How Google My Business Affects Your SEO
Remember when you had to find a yellow pages book to find the numbers of local residents and businesses? (Well, I’m 23, so I don’t. But I’ve heard of it!) Thumbing through pages in a seemingly endless directory is a thing of the past! Google My Business (GMB) is a business listing on Google that outputs your company’s information and makes it easier for customers to find you. It contains your business’ address, phone number, website, hours of operation, ratings, and reviews, and directions to a store location if applicable. When a user searches for a business, this listing will appear on the upper right-hand side of the screen, giving them an overview of the company.
Google My Business listings have quickly become an important part of a company’s local SEO, or how they optimize their sites to reach a local audience. The easier it is for a searcher to find you, have their questions answered, and learn about your products and services, the easier it will be to turn them into a customer.
We won’t sugarcoat this — if you have not claimed your Google My Business listing yet, you need to, and now. In this blog, we’ll discuss all the benefits you’ll reap by doing so, so if you aren’t convinced of it yet, continue reading to learn more.
SEO Benefits of a Google My Business Listing
According to Moz, there are over 10 billion unique searches done every single month, with 25 percent of desktop and 50 percent of mobile searches having a local intent. This means that there are a lot of queries that consist of keywords like “near me” or including the name of the city the searcher is in. So, when a user goes to Google to look for a business to fit their needs, you want it to be yours. Here are just a few benefits of having a Google My Business listing and how it positively impacts your search engine optimization.
1. You’ll be easier to find in Google Maps searches.
One of the most important factors of a Google search is physical location, so having yours easily accessible will help people find you. How can they visit your business and spend their money if they can’t even find you? Using location services, the site can track a person’s point of origin and show them businesses that are closest to them, giving them the most convenient options in order of distance.
2. You can increase your odds of making it into Google’s local 3-pack.
The local 3-pack is a grouping of the three most relevant listings related to a user’s search, and by claiming your GMB listing, you automatically increase the chances of making it onto this coveted list. Appearing in the local 3-pack can be the difference between barely reaching an audience and having so many leads you can’t keep track, so it’s definitely something you should strive for. Bonus — this listing is posted about the organic search results so you’ll be even higher on the page than the businesses ranking in the top spots.
3. It increases traffic to your site and store location.
According to Google, claiming your GMB listing can increase your chances of being visited by searchers by 70 percent. Customers are more likely to actually visit the businesses that appear on these listings because there’s already a sense of trust there before they ever set foot in your location. They’ve been able to read reviews, Q&As, and product descriptions to give them an idea of what your company can offer which helped them make the decision to choose you over a competitor.
4. It will help you to rank higher on SERPs.
Google rewards good content — the more useful, relevant information you provide, the higher you are going to rank on the search engine results page. Claiming your GMB automatically adds information on your business, which Google recognizes as quality content. To stay up-to-date, make sure you interact with the customers leaving questions, comments, and reviews so that Google can see that you are consistent.
5. You’ll establish trust with customers.
People like to know what they’re about to walk into. Before someone goes anywhere, they’re likely to ask around and see what it’s about before they waste their time. When someone searches for your business and can immediately see the reviews, recommendations, and photos that other customers have provided, it builds a sense of trust. They’ve seen that other people have used your product or service and wrote about the experience they had, which gives the searcher a better understanding of what you can do for them.
6. It’s free and easy to manage.
There are so many costly, confusing marketing tactics that most local business owners aren’t well-versed in, but GMB makes it so easy! It costs nothing to claim your GMB listing and can be edited simply from your Google account, so what’s there to lose? Providing relevant information is the cheapest way to get people to visit your website or physical store location.
7. You’ll stand out from your competitors.
When your business is very similar to someone else’s, what makes a customer choose you over them? Usually, it’s things like other customers’ reviews, easily accessible information, detailed product descriptions, and overall ease when trying to find the site or store location. A Google My Business listing shows them all of these things in one place, which could be the difference in what company they end up going with. If your company can’t give them the answers they’re looking for, they’ll go somewhere else.
Improving Your SEO with Google My Business
In case we haven’t made it clear, claiming your GMB listing is essential for your business’ SEO. If you’d like more information on best SEO practices to improve your visibility on search engines, check out our free, downloadable SEO Guidebook to learn more. We highlight everything you need to know about driving quality traffic to your website and how to outrank your competitors.
