Growing your business online
One key component to the growth of your business’s online presence in 2018 is learning how to optimize Google My Business.
While Lifted Logic in Kansas City is passionate about web design and development (the shiny prize), we’re even more passionate about getting our clients noticed (ongoing, sustainable success). Once you’ve set up a listing, learning how to optimize Google My Business can
- lead to higher visibility in local search results,
- give legitimacy to your brand, and
- help inform your customers of special and events and programs that they might not have considered before their search.
By taking advantage of Google’s free features for business, you’re already well on your way to local search success.
So how do I optimize my Google My Business account?
There are five major ways to climb to the top of your local search rankings by making the most of your Google My Business listing when you learn how to optimize Google My Business, aside from ensuring the account is verified and all basic information is correct, such as your business’s hours, navigation, and contact information.
We suggest going above and beyond to beat out local competition and master how to optimize Google My Business by following these five standards.
1. Encourage customer engagement and build more reviews
Google Reviews are one of the most important aspects of acing how to optimize Google My Business. Google builds trust in your business by crowd-sourcing the local community of your already existing customers to give an honest perspective of your staff and services. This also gives you a unique opportunity to hear opinions you may not necessarily get when you’re face-to-face with that person. Most importantly, though, reviews tell Google that you are interacting with customers on a daily basis and that other people in your area may be interested in checking you out.
Encourage your customers to review your business using the phrase “Would you mind giving us a five-star review on Google?” or a variation, like, “We would appreciate if you would give us a five-star review when you get home today!”
It’s a direct way to remind customers that they have the ability and power to affect your business in a positive way, which helps fortify a customer-business relationship. You can also place this reminder on receipts, signage, or flyers/business cards.
Beyond asking for reviews from your customers, you may also want to think about reaching out to friends and family for their reviews as well. Lifted Logic notices that most successful GMB accounts typically boast at least 150+ positive Google Reviews. Once you achieve these kinds of numbers, you’ll be well on your way to knowing how to optimize Google My Business listing.
Pro-tip: Google explicitly prohibits the solicitation of reviews in bulk. While this verbiage may seem a bit vague, our interpretation is that businesses are discouraged from incentivizing reviews in any way or sending out requests for reviews in newsletter emails. This also means Google may not accept reviews if it notices they are coming from the same IP address (customers using your own wifi). Be careful about how you ask for reviews!
2. Be responsive
It’s not enough anymore to simply get the reviews in mastering how to optimize Google My Business. Google prioritizes listings that are responsive to their customers, and are even beginning to crawl these responses to help it find additional content that’s relevant to your website.
Generally, Google suggests getting in your response within 1 week of the post date.
For positive reviews…
- Thank the customer for their time
- Explain why their review matters to you
- Invite them to return to your business for more; use this as an opportunity to plug your services
- Include a short, well-wishing conclusion
- Share these reviews with your staff for encouragement
Example:
Hi, Theresa! (1) Thanks so much for taking the time to leave Lifted Logic a review today. (2) Your input is super helpful in understanding our strengths as a company. We’re so glad to hear you’re happy with your finished website; we loved working on it! (3) Don’t forget that we always provide FREE training to our clients in whatever area they need, including SEO, Google Analytics, and more, so be sure to USE US! (4) We’ve passed your notes along to our development team and designers, who always love hearing feedback on their work. (5) Have a great day and we hope to hear from you soon!
For negative reviews…
- Remain calm & do your research on their claims before drafting a response
- Thank the customer for their input
- Express concern for their claim
- Legitimize your viewpoint with previous research
- Encourage the customer to reach out if they have any further concerns or questions and provide a method of contacting you
Example:
Hi, Adam. (2) Thank you for sharing your input about your recent experience with Lifted Logic. (3) We understand your concern and are already taking measures to improve our functionality going forward. (4) Your website was a fun project, and while we understand your frustration with your site being down, our server did not denote any issues on September 2nd. (5) If you have any additional questions or feedback, please give us a call and we would be happy to assist you in finding out more about your concerns and preventing any issues going forward. Thanks again and we hope to hear from you soon.
Questions
These general review-response practices are also useful when responding to customer questions, one of Google’s newest features which allows users to post questions about your business, and which both you and other “local guides” have the ability to answer.
In both instances, when your business receives a Google Review or customer question, Google will send all Owner and Manager accounts an email notification. However, it’s always best to audit your account manually in case something gets missed.
3. Stay top of mind
Google claims posting content to your GMB account on a weekly basis is another way for your business to climb up the rankings in local search results, including how you show up on Google Maps. There are two ways to post to your account: Photos/Videos & Posts.
Photos & Videos
Google recommends posting 5-7 photos/videos per week in your “photos” tab. This tab also accrues any media posted by your customers and tagged to your business, so be sure to keep an eye on this content to ensure no irrelevant or damaging content gets posted to your account. Some examples of visual media you can take and post to show off your business on Google include:
- Event and/or holiday photos
- Staff highlights
- Storefront/selection
- Any physical updates you’ve made to your business
- Happy customers/clients (including before/after photos)*
- Promotion content
Photos should be at least 720 x 720 px and can include .jpg or .png type files.
Videos can be up to 30 seconds long at a minimum of 720p resolution.
Posts
One post per week will help potential customers get a better sense of the kinds of events, activities, promotions, and/or projects your business engages in, and helps personalize their experience. Google My Business posts can also include photos, videos, text, events, offers, and/or a button.
Posts should at least include a photo or graphic and up to 300 words of copy.
4. Keep your customers in the loop
What’s happening with your business?
Be sure to update your hours in the case of any shortened days (holidays like Christmas, Thanksgiving, etc.) in the “information” tab of your account. You can also use this in the case of any scheduled maintenance needed in your storefront. Closed for annual inventory? Be sure to update your Google My Business hours so customers stay informed of what’s happening within your four walls.
5. Measure your results
Observing Google My Business insights.
What’s optimization if you don’t achieve measured results? Utilize your Google My Business Insights tab to learn what’s working and what’s not. Read the Search Queries to find out what words people are using to find you. Check out Direction Requests to learn more about how many times customers have looked up directions to your business. This feature is free… why not use it to your full advantage?
- How customers find your listing
Search queries
Where customers find you on Google
Customer actions
Direction requests
Phone calls
Photos
Next Steps
We’ve provided a quick and easy checklist for you to use on a weekly basis to act as a reminder of all of the points we’ve listed above and to get you well on your way to mastering how to optimize Google My Business.
DATE: ________________ EMPLOYEE: ________________
✔️ Check and respond to all reviews
✔️ Post 5-7 photos/videos
✔️ Create 1 Post detailing that week’s event, promotion, deal, or project
✔️ May vary week-to-week: Updating holiday or other special hours
✔️ Check Insights Tab and make notes of any spikes, dips, or extraneous metrics
Learning how to optimize Google My Business is essential for your business to thrive in the local market and get your business noticed by potential customers in your area. Getting down how to optimize Google My Business using the suggestions above is free, requires minimal time and effort, and can pay off big in the long run.
So now you’ve achieved a consistent level of maintenance and optimization of your Google My Business Account. Are you seeing results? If not, you may want to consider Google Ads Marketing to build visibility in your local area.
Lifted Logic provides free Local SEO training to our clients, and strives to post resources on the web to help local businesses thrive. Visit our website or schedule a free, one-hour website analytics review.
Becca Stebbin, Lead Content Strategist
Becca was a Content Strategist before it was cool, building SEO best practices into digital marketing strategies for our clients well before it was an industry standard. Her experience at the forefront of digital marketing and SEO serves her well as the intrepid leader of Lifted Logic's Content Department.
