5 Easy Ways to Optimize Your Google My Business

If you are anything like me, you have probably used Google My Business several times in the past few days. As Google My Business continues to grow in popularity, making sure your business listing is set up to help optimize your business is a no-brainer. Below are a few things you can do to make sure your business is getting the attention it deserves from Google.

1. Make sure all of your contact information is correct

This one is pretty self-explanatory but definitely very helpful. Here are some of the biggest hitters you want to make sure are filled in and correct on your listing.

• First off, you want to make sure your Business’ name is consistent everywhere you have it listed. Whatever name is on your website, should be exactly the same on your Google My Business listing. This is a good rule of thumb throughout the internet. Google penalizes for inconsistencies. So if we listed ourselves as RedTree Web Design LLC on our website, that should be carried over to our Google My Business page.
• A good way to make sure people are going to your website is by linking your website to your Google listing. A lot of people like to make sure you are a legitimate business by checking out your website.
• A lot of people use Google My Business listings for getting directions. Make sure you have the correct address for your listing. Again for consistency throughout Google, make sure that the address is the same as the one on your website. Just an FYI, Google My Business, will not let you list a PO Box as an address for a business listing.
• Besides checking out your website and getting directions, a lot of users use Google My Business listings to call your business. When adding your phone number, make sure it is the best number to have users quickly get in touch with your business.

2. Make sure you have a strong description

When  it comes to your description, you want to make sure you are doing three things:

• Google gives you 750 characters to use, make sure you are making a hearty description with what you are given.
• When using your 750 characters, make sure you are using keywords your users will be searching for to find your business.
• To save you time, try using some content from your About page. No need to reinvent the wheel.

3. Have Pictures and/or Videos

Making sure your Google My Business includes images is always helpful and adding videos is even better. People love looking through images and they help you show you are an established business. Here are some ideas of images you can post to your listing:

• Staff at work
• Staff
• Images of the outside of your building
• Images of your Office/Space/Store
• Products
• Any videos can be explaining what your business does, speaking events, etc.  These can only be 30 seconds long.

4. Reviews

Having reviews from clients/customers can be very helpful in getting prospective clients/customers to do business with you. When it comes to reviews here are two things you should make sure you are doing:

• Asking clients/customers to leave reviews for your business. You can actually send them a direct link to reviews to make it even easier for them.
• Responding to reviews is also very important. It shows you care about your client/customers and that you engage with them. Responding to negative reviews is even more important. It also helps you grow as a business and learn for the future.

5. Publish Google Posts

The last easy thing you can do to help optimize your Google My Business is to publish Google posts. Here is a list of things that make great posts for your business:

• Use posts to help get the word out about upcoming events.
• You have a promo happening, post it!
• Do you have updates about your business? Use this to notify your users.
• This last one is especially helpful. Does your website have some kind of blog? Post your blogs here and link them back to your website. Reusing content is always a great strategy, it will draw more people to your website and it can provide added value to your users.

Remember Google My Business is a free tool you can use to help grow your business, so what are you waiting for? Don’t have time to make these easy updates yourself? Reach out to RedTree to give you a helping hand!