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by Jamie Campbell on Nov 4, 2020 10:00:00 PM
From an SEO standpoint, Google My Business (GMB) is as essential as the homepage of your website. GMB is a profile for your practice that is designed to display information about your business and increase your visibility online.
Setting up your GMB profile will essentially feed information into Google’s crawlers. Complete GMB listings are more favorable to both consumers and search engines alike, ultimately leading to more eyes on your practice!
An accurate GMB listing requires time and maintenance. Use the following checklist to ensure an optimized GMB profile.
1. Business Location
One pillar of any local SEO campaign is the businesses’ name, address, and phone number.
Users relying on Google Maps to find a business are more likely to discover your GMB profile if all of the location information has been optimized. If your business does not have a physical location or address, there is an option to hide the address publicly.
Businesses registered as a service, delivery, or those that do not have a physical address must utilize the Service Areas function. Including a Service Area will help Google understand which location(s) your business targets.
Services Areas do not impact rankings, so stick to one city if your business only has one physical location.
2. Photos
Adding quality photos will help potential customers better understand your business’ products, environment, and personality. A profile complete with photos is much more likely to gain a new customer than a profile without any.
Google allows for a variety of pictures to be added to your GMB profile. Optimize for a combination of the following:
- Logo & Cover Photo
- Store front & building exterior
- Interior pictures of the front desk, waiting room, etc.
- Employee photos & headshots
- Pictures from events & conferences
3. Your Business Description
A GMB profile’s business description is one of the top ranking signals needed to show up in Google Map searches. Business descriptions are the perfect opportunity to include relevant keywords and location information, while explaining what makes your business unique.
Make the business description concise and easy to read in order to engage more patients.
4. Patient Reviews
Reviews are an essential part of any GMB profile. A potential new patient will trust a business or service with a collection of positive reviews over a business without any.
Encourage existing patients to leave reviews for your business in order to attract new ones!
5. Products
Show off the products & services your business offers under the Products section. This is an extremely useful feature because products are displayed when the business is searched on Google.
When adding products, make sure to link to their respective pages on your website. Users who find the product they need will want additional information to ensure a smooth experience.
6. URL Tracking Codes
GMB features links to your business’ homepage, contact, and services menu. Any website traffic gained from a GMB profile will automatically be tracked as organic.
Each link provided in a GMB profile should include a tracking code, or a UTM.
UTMs help to single out the number of users acquired from GMB separately from your overall organic traffic volume.
7. Google Posts
Utilize Google Posts to showcase services, special offers, and updates regarding your business. Create an image with a short caption to explain the post. Then, make sure to link the post (with a UTM) to a page on your website to gain more traffic.
Posts to Add an Offer or an Event will last for the duration of the date range provided. Posts that Add an Update expire after 7 days, but can be seen if a user clicks “View All” on the GMB profile.
Optimize Often
Dedicate time to optimizing your business’ GMB profile on a regular basis. Once foundational information such as location and website links have been added, more time can be spent updating products, posts, and responding to customer reviews.
Local search rankings are destined to favor a complete, up-to-date GMB profile.
If you have any questions, contact your marketing coach or our support team.