Chances are that you’ve searched Google for ‘restaurant near me’ or ‘supermarket near me’.
Then browsed through the results and chose the best option based on the business description, operating hours, reviews left, or business images you saw.
Imagine your potential customers buying from you because they found you on Google. Amazing, right? So, how can you ensure your business appears when a potential client searches online for businesses like yours?
Optimize for Local Search With Local SEO
Local SEO is a search engine optimization strategy that increases your visibility in local search results on Google and helps drive highly targeted traffic to your business.
By optimizing your business for local search terms, you ensure your business appears when it matters most. When a potential customer around your business is ready to buy and is searching for the services you offer.
With an increase in the number of daily ‘near me’ searches, optimizing for local SEO is a sure way of getting customers through your door.
Local SEO will increase your:
- Traffic
- Rankings
- Conversions
One of the best ways to leverage local SEO is to have an optimized Google My Business profile.
What is Google My Business?
Google My Business now known as Google Business Profile is a free service that helps your business show up on Google Maps and Google Search. If you own a restaurant, a Google Business profile helps your business appear when people search for restaurants in your area.
It doesn’t matter if you don’t have a physical store for your business. As long as you sell a product or service, you should sign up for a business profile.
Is Google My Business Free?
The business account is totally free and easy to set up. It’s something you can do in less than thirty minutes.
Why Is It Important for Your Business?
A Google Business Account will help you increase visibility on Google, build credibility through customer reviews, and manage your business information such as working hours or address.
When you searched on Google, remember the list of businesses that popped up accompanied by the map? That’s because those businesses have created and optimized their Google Business Profiles. We’ll look at optimization a little later.
This is what it looks like:
A business with an optimized listing is more likely to show up in these results.
Discovery searches have increased in recent years. Most people look for a general category like shoes or food rather than a specific brand.
So if a user near your business searches for businesses like yours, you should come up. An optimized profile will do that for you.
The next thing people look at is reviews. The more reviews you have, the more the user will trust your business. Ensure you request for and respond to both the positive and negative reviews.
How to Create a Google My Business Listing
- Go to Google Maps and add your business
In Google Maps, open the menu on the top left corner of the page.
From the menu, select ‘Add your business’.
2. Create your business account
Click the ‘create account’ button and choose ‘to manage my business’ from the drop down menu.
Fill in your information such as your name, username, and create a password for your account. Click next.
Then you’ll need to verify your account using a phone number.
Google will ask you to provide a few more details then send you to the terms and conditions page.
Select ‘I agree’ at the bottom of the page.
3. Fill in your business name and category
As you start typing your name, Google will show a list of existing businesses in its database.
If your business appears in the list, then claim your business instead of creating a new listing. If not, type out the business name in full exactly as it is.
Next, start typing the category and choose from the list. The category tells Google what type of business it is and helps with search.
4. Add your location
Add your physical location. This is an optional step but mandatory for some categories like restaurants.
When you add an address, Google will show it on Maps, so make sure it is accurate.
If you don’t have a physical shop, skip this step.
Google may also ask you if other listings with similar addresses are yours. Select none if not or claim the one you own.
5. Choose your service area
This will be different depending on whether you added a business address. This step is optional if you added an address.
You will choose whether you offer deliveries or home and office visits.
Choose yes to add your service areas, or no to skip to the next step.
6. Add your contact information
Add your phone number and website if you have one. Customers will reach you through these channels so double check that you fill them correctly.
7. Opt in to updates and recommendations
It’s recommended that you opt in so that you get the best practices directly from Google on how to keep growing your business.
8. Verify your listing
Your business profile won’t be visible until you verify it.
You can do so in any of these five ways:
- By phone
- By email
- By postcard
- By live video call
- By video recording
Once you verify your listing, users can search and find your business on Google.
Remember that your work doesn’t end here. To optimize your listing ensure it’s relevant and up to date,
- Add high quality images of your store, products or services or other relevant ones.
- Add your operating hours.
- Enable messaging
- Request for and respond to reviews and questions.
How to Claim Your Google Business Profile
Google generates business information automatically, so an unmanaged listing of your business may already be in existence.
You only need to claim this listing and add it to your dashboard.
Claiming your listing will allow you to manage, update and respond to customers on your business profile.
Claim your listing in four easy steps:
- Search for your business
Go to Google Maps and search for your business name. If you don’t find it, it doesn’t exist and you need to create one from scratch.
2. Find the ‘Claim this business’ button
Look for the ‘Claim this business’ button or ‘own this business?’ link.
If you can’t find either, it means:
a). The listing is already verified and you need to contact the business manager.
b). You’re already the profile manager. Log into your Google account and navigate to the Business Profile Manager dashboard to check if the listing is assigned to your account.
- Select the ‘Manage Now’ button
Click this button if it is your business or choose ‘I own or manage another business’ to create a new listing.
- Verify your listing
The verification step proves to Google that you manage the listing you’re trying to claim.
You can only manage your listing such as editing the information or responding to reviews after verifying it.
Whether you’re a dentist, farmer, beauty technician, real estate agent or any other local business owner, you need to create and optimize your Google Business Account.
It’s free, it’s easy to create and use, and will bring you more customers. What more reason do you need to get started?