This is the 1st step to building a high performance Google business listing.
Make each of the following steps a clickable link.
Where to access your listingâŠ. Google will soon be switching to managing listings directly in the search results
Optimization checklist⊠Step-by-step instructions for properly setting up your Google business listing
Optimizing your pictures⊠Adding and optimizing pictures on your Google business listing.
FAQ or AQ and a section⊠How to make the most of your question and answer section
How to sync with Bing⊠Simple process to get your listing to appear in being searches
Using Google messaging⊠Instructions on setting up and using the messaging feature.
Local landing pages⊠Examples with pictures of what a search engine optimized landing page looks like.
Website schema⊠Code that needs to be added to your website.
Online offers⊠This is where you can offer your online services or this or allow customers to book appointments.
Where to go to manage your profile. If you have just one listing you will need toâŠ
 Log in to your Google account using the same account you used when you verified your listing.
Search for your business on Google you can search using the 2 words âmy businessâ or just search for the name of your business to bring it up.
You can manage your listing directly in the search results.
Insert image here of a Google search using the words my business.
 Step 2 is managing your business information.
Click the edit profile button to see the list of options as listed below
Insert picture of the list of options here as well as a screenshot of the edit profile button
Click the button that says customers to answer messages from your customers, to manager respond to your reviews, and to access your questions and answers area to provide Answers to questions from existing and prospective customers.
Insert a screenshot here of the customerâs section with reviews messages in Q and a
Making posts on your Google business listing
Click the promo button to make posts, review your analytics, Add photos And more.
Insert screenshot of the promote section
Soon Google will only allow you to manage your Google business listing using the search feature. For now you can still go to your dashboard at
 https://www.google.com/business/ Make this a hyperlink
If you have more than one listing you can use the above link.
Enter your business name how it appears On your sign or business card.
Keep your business name general and concise. Do not add any extra work extra words or terms or the name of the city.
For example, if you are a dentist and the name of your practice is all smiles dentistry, Iâll stent history, you do not want to add the name of the Dentists in the name.
Short name Collin you may only use your business name as your short name here unless you already have a short nabby short name. Google no longer allows you to edit your short name.
Primary category Colin choose the category that best represents your business perior business. You may only select from a predefined list.
Secondary category you may select as many secondary categories as you wish. However it is important not to add additional categories unless they apply directly to your business.For example if you are a dentist you can add family dentistry, dentistry dentistry, dental office.
Address Collin this is where you will list the actual street address on the 1st line and the 2nd line is reserved for Sweet numbers
Service area add all of the areas you service including zip codeâs regionâs cityâs municipalities et cetera. Only add multiple cities if you are a business that travels to your customers. Merced. If you are a standalone store and customers only come to you you may only use your your exact location. Keep in mind that if you offer services to many different areas, Google will only index you within about a 20 mile radius..
Business hours Cullen and turn the hours that your business is your business is open for operation.
Keep in mind that Google does consider your hours in comparison to your competitorâs hours. If your competitor is closed but you are still open your Visibility will be improved during this time.
More hours: if you have set business hours for different customers you can enter them here. For example if you allow senior citizens to shop from 8 AM to 10 AM you can list that here.
Primary and additional phone numbers: list list your local business number here as the primary number. If you have a toll free number you can add that as an additional phone number.
Website: add your website with http or https.
Add the URL of the the page on your website where customers can book appointments.
Menu for restaurants only Colin this is where you can add a link to your menu.This link must be a page on your website. You can not link APDF or any other document here.You can add your menu directly to your Google business profile.
Service/menu/product information: This is where you will add information regarding what your company offers. This is a very important step.
Depending on the type of business you have some of these sections may not apply to you.. For example menus are only for restaurants. You can only list products if this products if you have certain retail businesses. Add a description for each of your services and/or products.
This is the elevator pitch for your business. It should be written with prospective customers in mind.
People who do not know anything about your business
Focus on your business as a whole rather than specific services or products you offer.
It is imperative that you use the most important keywords so that you will be easily found when people search for your business.
But without in mind please remember that you are writing for humans and not search engines.
Make sure not to use any website UR lâs emojis or special characters. There is a 750 character limit.
Store codes Colin this is where you can manage multiple business listings. This will not apply to you if you are only working on a single business location.
Labels Colin you can add labels to your listing to help organize your account your account for businesses with multiple locations. For example you may want to use directions or store numbers here such as North South East and West or 1234.
Google ads locations extensions phone calling this must be a local phone number and not a toll free number in order to show up in search results. This is only applicable if you are running a Google ads campaign. Do not worry about this if you are not running any Google ads campaigns.
âŠâŠâŠâŠ.
Do not delete any photos that you already have. Doing so will delete will delete all previous engagement and views and views. Make sure to optimize all new photos that you upload from this point on.
Each image must be smaller than 5MB in size. Each image should be at least 720 by 720 pixels.
Each image should be named according to the following example. Company_name_city_business_category
Letâs say that you have a Chiropractic business name Relief in Portland Oregon And you specialize in car accident injuries. You are primary and secondary categories would be chiropractor and and accident injury treatment.
You would name your images as follow
Relief_portland_chiropractor.jpg
Relief_portland_accident_injury_treatment.jpg
Add at least one photo for each of the following:
Business logo
Front elevation view of your building.
