Getting your Google Business profile right is more important than you thought

Want to make it easy for new customers and clients to discover your business? There’s no tool that’s more powerful and effective than Google. 

Everyone knows that Google is the world’s most frequently used search engine by a huge margin. In fact, it captures more than 90 per cent of global web searches every day.  

But what can you do to make your company more visible than the competition when a potential client enters search terms relating to your business and location? 

Improving your site’s search ranking using strategies like SEO and having effective Google Ads in place are familiar concepts for many business owners, albeit time consuming and often costly. A third strategy that is less well known and best of all, won’t cost you anything, is utilising Google’s local business listing service. Follow the tips in this Google business blog to get started! 

In case you didn’t know, a Google Business profile is the free Google business listing that provides information about what you do and where you do it. 

Haven’t heard about your Google Business profile before? Don’t be alarmed, as the recently rebranded service was known as Google My Business until 2021. Before that it has been called Google+ Local, Google Places and Google Local Business Centre too! 

What about if you already have a Google Business listing but you haven’t been using it consistently or don’t understand its full capabilities? Not to worry as the experts at Brisbane public relations agency Pitch can help to fix my Google listing and get you on track to achieve your business goals.  We’ll also cover: 

• What is my Google Business profile? 
• How can this Google business listing benefit my business?
• Will it help improve my SEO results (spoiler alert: yes!) 
• What can I do to fix my Google listing? 
• What content should I post and when?  

What is a Google Business profile? 

Your Google Business profile (previously known as a Google My Business listing) is a short, sharp introduction to your company that presents key information and your best features on the Google mobile app or web browser. 

Created and curated by you, it showcases the most important things that customers need to know and see before they decide to dig deeper on your website or contact you directly. 

Your unique Google business listing includes photos, your website link, details of industry sector, address, opening hours, phone number, reviews, a short description of your business, and your recent posts. 

A top tip from the Pitch team is to complete every available category from the list presented when creating your Google Business profile.  

We will explain why this is important later in this Google business blog. 

How does my Google Business profile actually help with SEO? 

Google’s search ranking algorithm is notoriously complex and constantly evolving, but you don’t need to be an SEO expert to apply basic principles and use them to your advantage. This rule applies to café owners, city executives and all business owners in between! 

A well maintained and frequently updated Google Business profile indicates to the algorithm that you should rank higher in local search results, giving you a visibility edge over your competitors. 

The level of activity and quality of information connected to your business by Google make a significant contribution to your ranking, in addition to more familiar factors such as location and the relevance of search terms.  

Your Google Business profile is also the home of Google reviews about your business. Reviews have a huge influence on customer behaviour, so Google reflects this by emphasizing positive reviews within its search rankings. 

As a rule of thumb, the more positive reviews you have the better your ranking performance will be.  

Responding to all reviews (good and bad) in your Google Business profile demonstrates customer interaction, which is another signal pushing up your SEO outcomes. This has the added benefit of encouraging new customers to leave reviews in the future. 

An optimised Google Business profile with every section completed even occupies more physical space on the mobile phone or desktop screen.  

This increased visibility will make customers more likely to choose you over a competitor who demonstrates less credibility by leaving blank spaces with missing information.  

Best practice for posting content on your Google Business profile 

How does posting company content on another platform sound to you? Is it one for the too-hard basket, or an exciting opportunity to spread the word? 

Take a moment to consider the benefits, the main one being that it’s another free way to boost your businesses’ all-important SEO outcomes! 

We’ve already mentioned that regular activity on your Google Business profile helps with search rankings, so posting about your business and generating clicks on your content is the perfect way to tick that box.  

The frequency of your posts is important, so for the best results post at least once per week, every week. To put it into perspective, that’s probably less often than you’re already posting on Instagram and LinkedIn.  

Is your company active on other social platforms? Then you’ve already done most of the heavy lifting. You don’t need to reinvent the wheel, just repurpose your current content so it fits your Google Business profile.  

You can choose between post types to find the format that works best for your message. The current options are ‘What’s New’, ‘COVID-19 Update’, ‘Event’, and ‘Offer’ so take the time to experiment with each one.  

You have up to 1,500 characters to play with but we suggest you stick to 350 characters or less. The image is important so choose something that will connect with your target audience within the 1200×900 pixel size limit.  

One recent bonus for content creators is the length of time that Google Business listing posts stay visible. While posts to the Google My Business platform used to disappear after seven days, they now remain in place for up to six months! 

If the idea of creating content for your Google Business listing, on top of the other channels you utilise like eDMs, your website blogs, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and more, is sounding a little overwhelming – we got you.  

The team at Pitch offer strategic social media services and packages for businesses in a variety of industries with our team of ex-journalists, communications professionals and social media specialists.  

For a bespoke content creation package tailored to your business needs and budget, contact us today.