In this fierce business competition, even running a local business success could become devastating. You may get rigid competition from your rivals who deal in similar merchandise as you do. So, in order to keep your business on track, there is a crucial need for effective marketing. Listing your business with Google My Business could give you a competitive edge. According to research, 95% of buyers look online for local businesses before purchasing goods and services. Hence, the domain of word-of-mouth is beginning to fade as consumers prefer online information for local businesses. But, only making your business live on Google won’t create worth it. You need to ensure a high ranking for this domain listing to keep your business a step forward. So, look below at what is Google my Business and how to rank it higher.
What does GMB do for local businesses?
Taking your business to Google Maps is the living trend to advertise it efficaciously. Google My Business is an online platform that allows local vendors to appear in Google Maps. This is the free service by Google that enables businesses to engage with their customers. Simply put, GMB is considered as bread and butter for local stores, shops, and showrooms to interact with their preferred audiences. Let’s understand GMB with a simple example. If you own a fruit store in your vicinity then you can list it with GMB for free. While creating your profile, you can enter:
- Name of business
- Type of business
- Contact number
- Website link if you have one
- Address and business hours
- Images of your store
Tips to rank higher on GMB listings
When users type for fruit shop or fruit dealers in the search bar of Google, they will be able to find your location on Google Maps. The listing for your business will be shown on the right side of the search engine results.
Focus on the primary business category
While listing your business on Google, you will be asked to categorize your business into primary and secondary categories. The primary category makes a greater impact than the secondary as it will be displayed on the search engine results. So, by taking the previous example of a fruit store, you can list as a fruit merchant or dealer on GMB. But when your business has sub-categories then it is crucial to choose the service you are most well-reckoned in. For instance, if you own an eatery then classifying it with cuisine specialization makes a better impact on your ad. Instead, you can mention your business in the food and beverages category if you don’t have a specific cuisine preference.
Post quality images for business
There is no wonder to admit that images speak better than words. So, when people will be trying to explore your business in their locality, they would be delivered with preferred search engine results. The images of your business will also be displayed on their screens so that they can take a virtual look at the store they are supposed to visit. Simply put, images fetch good attention from internet users that can make your business recognized among the target audience. This strategy works like social media to make your business visually appealing to the audience. However, it cannot be co-related with social media marketing which can have a greater impact than GMB. You can know about the influence of social media marketing on digital marketing in the next blog. For the time being, just focus on the types of images you should post with GMB.
- The exterior of your building
- Interior of your store
- Logo of your store
- Your team and images of the primary workstation
Add reviews for your business
Listing your business online without customer reviews could not serve your goal well. Reviews for local businesses are crucial to make a positive impact on internet users. Thus, adding quality reviews to your business would certainly make a positive impact on customers. They can read those reviews about your business to make purchasing decisions. But it is important that your business must have a rating of 4 or more stars to entice customers. Internet users often notice ratings for the products and services offered by businesses. Also, positive reviews of businesses send all kinds of signals to Google. For example, a business with 50 quality reviews will be considered good than a business only with 20 reviews. Apart from this, you should also respond to those reviews to give a personal touch to your consumers. Not only positive reviews will make your business recognized. But negative reviews will also inspire you to improvise your business in a graceful manner.
Create useful content
Content creation is an ever-demanding strategy to bring higher Google My Business ranking. Although, it is the new feature in GMB and an ultra-modern way to post recent news, offers, deals, and discounts. Also, you can create a blog post for your GMB and post it with an online link. You can consider creating regular content using the right keywords with the help of professional SEO services Chandigarh. Experts can identify your needs to create relevant content using the right keyword placement. This would certainly help your local business ranking to get higher to make your local business marketing effective.
Promote your events consistently
Like content creation for your GMB listing, you should also promote your events regularly. In addition to posting your events on social media and websites, you can also boost GMB with event visibility. For this, you should post images of the promotional events for your store. This would certainly list your business with positive SEO ranking for your local business. This makes you active in the community and will elevate your business recognition in the local region.
To sum up
GMB is one of the lucrative solutions for promoting your business online. Above all marketing tactics, a GMB profile just takes a few minutes, and getting it updated is simple. Marketing Gears is a renowned SEO and digital marketing company to support your GMB listings for successful ventures.