Today, businesses are in dire need of some essential tools for targeting visibility on Google. Most businesses focus on digital marketing, SEO, PPC, and so on, but overlook the power of a Google Business Profile. For businesses to expand their horizon and easily reach the target market, it is essential for organizations today to register their business on Google to make the most of this tool.
Before we jump to how to add business to Google Maps and Google My Business account, let’s first understand what Google My Business is.
What Is Google My Business?
The internet has become a major part of our lives, and in some way or the other, we all rely on the web. Search engines like Google not only help us gain information but also run through several websites that could cater to our needs.
Google My Business is an essential free-of-cost tool that allows you to create and promote your business profile and website on Google search and maps. Since Google holds over 89.62% of all searches, companies looking to grow online should definitely register business on Google.
When you register your business name on Google My Business listing, it elevates your SEO and marketing efforts. Therefore, getting listed on it will significantly impact your business performance online as well as offline. Now that you are familiar with Google My Business, the question you probably have in mind is,
How to Register Business on Google My Business?
Akin to how users can engage with businesses on Google for free, you can register business on Google without any monetary investment. So, are you prepared to start your journey?
Let’s dive into the step-by-step process of adding your business to Google Maps!
Step 1: Sign Up
The beginning is always tricky, but not when you are trying to register your business on Google My Business. Start by logging into the Google account you want to list the business with or create a new Google account.
Step 1.1: Add or Claim Your Business
You need to claim your business on Google. To claim, your company must already have a Google My Business profile. If you don’t have a profile yet, you need to sign up first, and then claim their business on Google.
Step 2: Enter Business Information
Once you are done with the account creation or set up, you need to add the necessary information about your company on Google, such as:
- Name
- Address
- Working Hours
- Contact Number
- Email address
- Industry
In order to attract or connect with more visitors, you can add pictures of your company, and of the products or services you offer. When consumers see such information first hand, they are likely to click and visit your website. For instance, if you are a hotel, you can add a picture of the amenities, ambiance, and restaurant, to attract your potential guests.
Don’t overlook these categories
- Category and Attributes
- Products and Services
- From the Business
And the ongoing optimization of
- Posts
- Reviews
- FAQs (Consumer-generated)
Providing such information will help your target audience to connect with you.
Step 3: Verify Your Business Account
Without verification, authenticity is not carved, which makes an essential part of the Google My Business account journey. Once you confirm all the information provided, verify that everything is accurate, you are all set to verify your company on Google.
The process of verification is extremely easy and can be completed via email, phone, or Google console. If you are looking for fast verification anyway, try using Google console. However, remember that it only works if you have previously confirmed your business using it.
For email and phone verification, you are provided with a verification code that you have to enter on Google My Business. Also, you have a choice to verify your business via mail (post). If you choose this means, you will get a Google postcard with a verification code within 14 days.
Step 4: Update It Often
Claiming and verification is the way to list your business, but if you are looking forward to attracting more traffic and growing your business, you need to maintain your account. Having a digital marketing team that regularly optimizes your Google account is the way.
If any information related to your company changes, be it location, working hours, phone number, or specialties, update it immediately.
Step 4.1: Don’t Miss Out on Reviews
Review management is part of creating your Google profile. Today, people are high on research and correct information, and can’t be fooled. Reviews and testimonials help them assure themselves to work or purchase the products.
Google reviews show the authenticity of a company. That’s why you need a dedicated team that could keep a regular check on your reviews, respond to user queries, and resolve any issues.
By staying active on Google, interacting with the commenters, addressing their issues, and thanking them for their support and valuable reviews, you can build long-term strong customer relationships. Also, it helps you make any changes and improve your products/ services based on customers’ feedback.
Distinguished Features of Google My Business
Once you are done with the verification process, you can manage your Google My Business account with a user-friendly dashboard that features:
Insights
Gain key insights into website clicks, directions requests, total searches, and other important performance metrics.
Reviews
View metrics such as average rating and reviews count.
How and Why Optimize Your Google My Business Account
First things first, optimization starts with profile creation, which we have covered comprehensively. Optimization comes with constructive and defined strategies, which helps you boost engagement, improve rankings, and convert more leads.
Not all businesses are unique, yet not all are the same.
You might be offering premium quality services, better than what your competitors offer, at competitive prices to your customers. But if you are not visible to your target audience, your business is only limited.
Optimizing your business profile helps visitors choose your company over your competitors. In addition, listing your business on Google My Business aids in marketing your business at local and even global level and provides you with various benefits:
1. Improves Engagement
Customer engagement is the key to success. Whether you are a B2B or B2C company, getting more business is your only way to grow. The more your target audience engages, the more likely you are to get business. However, it has been observed that people often visit and exit from Google itself, without visiting any other website.