Interior view of your business.
Cover photo⊠This is the most important picture because this is what people will see in their search and on Google maps.
One photo of a team member or the owner.
One photo demonstrating the product or service which you provide.
These do not need to be professional photos but just make sure that they that they represent your business and a positive manner. If you are using your smartphone make sure to have your phoneâs location services switched on so that your photos will be correctly and automatically geotagged.
Did you know that businesses with photos receive 42% more requests for driving directions to their location from users on Google, and 35% more clicks through to their websites than businesses that donât have photos.
Note: DBA platform is great and inexpensive $2 per month per Feature. However you do not need to pay for it for the above process.
You can upload the images directly from DBA platform if you use that process but then you will be required to pay the $2 per month for your location.
If you download the photos from DBA, you can manually upload photos to your listing. To do so follow the process below:
Sign in to Google business profile and visit the photos section it is on the left side menu.
Click the choose photo button in the low Box. Upload your logo.
Click the choose photo button in the cover Box. Upload your cover photo.
Click the at work tab on top of the page to upload the internal and external business photos.
Follow the above instructions for team.
If you have any high quality videos which showcase your business, you can upload those within the videos tab.
If you have not taken pictures with a smartphone with the location turned on you can manually add the geotags. Here is the process:
Create a free account at https calling//DBA platform.com/
Connect your Google business profile (sign in with the Google account that is tied to your profile).
Select the listing or listings you want to optimize your photos for. This is important as the platform will pull location data from your listening automatically for your photos.
Click the photos icon in the dashboard.
Click the green upload button.
Once Uploaded the photo will show up in your list of photos.
Click the optimized Box next to the photo at this time it should be a yellow Box with a 0 in it.
In the image title add a label for what the images of for example relief Chiropractic front desk.
In the keywords field, add 1 business category start with the primary category then work your way through the secondary categories before starting at the primary again.
If you have connected your Google business profile, all location information should be filled out.
Ignore all Other fields and click save.
Click the download button.
By following the process above, you will have a fully optimized image with location and business category data added to the image.
Go to the photo section of your account.
Click on the photo you wish to remove.
Click the trash icon in the top right corner. This will remove the photo.
All Google business profiles have a frequently asked question in answers feature.
Insert photo here of a screenshot of AQ and a or FAQ section of a Google business profile
This section is designed to allow potential customers to ask questions about your business.
Leverage the questions and answers feature to build a frequently asked question section.
This is important because it gives Google more context about your business which helps your listing rank when people are searching for your products and services.
It also reduces the time you spend answering the same questions over and over again.
What to stay away from..
All Google business profiles have a frequently asked question in answers feature.
Insert photo here of a screenshot of AQ and a or FAQ section of a Google business profile
This section is designed to allow potential customers to ask questions about your business.
Leverage the questions and answers feature to build a frequently asked question section.
This is important because it gives Google more context about your business which helps your listing rank when people are searching for your products and services.
It also reduces the time you spend answering the same questions over and over again.
What to stay away from..
Bing has its own version of Google business profile. Itâs called being places for business.
Bing only receives a fraction of the searches compared to Google. But it still dries about 5:00 million searches per month in the US alone. As a business itâs important to try and reach every customer you can. Being has made it very easy for businesses.. Being allows us to sync our Google business profiles with their platform. This means that your listing is auto verified. All of your business information is synced with your Google business profile so you donât need to re enter it. And in just 5 minutes you will have a listing on Bing And how the opportunity be found by customers on yet another search engine.
Itâs best to complete all of the other processes in this section. By now you should have completed the optimization checklist and that needs to be done before you can take this next step. This will make sure that you have the optimized version of your listing when you sink it with bing.
Go To this link to get started calling https://www.Bing places.com/dashboard/home
Click the import from Google my business button.
Insert images here of this
Click the Box for I want to sync my business data with my Google business at regular intervals.
Insert image of this here
If you donât have a Microsoft account you will be given some options to sign in period period follow the on screen instructions and your listing will be successfully important and verified.. You may need to add your business category by clicking on the add category link.
Electric business segment in categories which is similar to what youâve already done on your Google business profile.
Insert images of this here
Once you have completed this you will now appear for relevant searches on Bing.
Google business profiles have a messaging feature that will allow potential customers to message you without even visiting your website. Based on the research the listings Which enable this feature and have response times of less than 24 hours are rewarded with better visibility. If your response time is longer than 24 hours Google may revoke this feature from your listing. Make sure once you activate this that you are responding to any messages you receive within 24 hours. As you can see in the image below once you have activated this you will have a message button added to your Google business profile.
Insert image of this here
Google is constantly updating the way it displays its features so your profile may look a little different than the image above.
All Google business profiles have a frequently asked question in answers feature.
Insert photo here of a screenshot of AQ and a or FAQ section of a Google business profile
This section is designed to allow potential customers to ask questions about your business.
Leverage the questions and answers feature to build a frequently asked question section.
This is important because it gives Google more context about your business which helps your listing rank when people are searching for your products and services.
It also reduces the time you spend answering the same questions over and over again.
What to stay away from..
Messaging is now available on desktop. It was only available prior to this through the app.
Sign in to your Google business profile then click the messages link in the left side side navigation from there click the messaging settings link settings link. See image below
Insert image of this here
Click the toggle switch to turn the messaging on.
