How to Create the Perfect Google My Business Listing
Are you starting a new business? Want to gain a bigger audience following for your business? It would be best to create a Google My Business listing (GMB) to make it easy for your customers to find you.
Suppose you don't have much time to find all the information needed to create Google My Business listing. Then, don't worry! In this blog post, we have penned down a comprehensive explanation that you need for your listing.
Verify GMB listing
The first and foremost step for this journey is the verification of your GMB listing. If you optimize your listing, then there are more chances for your business to appear in Google Maps and Google Local Map Pack.
GMB is an excellent opportunity for business owners to communicate with their potential customers and enable customers to find their services in the online marketplace.
The drawback of unverified of GMB listing
Before explaining to you about the creation of GMB listing, I would like to tell you that what will happen if you let your GMB listing unverified?
The unverified GMB listing will not show up your business in Google's Local Map Pack. Your unverified GMB listing will not rank in the top 3 of the Google map section. Moreover, anyone can take control of your business and claim it; they need to press "own this business" option, and they are good to verify your business with their name.
Undeniably, you don't want anyone to take control of your listing, access your data, make editions in your data, and claim ownership. So never ignore the importance of verification of your business in GMB listing.
What is the reason behind it?
Google doesn't accept the unoptimized GMB listing because it's the policy of Google to provide the best search experience to its users. And if they don't fulfill their claim, users will move towards other search engines. So to build trust on Google, you must verify your GMB listing and optimize your business.
Now, after the verification, we are heading towards the steps required to create perfect Google my business listing.
Create free GMB listing
- Go to business.google.com and create your free listing.
- Once you open the link, click the option "manage now" and connect your GMB listing with your website or your Gmail account.
- Fill out the basic info, which includes business name, phone number, address, etc.
- In case you don't have any store and are interested in providing online services to your potential customers, choose the option "hide my location" or "I deliver goods and services to my customers." When you click these options, your address bar will hide from the listing.
- Further, select the cities where you are interested in providing your services. It is essential to rank your GMB listing in the top 3 of Google's map section. If you miss filling this information, you will not be able to traffic customers from nearby cities.
- Now, add the relevant business category to tell about your services to interested people.
- Then, put your phone number and website in the business category. You can get a free website from Google, but don't go for that and buy your domain hosting.
- After the phone number and website entry, send the postcard to a particular address you used while creating your GMB listing. To prevent the loss of a postcard, don't forget to type the name of the person you want him to receive. Usually, the postcard is received in 5 days.
- After requesting your postcard, try not to change your name, phone number, and other credentials. If you do so, Google may deliver your postcard late or stop your listing.
Google's guidelines
Read Google's guidelines thoroughly before the entry of your name, phone number, and address. If you don't follow the policies and guidelines, your listing will be suspended. Google can also stop the verification of your listing.
Write multiple business categories- After creating your GMB listing, you have to add different business categories.
- Select "info" from Google My Business Listing dashboard
- Now, you will see the pencil icon below the name of your business, click on it.
Type at least three different business categories because multiple categories will enhance the ranking of your listing. For instance, if someone is interested in "website design Salinas" and type it on the search bar of Google My business listing, then your listing with the category of "website designer" will show up. Similarly, someone search for "marketing company Salinas" then your category listed as marketing agency will top the list.
So to reach a wider audience, and to sell your services and products, optimize your category.
But, writing more than three categories might spam your listing or allow you to review it manually. There are chances that Google suspend your listing due to over-optimization.
Add business hours of opening
Next, select the days or hours you will open your business. If you are interested in opening it, 24/7 then choose the option "24 hours" or "open for each day."
For important public holidays like Christmas, Thanksgiving, or New Year's Eve, select the "special hours" of your business operation. Google needs to keep its visitors updated about everything.
Link a website
If you don't have a website already, buy it and add it to your GMB listing.
List the services
Now list up the services that you offer. List up all the services and items along with their prices in an organized manner.
Add the most searched keyword related to your services because they are also a key factor to rank your listing.
It is an important section to attract the customer and have a look at your services and prices.
Add a brief description
Most business owners leave this section while creating their GMB listing, which is a big SEO mistake. An incomplete description lowers your traffic and ranking.
Write a brief description of 750 words and use your keyword in it and rank the listing in Google maps.
Insert images
It is a fact that the listing with more images gets higher rankings. Other than traffic, photos will make your Google my business listing even more visually appealing to the customers.
Where to start when adding photos?- Firstly, add a cover photo because it is the first thing that anyone comes across in your listing.
- Then choose a profile photo. Google will use your profile photo when you post something or reply to any review.
- Another option of capturing the attention of customers is posting a video of almost 10mb, 720p resolution, and 30 sec.
Follow these steps and create a comprehensive listing.
Final verdict
We don't guarantee you that you will show up in the top 3 in Google maps, but we assure you that you have laid a perfect foundation and good to get up to the top.
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