Increase the reach of your business with GBP – Google Business Profile
Do you know what GBP – Google Business Profile is and how to optimise it to promote your business and win more customers? Check out SmartLinks’ tips.
The GBP – Google Business Profile (formerly Google My Business) is an excellent way to promote any business. It’s easy to do, free and has proven results.
As Google is the most widely used search engine in the world (it captures over 92% of the market), the GBP is important for attracting new customers, both through search and localisation.
What is Google Business Profile?
Why should businesses use GBP?
What are the advantages of GBP?
How do I set up a GBP account?
How do I optimise my GBP profile?
Sharing posts on GBP
What is Google Business Profile?
Google Business Profile is a free business directory that shows details such as address and contact details, location, photos, products and services. Creating this profile is a good way to increase your visibility on all Google services. The data entered here will appear in Google Search, Google Maps and Google Shopping.
GBP is only available to businesses that have contact with consumers. This includes businesses with a physical location (e.g. shops or restaurants) or companies that provide services elsewhere (e.g. cleaning or catering companies).
If the business is online only (e.g. exclusively e-commerce companies), it should use other services such as Google Ads and Google Analytics.
Why should businesses use GBP?
Being discovered in Google search and Google Maps is a huge advantage for a business. GBP is a tool that allows you to show your brand, products and services to all the people who are looking for them in a location close to where they are.
The GBP listing tells users where and how to visit your business, showing the location and hours of operation.
GBP also improves local SEO by making use of Google Maps features. Who hasn’t Googled a restaurant near you for lunch?
You can also contact a digital marketing agency to take care of your company profile so you don’t have to read this article to the end!
What are the advantages of GBP?
Google Business Profile brings numerous advantages to any business. But it can also cause some setbacks.
Local SEO
GBP has strong local SEO, so information shared with users located in the same area will rank higher than third-party sites (at least those that don’t update details).
Through integration with Google Maps, it gives directions on the best route to take to the company’s premises, as well as publicising and updating contacts, opening hours and other business details. It’s also possible to share updates on an expansion of services, temporary closures, reopening of premises, etc.
Evaluations
Reviews are a key element of social proof, a significant way of building trust and credibility. They are displayed below the profile, rivalling Yelp or Trustpilot reviews.
Google allows users to rate businesses from 1 to 5 and share reviews about their shopping experiences. These reviews will help other potential customers decide whether to visit that establishment and buy the products or services they want there.
Reviews shared on a platform as public as Google can have a downside: the company can’t choose which reviews are published. However, it can (and should) respond to them.
The good news is that Google considers the combination of positive and negative reviews to be more reliable than exclusively favourable recommendations.
Visibility
The business profile allows the company to be visible to anyone – either by proximity or by searching for related keywords. Let’s imagine a person leaving an appointment and looking for a pharmacy to buy their prescribed medication, or someone who needs a stationery shop nearby. Businesses with GBP appear in the local pack, i.e. at the top of the map search results.
Mobility
Given that many consumers act on impulse, speed and proximity are essential to fulfil their needs. Having information at your fingertips – in other words, on mobile – properly optimised for all mobile screens, will increase the reach of any business.
There’s also the option to include direct messaging, by phone or e-mail, via the GBP interface.
How do I set up a GBP account?
Step 1 – Register the company with Google Business Profile Manager
If your company already has a Google business account, you will automatically be connected to Google Business Profile Manager. If not, simply create a new Gmail account and confirm your identity with a code sent to you by phone.
Step 2 – Add the business
Enter the company name and business area. If it doesn’t appear in the drop-down menu, click on ‘add business to Google’. Then select the appropriate category. These details can be changed later.
Step 3 – Enter location
If there is a physical location that customers can visit, click ‘Yes’ and add the business address. The location marker can be positioned on the map.
If the business doesn’t have an address that can be visited, but offers services or deliveries to several locations, you can list these different locations or the region where you work.