Insert image here
Enable messaging with the Maps app
If youâre on a mobile device your business profile can now be managed to the Google Maps app.
Open the Google Maps app and make sure that youâre signed into the correct Google account that is associated with your business.
Click the updates tab then the messages tab and then the business tab.
Insert image of each of these steps here
Tap the⊠button in the top right corner.
Tap manage chat.
Turn on chat.
You can also toggle read receipts on off and edit your welcome message.
Local landing pages are purposefully optimized for people searching for your products or services within a given location.
For companies with a single location their homepage connect as the local landing page â and the one that gets linked to from their Google business profile.
For companies, with multiple locations, or those that have the ability to build new pages, discoveries the optimal way to build a hyperformance page for your search engines.
Insert image from Shawn Joshiâs page here
1. This is the page title and meta description located within the code of the page.
Your page title should be 50 to 60 characters long and follow this template: primary business category plus location company name.
Example chiropractor Tampa line | relief Chiropractic
Meta description: this should be between 101 160 characters and link to write a compelling description of your companyâs core offer read call and primary business category which would entice people to click on your search result.
Example:
The best chiropractor in Tampa. We will get rid of your pain guaranteed! Call us now atâŠ.
2. Company logo. Use the same logo that you use for geotagging and optimize for your Google business profile.
3. Local phone number. This number should be the same number that is your primary phone in your listing.
4. Main navigation. The main navigation helps people easily navigate to key pages on your website after landing on your page.
5. Main headline. Your headline should describe your core offer and Shouldnât include the primary business category and location if possible.
For the more technical readers, this is the only headline that should be wrapped in an
6. Call to action. Add a clear call to action here to get people to call you Right away. This is especially important for people coming to your Google business profile, as many will be pre-sold on doing business with you.
7. Trust seals. If your business has any sort of professional licenses or social proof for example a very high rating on Google or Yelp, then add that here.
8. About section. This is where you can talk about your business in an appealing way this is an opportunity to build trust all headlines should be wrapped in
9. Hero image. Add an image of your core offer, whether it is a product or service. Ideally you can use one of the images you Uploaded to Google business profile that is already optimized.
10 and 11. Service/product highlights. This is where you showcase your main service to/products, and allow people to go deeper by providing a link to your main services page.
12. Testimonials. Adding a testimonial section toward the bottom of the page will build trust and report for your business and will increase your revenue. Keep in mind that successful businesses take the time to get peopleâs attention, gain their trust and get them to like you. The goal is to get people to want to do business with you. This is why there is such a large focus on social proof in building report on this type of page.
13. In call to action. This section acts as another call to action. If someone has scrolled down the entire page this is a prime opportunity to tell them what to do next.
14. Footer information. Please add the following to your footer. Make sure this is exactly as you Have entered it on your Google business profile..
Business Name
Address
Phone number
Email address
Next you need to add schema to the website to help Google and other search engines understand your business information. Follow the process below.
Website schema:
Schema is website code that helps Google and other search engines understand the relationship between your website and your location in the real world.
You donât need to know anything about website code to complete this section. Just follow along and fill in the blanks. Itâs important to enter your information exactly as you have entered it on your Google business profile. If you are hiding your address on your listing I would still recommend adding this code to your website. It will build location relevance because Google still sees your address even though itâs hidden from the public.
Step 1 open the scheme a generator.
Click here to visit the schema generator. Insert insert hyperlink with the words click here.
The link opens in a new tab so you wonât lose this page.
Step 2 call and select the correct type. In the drop down select local business.
Step 3 select your business type
In the 1st drop down select the type that is most relevant to your business. If you canât find a good match select local business.
Insert image here
Step 4: select a more specific business category
Once you have selected your business type, you can select a more specific business category in the next drop down.
Most categories do not provide this option commisdot worry if it is not available to you.
Insert image here
Step Five.. enter your key business information.
Into your business information exactly as it appears on your Google business profile to include business name, URL, phone number, address.
The @id field should be the URL for your homepage.
Insert image here.
Step 6 generate your Geo coordinates
Click on the orangeo coordinates button. Your latitude and longitude will be retrieved automatically.
Step 7 copy your image url
This field allows you to choose an image on your website the best represent your business.
Go to your website and copy the image
Paste it in the area indicated.
Insert image here
Step 8 select opening hours
Use the drop down menu to select which days your business is open. Then enter the hours youâre open in the field that appears. Your hours should be entered in the 24 hour format. If you have different sets of opening hours for example on the weekends then you can click the add opening hours button to add another row.
Step 9 add your social profiles
Select the social profiles for business as using the drop down. Enter the UR lâs in their respective fields.
Step 10 copy the code
Click the copy button in the top right hand side of the page. It is above the auto generated code.
Paste and save the code as a text file (.txt) using a program like Notepad.
Insert image here of what the copy button looks like.
Step 11 add the code to your homepage
You can send this information to the person who manages your website or you can do-it-yourself. The code should be added to the section of the page.
If your website was created using WordPress you can follow the instructions on this page.
If you Have an online offer like remote services, appointments, or classes Google business profile has a feature that will set that up. Adding online offers to your listing can help boost your visibility for specific searches.
Process: adding an online attribute
Sign into your Google business profile.