So, what is the reason behind this?
Well, the search engine results are full of the needed information but contain brief information about your company. Customers, when provided with concise data, are quick to decide insiwhether to visit your website or not.
But when you have a complete business profile, consumers are more likely to go through it. Since it’s usually the first piece of information they come in contact with, optimizing your Google My Business profile ensures you better reach, quality engagement, and improved conversions.
2. Boosts Local Ranking
Google My Business is not only for information and activity, but also for proximity and relevance. Your local audience are your biggest brand advocates. Using Google to attract them to your store will be like investing pennies to generate dollars.
To optimize your business profile is to use Google algorithms to generate local results and boost your local business rankings. The higher you rank on Google, the more business you are going to attract.
For instance, for a restaurant or shopping store, having a high-ranking business listed on Google is essential. Whether it is local residents or people vacationing, everyone loves to eat and shop, and to find the best place for the same, they are sure to use Google.
3. Converts More Leads
An optimized business profile helps consumers easily find you with keyword searches. Adding the desired search volume keywords while optimizing your profile makes it easy for consumers to reach you.
When users are able to find you on the web, they are likely to visit your website, contact you, and read about the products or services you offer. If your content is convincing enough and answers their questions, they may request a quote.
By now, you are well-versed with the hows and whys of Google My Business. It’s time you understand that a lot of customers also find your business via Google Maps and Search. And that’s why you should add your business to Google Maps, too.
First, What Is Google Maps Marketing?
Consumers are always cynical about only little online presence of a business, which is why you need to make use of every available resource that enhances your business presence online. Maps offer wider visibility online to your business, which is why you need to add your business to Google Maps.
With Google Maps, businesses remain at liberty to market their products and services in real time to people with mobile devices.
Why Is Google Maps Marketing Important?
For companies to meet their ultimate objective, they need to invest in services and tools that will work as a ladder. Google Maps is one such tool that many people use to find your business. In fact, insights provided by Google My Business also focus on how people find your profile on Google Maps and what action they take.
Local Google searches translate into sales with 76% of people visiting the local stores within a day.
But usually, people don’t go beyond the second Google SERPs. So, when you add your business to Google Maps, it appears on the first page of Google search results, catching the eye of every user. Therefore, Google Maps Marketing is a highly effective way to increase traffic and conversions.
Some of its major benefits include:
Relationship Building
Depending on the physical location of your company, Google Maps Marketing will significantly help in increasing your mobile search volume. Because everyone is attached to their phones 24*7.
Ranked Results
Not all users enable location-based search on their mobile apps. Thus, Google Maps offers ranked results, where map results are often visible. However, such results appear only for a few businesses such as convenience stores.
Once you add your business to Google Maps, you can easily check how frequently people view your profile. You can use your Google My Business credentials to check your Google Maps profile insights.
How to Set Up Business on Google Maps?
It has become a necessity for organizations like yours to add your business to Google Maps so that your target audience can easily locate you. You can set up business on Google Maps in a few simple steps:
Step 1: Visit your Google My Business page. Click on Manage Now.
Step 2: Create the business listing and name your business profile.
Step 3: Add relevant information about your business.
Step 4: Add your business to Google Maps.
Step 5: Verify your business profile.
Top Ranking Factors That Help Rank in Google Maps and Local 3-Pack
To meet your business’s online ranking needs and grow exponentially, you must consider the following ranking factors:
- Google My Business signals
- Link signals
- Citation signals
- Review signals
- Social signals
- Behavioral signals
- On-page signals
- Personalization
When it comes to Google algorithms, they come with considerable variations. The local search algorithms work a bit differently than the overall search ranking algorithms, as they help in checking:
- Proximity, where it can be observed how close the business is to that one is searching for.
- Prominence, where the popularity and relevance of your business are checked depending on the particular area.
- Relevance, where it shows how the business area or profile is relevant to the user-generated query.
Takeaway
Getting the basics right is the very first step to building a strong online presence for your business. In order to stay ahead of your competition, it is essential to factor in the required techniques and tools that will make your business easy to discover and highly visible.
Since Google is one of the biggest search engines, and over half of the world population relies on it for correct information, you must make the most of it.
But remember, creating a Google profile will not help you propel unless you fine-tune it on a regular basis. The best way to market your business is to:
- Always update the information
- Build a positive social image
- Focus on reviews
- Engage with customers often
So, invest your time and effort in Google My Business and at the same time add your business to Google Maps, thereby attracting your target audience consistently and converting them into regular customers. If you need assistance, our digital marketing professionals are here to help. Talk to us or shoot an email at info@growthnatives.com.