The “Google My Business” Lead Machine

It’s likely no surprise at this point that your future customers are using Google to find products you (and your competitors) sell.  If you want people to find your local business in their searches, you need to make your business really easy to find on Google.

Google My Business is the search engine’s local business listing platform. You can create a profile that pops up right in the search page so people don’t even have to visit your website to get the information they need to visit you, including your address, phone number and hours of operation.

Claim Your Google My Business Listing

Start by visiting the Google My Business website and signing in with a Google account. There, you can create a profile from scratch or choose a business that’s already on their list that you want to claim. Google will walk you through the process of updating your page and all of the relevant information from there. You’ll also need to verify your business — Google will send a code to your business address that you can add to your account.

Include All the Essential Info

Google will ask you to choose a category, name, address and all of the essential information throughout the signup process. Don’t gloss over this process. There are more than 2,000 different categories to choose from. And the one you choose will impact how you can edit the rest of your listing. For example, if you have a restaurant, it will let you link or upload a PDF menu. You can optimize the listing by adding a description with some relevant keywords and attributes designed to attract people to your business.

Upload Quality Images

People want to know what your business is like before they visit. Adding images of your storefront, menu items or team can help you build a rapport and entice people to actually visit. Just make sure these images are high quality and show your business in a positive light.

Particularly on a mobile device, it’s a good trust building and content element.  Upload 8 or 10 photos of your products, of your business, of your people. It doesn’t really matter what it is, but make sure that you have some pretty good representative images of your business.

Attract Visitors to Your Page

Garner Positive Reviews

Google My Business reviews that contained a relevant keyword were the second most influential factor in rankings for local searches. So reviews aren’t just about showing potential customers that you provide a great experience — they also affect your SEO.

To gain more positive reviews, the obvious answer is just to make sure and provide great customer service. However, you can also include signage in your store, add a link to review your company in your email signature or even share positive reviews on your social media pages. These can serve as simple reminders to people who have had great experiences with you, making it more likely that they’ll actually share their thoughts.

Respond to All Reviews

On an ongoing basis, it’s also a good idea to respond to all reviews on your Google My Business Listing. This shows people who find your page that you’re responsive and allows you to address any concerns publicly. In fact, if you provide a satisfactory response, some customers may even consider leaving a more favorable review than they did initially.

Post Content Continuously

In 2017, Google rolled out Google Posts, a way for businesses to share content on their pages on an ongoing basis. Use this feature to keep your listing fresh. You can add blog posts, special offers, events, and even photos and videos.

To do this, simply sign into your Google My Business account and find the “Create Post” button. Then you’ll see options for adding different types of posts, including photos, videos, events, offers and text. For example, a local restaurant could post about a live music event they’re hosting. Then when people search for local restaurants and see that, it could entice them to visit on that particular evening.

5% of Google My Business Listing Views Result in a Customer Action

The average business is found over 1000 times per month

On average, a business is found in 1,009 searches per month. That’s roughly 33 times a day.

So there’s 33 opportunities every day to leave a positive impression on customers with your Google My Business listing.

Of those searches, 84% are discovery searches, which are queries for a business category rather than the specific name of a business.

The majority (75%) of searches for local businesses are done on Search, with the remaining 25% on Google Maps.

Google my Business Study Details.

An average conversion rate of 5%

A business receives, on average, 59 actions from their Google My Business listing each month

As the title states, that means roughly 5% of Google My Business listing views result in a website click, call, or direction request.

That may seem low, but it’s actually a 25% increase from 2017 to 2018 – growing from 3.87% to 4.83%.

A positive correlation between images and views

Having more images in a Google My Business listing correlates positively with receiving more views.

The median number of images for hotels is 150, the highest of all business categories. Hotels are also leading in listing views, receiving the highest median views on both Search (13,042) and Maps (14,434).

By comparison, the median number of images across all categories is 11, while the average number of search views is 943.

Searches and clicks are up

When comparing Google My Business insights from 2017 to 2018, the study finds direct searches grew 38%, while discovery searches grew by 6%.

In addition, businesses received 29% more website clicks from their GMB listings in 2018, and 22% more calls.

The only metric that went down was direction requests, which fell by 13%.

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