Navigate to the info tab.
Click on the highlights section. It might be called attributes.
Under the service options select the relevant attribute.
Process: adding a booking URL
Sign into your Google business profile.
Make sure youâre on the home tab.
Find the stay connected during covin 19 Box.
Click update online appointments the text may be different in your account.
Check the Box next to the online offers you provide. Into the URL where customers can sign up.
This section includes the process for maximizing the number of accurate citations for your listing.
Building citations
Citations are instances of your company information on other websites. They are also known as nap signals name address phone and includeâŠ
Business Name
Address
Phone number
Website
Having a high number of citations that are accurately inputthat are accurately input it will increase the visibility of your listing.. Choose the process below that best suits you and your organization.
Citation building directory use this section if youâd like to build a citation yourself.
And in effort to make this streamlined weâve created a Google sheet which includes all of the main directories we use.
These directories are organized by country or industry. Click below to access it.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1tbhkwOP-HvQstHq2yZYvjQgzU2gJ1T8G4rUDuMFFUVc/edit#gid=130932699
Into your business information exactly as it has been entered on your Google business profile.
Many websites will request that you create an account in order to add your citation. You will need to do this to move forward.
As you build more and more citations you will receive some Spam calls and emails. Unfortunately this is just the cost of doing business.
It is important to follow the exact format of what you entered in your Google business profile. If you use parentheses in your phone number you need to use them here as well.
Outsourcing citations: use this section if you liked out sources to someone outside your company.
Creating citations is something that can be done by a virtual assistant at a very low hourly rate. Your time is better spent on more income generating activities. Outsourcing your citations is the best choice. We use bright local as a source for this.
Insert link to bright local platform here
Finding your current citations: finding and fixing current citations is important for not deluding the location signals you send to Google.
If youâve had your business for quite a while then itâs likely that youâve naturally had some citations built up over the years. If thatâs the case Iâd highly recommend going through this step.
Only skip this step if you are a brand new business or if you have a service area business with no location and this has always been the case.
Create a free bright local account and start a citation builder campaign. Once you add your business still show all of your current citations including any with errors.
If you want to build your citations yourself just skip the last step of their citation builder process.
Leveraging press Releases for citations
Press releases are an outdated strategy of building links for traditional SEO.
But thereâs still very useful tools for Google business profiles. Here is the process at a high level:
Write one brief article about your company.
Include your companies NAP information within the article.
Add your G and B listings link to the article.
Get the article distributed to multiple press released websites.
This axis another source for expanding your citation footprint.
As your article gets added to different press release websites it means youâre building more citations.
These extra citations give you a listing of competitive edge.
Thatâs because most of your competitors arenât building any citations in the 1st place. And the ones that do will stop after theyâve exhausted all available directories.
Step one write an article.
The article can be about 3:50 to 500 words in length. If you arenât sure what to write about here are some topics to get started..
Launching a new product or service
An update about your company. This could be a new employee, a new location.
You could also just simply write about something as it pertains to your industry.
Step to calling add your NAP information. Remember this dance for the name of your business, address, phone number.
Just like with your other citations make sure the formatting of these is exactly a match to what is on your Google this is profile.
Step 3 add your GMB share URL
Go to Google maps and search for your business.
Click on the share icon to select the URL.
Insert picture of this here
Add A-line like this to your press release right before your NAP
To learn more please find us on Google: insert your URL here. Do not add your websites you are well to the article. At best link from press release websites are not valued by Google at worse they can be viewed as link Spam and can actually hurt your website.
Step for submit your article for distribution
Itâs not necessary to get on the largest new sites because weâre only doing this to expand our citation footprint.
Choose just 2 from this list below to submit your press release.
pr.com
PRfree.org
PRlog.org
OnlinePRnews.com
Pressreleasepoint.com
It is important that before you do this you build out your citations on relevant directories First.
This section includes the process for maximizing the number of accurate citations for your listing.
Building citations
Citations are instances of your company information on other websites. They are also known as nap signals name address phone and includeâŠ
Business Name
Address
Phone number
Website
Having a high number of citations that are accurately inputthat are accurately input it will increase the visibility of your listing.. Choose the process below that best suits you and your organization.
Citation building directory use this section if youâd like to build a citation yourself.
And in effort to make this streamlined weâve created a Google sheet which includes all of the main directories we use.
These directories are organized by country or industry. Click below to access it.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1tbhkwOP-HvQstHq2yZYvjQgzU2gJ1T8G4rUDuMFFUVc/edit#gid=130932699
Into your business information exactly as it has been entered on your Google business profile.
Many websites will request that you create an account in order to add your citation. You will need to do this to move forward.
As you build more and more citations you will receive some Spam calls and emails. Unfortunately this is just the cost of doing business.
It is important to follow the exact format of what you entered in your Google business profile. If you use parentheses in your phone number you need to use them here as well.
Outsourcing citations: use this section if you liked out sources to someone outside your company.
Creating citations is something that can be done by a virtual assistant at a very low hourly rate. Your time is better spent on more income generating activities. Outsourcing your citations is the best choice. We use bright local as a source for this.
Insert link to bright local platform here
Finding your current citations: finding and fixing current citations is important for not deluding the location signals you send to Google.
