It is not easy for a local business to be able to make itself known on the Internet, the competition is fierce. Big brands and marketplaces dominate the market, making it much more difficult for a neighborhood store to find it.
This claim is becoming obsolete thanks to Google My Business,Google’s business directory.
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What is Google My Business?
As we have said before, Google My Business is Google’s business directory formerly called Google Places and in which several features of its defunct social network have been integrated: Google+.
It is a free service offered by Google to companies that have a physical location,so that they can manage their presence on Google Maps and their local SEO. But it is more than just a directory to use, Google My Business has many configuration options that make its listings the most complete way to position a business locally.
Getting Started
The first thing to keep in mind when a Google My Business tab can be positioned is to have consistency in the NAP.
And what is NAP? Nap is short for Name, Address, Phone. These are the basic and essential elements for a Google localization to be displayed in the top positions.
When we talk about consistency we mean that these three data have to be identical anywhere on the Internet,either on a website, in the Yellow Pages directory or in the same Google My Business tab.
The name
It has to be the full and real name of the company,although after the name you can add the activity of the company and orient it to the locality where the business is.
For example: Modas Pepa | Clothing and accessories store in Toledo
The latter is discouraged by Google but not penalized. It is a very effective technique to position, so it is used a lot by SEO experts to optimize these tabs.
The phone
If you have a local business and a landline, it is preferable that you indicate it as the main phone number because it reinforces the local character of the business. Mobile phones can also be indicated, as long as they appear on the website of said business.
Remember that they have to be consistent with each other, so we recommend that a number with an international prefix is not indicated on the web, unless it is strictly necessary.
The Management
It’s the most important thing about the NAP, as it’s what tells Google where the physical address of the business is.
The key is that it is complete. It must have the full name and number of the street and indicate the floor and door if the business is in an office of a building, instead of a local at street level.
Like the other two elements of the NAP, it must have a correlation with the address that appears on the merchant’s website.
The description of the business
To do Local SEO on a Google My Business tab,the text of the description has to be very careful.
In this text you should not forget to include the keyword whenever you can,but in a natural way, to avoid keyword stuffing.
In this description you have 750 characters to tell the user what kind of business you have, where you are and what you do, putting in value what differentiates you from the competition.
It is advisable to use emojis, as they make the description more visual, but you do not need to put many. Enough so that the text is not just a block, but not so many as to tire the user.
Photos from a Google my Business listing also rank
The image is one of the most visual elements of the Google My Business file, and one of the most forgotten when it comes to positioning.
The best way to position a Google My Business listing is to geolocate the photos, since this makes the search engine associate them with the direction of the business.
Photos of a business can be easily geolocated with geoimgr.com, a very simple tool that in its freemium version allows up to five files to be geolocated.
With this tool you have it very simple, because it not only geolocates photographs, but also gives the option to put a title and a description oriented to Local SEO.
It is very important that the photos have a title, since Google can not see images, but it does detect the words both the name and the description. It has a lot of value for the strategy to rename the photos before uploading them.
Product listings within Google My Business
This section of the optimization of the tab is ideal for physical stores that also have their products on the Internet.
Not only does it make the tab more visible because it appears at the beginning of it, but because in the product description you can also add an SEO text of up to 1000 characters. This is a very relevant factor to help position your business.
Do not forget to geolocate the photos when registering a product in a Google My Business file, since these images (like the photos of the business) can position in Google Images.
If you offer services, the text must be very careful
Depending on the business in question, the optimization options for a Google My Business listing may change.
It is possible that you have a clothing store and that in the file you can upload products, but you do not have the option to indicate that you offer services.
It is the same with hotels, restaurants and any business related to hospitality. They have their own improvement options due to the unique features of their business.
That said, companies such as law firms, agencies, advertising agencies and all kinds of companies in the service sector,will have in their Google My Business file the services section. The purpose is to be able to inform the client what services their trade offers and place a small description of them.
You have to take great care of this text, as it helps to position the tab so that it comes out within the first three results of the local pack.
Adding weekly SEO content
The publications are one of the latest improvements that Google implemented in the Google My Business listings.
This option is being used little, by companies, to position. Like any other section in a GMB tab that contains text, this can be used to add keywords that will make Google position the tab within the Local Search Pack.
Publications are very useful when it comes to publicizing a company or promoting yourself. There are different types of publications:
News
In these publications you can make known, in a very visual way, a product or service offered. Blog articles can also be shared so that they have greater visibility. They have a direct link from Google to the company’s website, which improves authority at the Linkbuilding level.
Offers
Designed especially for e-commerce, the offers allow you to add a start date and an end date to the publication. In them you can add a coupon code or a url to redeem this promotion. They can also be added the terms and conditions of the offer so that the user knows them. Never forget to include the keyword in the text, always naturally.
Events
For service companies that make events such as webinars or physical events, this type of publication is indicated. Like offers, events must have a start date and an end date.
Products
From the publications option you can also access the product sheets, which I have already told you about.
All these types of publications have one thing in common, you can add text to describe each and every one of them. You have to take the opportunity to guide local SEO any text of the publications, adding the keyword with which you want to position the file.
These publications will only be visible in the company’s Knowledge Graph (in the search results) for one week, so it is highly advisable to publish every week in the GMB file.
Google My Business Website Builder
A little over a year ago, Google added a section called website to GMB’s options.
It is a very simple web builder, ideal for small businesses that do not have a website because they do not want to invest in development and it is free!
It uses a unique template for all businesses in which you can customize the color and font. We will talk in more depth about the Google My Business Website Builder in future posts
At the level of positioning just say that it has a section in which the company can indicate to users what it offers and even allows you to add links. Youdo not have to miss the opportunity to include in this text keywords oriented to Local SEO, given that this website positions in Google. That positioning will never go above the main website, in the case of having both.
And there’s so much more!
From a Google My Business profile you can optimize many other options to position your business locally and soon we will count them all.
Do you have a local business? Do you lack time to optimize your Google My Business listing? Not yet in Google’s business directory? If you need help do not hesitate to contact us to get a successful Local SEO strategy.