Step 4 – Fill in contact details
Enter the company’s telephone number and website name so that customers can contact you.
Step 5 – Verify the business
Enter a real physical address, which will be used to verify the business, but will not be displayed on GBP or anywhere shared with the public.
This step involves confirmation via a 5-digit code sent by post (businesses with a physical address) or e-mail (service businesses).
Step 6 – Personalising your profile
Register your opening hours, message preferences, business description and photos in the Google Business Profile Manager dashboard. From here, you can manage your profile, reviews and messages, view tips and create Google Ads.
How to optimise GBP
Google determines that local search rankings are based on three factors:
Relevance: when the company profile responds to searches
Distance: the proximity of the business to the user making the search
Relevance: knowledge of your business (based on factors such as links, number of reviews, ratings and SEO)
This requires
Complete all the elements of the profile
The name, address and telephone number are the most important elements to ensure consistent contact.
Businesses with complete and accurate information are the ones that match users’ searches more easily. This information includes what you do, what you sell, where you are, when you can be visited and the payment methods you accept.
Data should be updated whenever there are changes to opening hours, such as public holidays.
Verify the location
Verified business locations are more likely to appear in local results such as Maps and Search. Including a verified address also helps to improve your ranking on the distance factor.
Add real images and videos of the business
The profile includes a logo and a cover photo. The images should be consistent with those used on social networks, to make it easier to recognise the brand.
You can also add images and videos showing the location, working environment and team. Images should be appealing, professional and with good resolution. Companies with good photos receive more requests for directions and more clicks on their websites.
Include keywords in your profile
Using keywords will improve your brand’s relevance. Keywords should be incorporated naturally into the business description.
The description has a limit of 750 characters which should not be wasted on irrelevant words or ‘stuffing’. It must not include links or adverts.
Encourage (and respond to) reviews and questions
People trust other people more than businesses. A good review can be the deciding factor for another consumer – and improves your Google ranking.
The best time to ask for a review is right after you’ve offered a good experience. To make things easier, Google gives a direct link to the form to ask consumers to review the company.
Please note: you can’t switch off GBP reviews. In any case, they prove that the business is legitimate. However, it is possible to point out and report inappropriate reviews.
Good practice indicates that you should respond to reviews, both positive and negative, in a professional manner and with the brand’s tone of voice.
Anticipating a list of questions and answers is another way of increasing the credibility and authority of the business. The company can be the first to clarify users’ doubts and avoid misunderstandings.
Keep information up to date
You need to edit your profile information whenever you change your opening hours, contacts, promotions, etc. For a customer, there’s nothing worse than going to a shop and finding it closed, when Google indicated that it would be open; or coming across prices that differ from those advertised.
You can also use GBP to publish updates, product news, offers and events.
Add attributes and special features
Special features are available in Google Business Accounts, depending on the category you choose. You can also add business attributes to share information with customers. For example, wheelchair access, free Wi-Fi, terrace, etc.
Hotel: classification, sustainability practices, highlights, check-in and check-out times and amenities.
Catering: uploading menus, photos of dishes and drinks.
Services: list of services.
Business: buttons based on category, meetings, bookings and orders (you can choose up to 10 business categories for each company)
Adding products
The company must update its inventory of products or services. As well as appearing on the profile, they can also appear on Google Shopping. Google’s free marketing tools offer access to stickers, social posts, printable posters and videos. In this way, you can create personalised and original elements that attract customers’ attention.
Share posts on GBP
Google Business Profile allows you to share relevant and concise content about news, products or services, offers, events, etc. You can include text, photos and videos. Here you can add a link to find out more about the subject. This is how we do it at SmartLinks:
Example of adding SmartLinks posts to Google Business Profile
Please note: A GBP post can be up to 1,500 words long, but only the first 70 characters are visible. In general, one post every fortnight is recommended, keeping the profile centred on quality information.
Sources:
Google Business Profile
Hootsuite
Forbes
Constant Contact
Small Bizz Club
Expert Digital