If youâve had your business for quite a while then itâs likely that youâve naturally had some citations built up over the years. If thatâs the case Iâd highly recommend going through this step.
Only skip this step if you are a brand new business or if you have a service area business with no location and this has always been the case.
Create a free bright local account and start a citation builder campaign. Once you add your business still show all of your current citations including any with errors.
If you want to build your citations yourself just skip the last step of their citation builder process.
Leveraging press Releases for citations
Press releases are an outdated strategy of building links for traditional SEO.
But thereâs still very useful tools for Google business profiles. Here is the process at a high level:
Write one brief article about your company.
Include your companies NAP information within the article.
Add your G and B listings link to the article.
Get the article distributed to multiple press released websites.
Reviews are more than just the driving force in determining your listings viability and theyâre a big one.
They are social proof.
They show the overall health of your company in a review driven economy. Nearly 80% of consumers check out a businessâs reputation online before Choosing to work with them.
By mastering the review process you will bring in more customers.
Follow the steps below to build your reviews.
You need to request reviews from your customers in order to receive them. While some customers may go on on their own to review your company, asking for reviews is a very effective way to increase the number of reviews you have online.
You should be capturing the email addresses of your customers. This will allow you to keep it touch with them when theyâre not at your business. You can send and an email to each of your clients once they have worked with your company to ask them for a review.
Better yet is to have this process automated By using a review tool that automatically send your customers an email and directs them to your listing to leave a review. If you would like to see the review software that we use click here is click here for a free demo.
Insert link here to demo
Manual review process
Log in to your Google business dashboard here: https://www.Google.com/business/
Click on the widget picture below to access your review link.
Insert image of widget here
Save this link for future reference. You will need to send this out to your customers on a regular basis.
Whenever a customer has completed a transaction with your business and you are confident that they are happy send them an email like this.
Hi there,
I just wanted to thank you again for being a valued customer of company name of company name.
If you could just take a couple minutes I would really appreciate it if you could leave a review for us on Google.
Here is the link: add link
If you would like to provide feedback for me personally you can reply to this email.
Thank you again for your business.
Sincerely,
Your name and position
If you have an administrative assistant or office person you can delegate this process to them.
It is important to be consistent with this so that you can steadily build your reviews online.
Create a system that allows your employee to consistently send out review requests.
Automated review process
While the manual process requires someone to stay on top of sending out emails, using an automated review software will help streamline this process.
But just like anything else it will either cost you time or money.
Insert link to our software platform here
How to increase the number of reviews you receive
Here are the 2 most effective ways to increase your number of reviews online.
Follow upâs:
Send out an initial email request for a review.
3 days after this request follow up with them asking for the review and offering your help with any questions.
Here is a sample email you can use.
Hello,
I hope your day is going well. I just wanted to follow up on my last email regarding a review. As a valued customer your feedback goes a long way, so we really appreciate it. Hereâs the link again cool and ad link do you have any questions? If you hit reply to the email Iâll be here to help. Thank you, your name in position
5 days after the 2nd request send one last follow up. Let them know that this will be the last time you ask for a review and offer your support if they need anything.
Sample email below
Hello, sorry to bother you again this is the last time Iâll be emailing you about this period I noticed that you havenât had a chance to leave a review on our Google listing yet. If you have about 90 seconds to spare you can do it here cool and ad link. Thanks again for your business. Your name and position.
Sometimes people need an incentive to be prompted to leave a review. You can offer them a free service or product from your business. For example if you are a restaurant owner you can offer a free appetizer or drink if they leave a review.
Depending on the industry that youâre in you can also offer a gift card to your business, or just a gift card to something like Amazon.
We also recommend having something visible in your place of business with AQR code that will allow them to scan and link it directly to your Google listing pergoogle listing. Ask them to leave a review.
Maximizing engagement. By now you should have a bullet proof listing with optimized images. You should have citations to boost your listings authority. Once youâve done these things raving reviews will consistently come in period now itâs time to push your listing over the top by enhancing your visibility and ethically gaming engagement rates.
Google business profiles offer several types of posts to use.
Here is a list of what they offer.
Whatâs new: this is the most versatile. For ideas see the what to post section below.
Events: use this to tell people about an event youâre hosting this includes the event name, times and dates come event details, event link.
Offers: this is similar to the event type. Use this to communicate sales or offers for specific products or services.
Post frequency and best days
Frequency: itâs highly recommended that you post 3 to 4 times per week. You should only post once per day though however.
If youâre only able to post twice per week that will be sufficient.
Posting 1st thing in the morning on your busiest days is very effective.
Setting up a schedule will ensure that you remember to post on your Google business listing.
What to post
Action post: if you have a new product or service set your now offering or if you have a sale going on these posts focus on asking users to take a particular action. For example check out our new product or contact our business to learn more.
Branding posts Colin please post give your customers a peek into your company culture, or work to spread your brandâs message. If you have a weight loss service, then this could be a motivational post to state focused and not cheat.
Blog previous: if you have an active blog or resource section then you can use posts to share a preview of new resources as they are posted. The post within send people to the full article on your website.
Reviews showcase: the reviews youâve received are assets. In showcasing your best ones in a post is a great way to get more exposure.
Q and a post: If you have common questions that people ask before they become a customer you can post them here. Itâs a great way to inform potential customers.
