-Up

Hopefully, this article will help you understand the benefits of creating and maintaining a solid GMB listing optimisation strategy, and help you to deploy a great GMB page into your marketplace. This article has covered the generic aspects that can be applied to every business, but Google My Business has a lot of niche-specific customisation options that are only applicable to certain types of businesses. In any case, this material should serve you as a one-stop guide whenever you need to create and optimise a new GMB listing, and all the extras can be updated as you go, remember:

This doesn’t all have to be done at once, but it does have to be done. Otherwise, you’re really missing out and leaving money on the table for other providers to scoop up.

Extra assistance

Book an appointment with Paul from Digimos to discuss getting help in setting up your Google My Business profile, optimising it, and updating it. Digimos has competitive prices and always uses advice from industry experts, or the experts themselves to carry out work for our clients.

We also offer a comprehensive reputation service that helps you build, manage and then market a top-quality online presence. It’s a service that’s designed for small businesses and we promise a big bang for your buck. Get in touch to talk about this if you could do with some reviews, listing management, and profile creation.

Here’s to your business and its online presence.