Where to get images
If you donât feel confident and the photos are taking of your actual business, then you can use some websites to get high quality photos.
Using your own photos is always the best option. If you have location services switched on your phone then all of the Geo data is automatically added when you take them.
If you simply donât like the way your photos have turned out or you just donât feel good about using them,Use these websites instead.
https://unsplash.com/
https://picksabay.com/
https://www.pexels.com/
https://www.stockafied.com
Donât forget to optimize your photos using the photo optimization process. Images used in posts will not be added to the photos section so youâll need to upload those separately.
Using photos to increase your Geo footprint
There are 2 main factors which affect the visibility of your listing on Google maps.
The 1st is the location of the person who is searching.
The 2nd is a physical location of your business.
If your address is hidden on Google the address used for verifications still plays a role here.
While you canât influence where people are searching from you canât expand the footprint of your business by optimizing photos for different locations.
Here are the step-by-step instructions on how to do this:
Iâll be using Geolmgr in this process since itâs free. But you can use DBA platform as well.
Number one choose your photos⊠select the photos youâd like to geotag.
Number 2 open Google maps And search for a location
Select a specific location thatâs Within a 20 mile radius to your business.
The locations I usually go for are of Starbucks locations, deliâs and other mom and pop shops.
Number 3 right click the locations pin.
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Then click the longitude/latitude coordinates to copy them.
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Number 4 open Geoimgr
Hereâs the link: https://tool.geoimgr.com
Number 5 Uploaded image. Upload one of the images you previously selected.
Number 6 paste the Geo coordinates. Paste the Geo coordinates that you copied from Google maps.
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GO Iâm GR allows you to pull Geo data directly within it but youâll need to upgrade To a paid account. Thatâs why Iâve shown how to get coordinates from Google maps.
Number 7 write the EXIF tags.
Use this button
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Number 8 download the image. Used the download button.
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Number 9 upload to Google business profile. If you followed the photo optimization process you ready to upload the photo to your profile. You can also use it in a post.
Improving engagement rates
Solicit questions
Description let me start off by saying fake reviews are bad. While it may be tempting do not purchase fake reviews.
You do not want to get slapped by Google. The risk is not worth the reward.
In most people can tell if a review is fake or not.
Listings that have more questions and answers regularly postedGet more traction with Googl.
Having questions and answers on your listing boost your pages engagement which in turn boost your visibility. It also helps your customers get their frequently asked questions address right when they find you.
Where to solicit questions
Here are 2 main sources for soliciting these questions
Ask friends and family provide them with the question and provide your listing URL For them to ask. You should have your listing URL on hand from the review section.
Use a service Iâve used a few services to post questions to listings. Some are horrible at following instructions while others have been great.
You can have an employee complete this as well.
Process:
Make a list of the top 5 frequently asked questions that your business gets from new customers.
Use a 3rd party to ask the question from their own account.
Answer their question from your business account provide in the answers you would regularly provide your customers when they ask these questions.
Kickstart engagement put your engagement in overdrive
Google is constantly monitoring which Google business profiles are being favored over others. If their algorithm suddenly sees a lot of people clicking on one listing over the others theyâll boost the visibility of that listing. This can happen for many reasons. Here is 1 example. A coffee shop in Cleveland is featured in a new segment about having the best bagels in the country. This leads to a spike in the number of people searching for that coffee shop on Google periods since the Google business profiles are so prominent in search results, most of these people will be clicking on the listing for that coffee shop. This sends a massive Signal to Google that this business is trending. In order to continue giving people what they want common Google will give this listing more visibility over competing listings.
With this process weâll be able to mimic that sort of spike and engagement without needing to be featured on the news.
Engagement overdrive:
This report outlines a specific strategy you can use to bolster engagement signals on optimized listings.
Follow the optimization Pyramid below For optimizing and managing Google business profiles for maximum business impact.
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Start at the bottom and work your way up.
Profile optimization: this means correctly filling out your profile so it includes all of your relevant business information. Google business profile provides different features based on the business type, and you should always be looking to fill out as much information as possible here.
Citations call and these are the trust factors that Google looks for across the Web. They are instances of your business name, address, in phone of her another websites.
The more accurate citations you have another trusted website, the more trust Google has that your business is real and is located where you say it is.
Review velocity Cohen reviews are hugely important for Google business profile. They go a long way in terms of convincing prospects to do business with you.
The traditional thinking is that you need to have a lot of reviews in order to get a great visibility and Google search in Google maps for your profile this isnât true. What matters more is the speed at which youâre getting new reviews coming in period this is why you see businesses with less reviews and even lower average ratings ranking higher than those who have more 5 star reviews.
E3 formula: the last part of the Pyramid focuses on engagement. Specifically it focuses on posts, user engagement, in business engagement using many different factors. As you work your way up the optimization Pyramid you gain more of a competitive advantage. The engagement overdrives strategy works best after youâve done the work involved with the optimization Pyramid hereâs how it would look if you added the strategy to the diagram above.
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To be clear, you can use the strategy before doing the other work and youâll still see some benefits. The only problem is that these benefits will be short lived. If your profile is properly set up as in level one, has a lot of accurate citations level 2, is consistently getting new reviews level 3, and has great engagement level 4 the engagement overdrive strategy will allow you to get elevated visibility in Google search in Google maps that actually sticks.
Over the past few years Google has been working on incorporating user experience signals into its algorithm. This is a fancy way of saying that they want the behavior of real people to influence which websites get priority in search results. Other factors such as links and contents still remain the dominant factors in determining which websites rank well but itâs clear that user experience signals are playing a larger role. There are 2 main user experience metrics that Google looks for Colin click through rate: this is the rate at which people click your profile instead of others. Dwell time: this is based on if users actually stick on your profile for longer or if they immediately hit the back button to see more search results. The engagement overdrives strategy works to address both metrics. This is backed up by my own testing on both websites and Google business profile. And Iâm not the only 1. Instead of asking you to blindly trust me letâs take a look at the 2 objective sources that backed us up.
Bill Slawski (Go Fish Digital):
Bill has over 23 years of SU experience and has one of the most prominent experts on Googleâs patents. This article explains Googleâs patent About user behavior, dwell time, and click through rate calling read it here.
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There are multiple other sources that will show the importance of user experience signals in SEO. The most fascinating thing is that most of the research in content focuses around user experience signals for websites. The true power is combining this with Google business profile since itâs a platform they own and are already biased towards.
To be clear, you can use the strategy before doing the other work and youâll still see some benefits. The only problem is that these benefits will be short lived. If your profile is properly set up as in level one, has a lot of accurate citations level 2, is consistently getting new reviews level 3, and has great engagement level 4 the engagement overdrive strategy will allow you to get elevated visibility in Google search in Google maps that actually sticks.
Over the past few years Google has been working on incorporating user experience signals into its algorithm. This is a fancy way of saying that they want the behavior of real people to influence which websites get priority in search results. Other factors such as links and contents still remain the dominant factors in determining which websites rank well but itâs clear that user experience signals are playing a larger role. There are 2 main user experience metrics that Google looks for Colin click through rate: this is the rate at which people click your profile instead of others. Dwell time: this is based on if users actually stick on your profile for longer or if they immediately hit the back button to see more search results. The engagement overdrives strategy works to address both metrics. This is backed up by my own testing on both websites and Google business profile. And Iâm not the only 1. Instead of asking you to blindly trust me letâs take a look at the 2 objective sources that backed us up.
Bill Slawski (Go Fish Digital):
Bill has over 23 years of SU experience and has one of the most prominent experts on Googleâs patents. This article explains Googleâs patent About user behavior, dwell time, and click through rate calling read it here.
Insert link
Depending on how familiar you are with SEO this could become a little too technical but itâs available if you want to read it.
Googleâs official patent:
Whatâs more believable than Googleâs own patents? Especially when theyâre constantly being updated to reflect their own progress. Click here to see Googleâs official patent.
Insert link
There are multiple other sources that will show the importance of user experience signals in SEO. The most fascinating thing is that most of the research in content focuses around user experience signals for websites. The true power is combining this with Google business profile since itâs a platform they own and are already biased towards.
The process
This is the exact process to follow.. Weâve established that having more users click on and engage with your profile will help boost its visibility. After all thatâs what the E3 formula is for on the optimization Pyramid.
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Engagement overdrive focuses on pouring fuel into the fire by gaming these engagement metrics. However we canât simply search for our business and click our own results a bunch of times to get the effect weâre looking for. Google tracks things like ip address, browser type common more to track unique users. And said we will need to use a service which gets real people to do this for you, add a scale that brings a meaningful result to your profile. To do this here are the 2 services Iâve used..
SerpClix
Babylon Traffic
Babylon traffic is more technical so I would recommend going with circlics since itâs a service dedicated specifically to what weâre looking to do.
We have no affiliation with either one of these companies.
Serp clicks has a free trial which gives us what we need.
I would recommend starting there in canceling your account if you donât want to pay. If you see great results with this itâs a relatively inexpensive way to continue to get better engagement which translates to higher rankings. The process below will focus on using surplics in particular. Before you get started your Google business profile should be set up in verified at a minimum. For best results you should be putting the execution plan to work before doing this for the 1st time.
1. Identify the keyword you want someone to search to find your business. If your company name is crystal glass repair and your located in San Diego the keyword would be crystal glass repair San Diego without the â.
2. Create a serp clickâs account. Make sure you get the free trial. Visit this page to do so..
https://serpclix.com/users/register/buyer/plans
3. Create a new order by clicking the green button on the top right of the order history table.
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4. Select Google maps/my business in the search engine drop down.
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5 periods specify the keyword. Remember this should be the keyword you identified in step one.
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6. Specify the URL you want people to click on. You should be using the same UR well that youâre linking to from your profile.
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7. Specify the 2nd URL by answering this question. If you were a prospect visiting your website what would be the 2nd page youâd visit for more information? Donât overthink this as there isnât a wrong answer. For example if your profile links to your homepage then the next page may be the contact page.
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8. Specify the name of your business. This needs to be exactly the same as the business name on your profile.
9. For the next 2 parts, we are going to maximize the clicks we get as part of the free trial. For this reason, select the no limit check boxes. When you do this you donât need to worry about entering a number.
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10. If youâre on a trial, make sure you donât select the automatic renewal option.
11. Lastly, select the country youâre located in.
Donât use the all countries option.
12. Before you submit your order make sure all the information youâve entered is correct.
Click the create order button. It usually takes 1 to 2 business days for it to be approved.
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13. Once it has been approved you will start to receive clicks. Thatâs it if youâre tracking results in the inside section, youâll see the effects of this in 2 areas your brand and discovery visits, in your customer actions.
Important: while visits from the direct channel will also increase some of these will be from the circuitâs boost you used. Subtract the number of clicks you ordered from this number to get a true comparison of the benefit received.
Canceling your account
If you want to cancel your account before youâre billed, please do so after youâve gotten all the click she ordered. This should be completed well before the 14 day trial. Has finished.
If you decide to keep using the engagement overdrive strategy here are further instructions
Only use this once per month.
Short larger bursts of clicks are more effective than slow steady amounts of clicks each day. This tells Google that your business is trending and if youâre following the execution plan the extra visibility you get from this burst will lead to a continued boost invisibility. The average business only needs about 25 to 75 clicks for this to have an effect.
What not to do
This strategy can be used to improve the rankings of your actual website but I do not recommend doing this by yourself. Unless you have the right experience there is a chance you can have a negative effect on your website with search engines. This is safe to do with Google business profile because itâs owned by Google they arenât going to penalize their own properties. If you do feel that you have the experience necessary to put this to work your own website you will need to take some other factors into consideration..
Choose the page you want to improve rankings for.
The key words you want the page to rank better for.
The monthly search volumes for your target keywords
Whether or not you want to space out your order over a number of days or you want to do it all at once.
Much like a Google business profile this will only have good results if the page/website you are working with a setup for success. While it may not have the link equity that the top ranking pages have it should have a killer user experience in lightning fast low times among other things like schema and keyboard mapping. Happy. If this sounds like gibberish to you itâs a good sign that you should not be trying to do this yourself.
Report fake profiles
Hereâs the reality of Google business profiles
Due to their enormous potential to generate customers there are a lot of fake listings popping up.
Affiliates â people who get paid a commission by sending customers to other businesses had been rushing to the platform.
If you see a listing that doesnât represent a legitimate business in your market, I would report it to Google
Fake listings inflate the amount of competition youâre up against.
By reporting these and potentially having them removed youâre removing unnecessary obstacles to your invisibility.
To report these types of listings visit this page and follow the instructions.
https://support.google.com/business/contact/business_redressal_form
Make sure you are detailed when explaining why the listing is fake or fraudulent you can put this in the last field of the form. Providing more details make sure you report more effective.
Accessing the insight section
Google has updated their Insights section and there are 3 different ways you can access each section.
Directly on Google search
Your Google business profile dashboard
The Google Maps app
Here is how to accessThe insight section Directly on Google Search.
1st sign into your Google account make sure you use the same account that you used to manage your profile
2nd search for your business name.You can also just search âmy businessâ if you only have one profile.
3 click on the views link has shown below.
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Number 4 review performance. A light Box will display your performance data. Scroll down to review performance breakdowns
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Or use the navigation to review other metrics
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The business profile dashboard
One sign into the dashboard Using this link
Google.com/business/
2 navigate to insights. Use the left side navigation
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3 open the new report
If the report doesnât automatically load youâll need to click this link.
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The Google Maps app
One signed into your Google account using the same account you used to manage a profile.
2 load your business profile. Search for your business name or tap the your business profiles link in the main menu.
3 tap the reviews link
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What the data means?
Now that you know how to access the insights report hereâs a run down of what the data means.
Not all of your data will be included in the new insights report. Such as photo views top areas and branded versus direct breakdownâs. Google will be adding them soon.
Business profile interactions
This is a high level indicator of your listings performance.
The chart groups all interactions together: the number of users that clicked the call button on your listing (usually on mobile).
messages: the number of new messages sent to your profile. youâll need to have messaging switched on for this.
bookings: the number of bookings made for your listing. Similar to messages, you need to have booking setup to gather data.
Directions: the number of users who click the directions but not your listing usually mobile.
Website clicks: how many users visited your website after viewing your profile.
Depending on your industry some of these areas can be more viable than others.
For example coma bookings and calls could be correlated with new customers while directions may only be used by existing customers.
Platform and device breakdown
This tells you a couple of things:
Which device is people are using when they visit your profile.
Which platforms are using to find your profile (search of maps.)
For Google business profile mobile traffic tends to be more valuable. Thatâs because users can take more valuable actions on a mobile device when compared to a desktop. For example most users donât have the ability to call your business directly from their laptop computer. But on mobile all they need to do is tap the call button to phone you.
Searches breakdown
This report displays all of the keywords being used to find your profile. This data can be used in a couple of different ways..
You can bid on the best keywords with Google ads since theyâre proven to drive revenue.
You can check if you can realistically rank your website for some of these keywords.
Either of these options would increase your share of traffic for keywords that are proven to create customers.
Tracking your profile in Google maps
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The performance of your Google business profile is partially dependent on where the searcher is located.
That makes tracking your visibility based on location very helpful.
If you see that your visibility drops off in a certain area or at a certain distance you can follow the process for expanding your footprint using posts and photos.
You can use this to spy on your competitors to see how youâre performing in comparison.
Fortunately thereâs a free tool which helps visualize this directly within a map.
Itâs called local Falcon. Hereâs the link. https://localfalcon.com/
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