Don’t Underestimate the Benefits of a Google Business Profile

What is a Google Business Profile?

A Google Business Profile (GBP) is a free tool provided by Google that allows businesses to manage their online presence across Google Search and Maps. If you’re not sure if you’ve used it before, have you ever looked for a restaurant on Google Maps and read the reviews? If so, then yes, that’s it! It helps businesses to present accurate and comprehensive information to potential customers, such as business hours, location, contact details, and customer reviews.

By optimizing your GBP, you can provide potential customers with essential information they need to make an informed decision about using your business. Keeping this fresh and up to date not only helps in building trust and credibility but also improves your local SEO, driving more traffic to your website. I will show you below how a well-optimized GBP is essential for local businesses aiming to enhance their online presence and attract more customers, and then later how to optimize your listing.

Why is a Google Business Profile Important for Local Businesses?

The importance and the benefits of Google Business Profiles are often underestimated, but they can significantly enhance your business’s online visibility and credibility. Having a well-optimized GBP is crucial for appearing in local search results. When users search for services or products near them, businesses with optimized profiles are more likely to show up, making it easier for potential customers to find and engage with them.

Although this tool primarily caters to businesses providing products or services to consumers, if you are a B2B manufacturer or supplier with local contracts, you should still definitely set up a Google Business Profile, as there are still benefits you might be missing out on.

What are the benefits of Google Business Profile?

Appearance in Google Maps

Having a GBP ensures your business is listed on Google Maps, making it easier for customers to find you. This allows people, especially mobile phone users, to simply click a button and be provided directions straight to your physical location. This is particularly important for attracting foot and car traffic to brick & mortar locations, or even B2B businesses receiving shipments or contractors.

 Increased Visibility in Local Search Results (aka Local SEO)

A GBP significantly boosts your visibility in Google search results for people in your vicinity. When potential customers search for services or products near them, businesses with optimized profiles are more likely to appear, increasing the chances of being discovered. In short, a GBP is a central part of local SEO, which can drive more traffic to your website (and location!).

Enhanced Engagement with Customers

GBPs offer various features that facilitate customer engagement, such as reviews, Q&A sections, photos, and posts. Engaging with customers through these channels can improve customer satisfaction and build loyalty.

Easily Showcase Important Business Information

A complete and optimized profile displays essential and up-to-date information like phone numbers, business hours, contact details, and website link, helping customers get the information they need quickly.

Build Trust and Credibility

Positive reviews and ratings on your profile enhance your business’s reputation and can significantly influence potential customers’ decisions when considering their options.

Easier Conversions with Booking and Appointment Links

For certain types of businesses, you can enable booking and appointment scheduling directly through your profile, streamlining the process for customers.

Promote Products, Services and or Promotions

You can post updates, offers, and events directly to your profile, keeping customers informed about what your business offers.

Customer Insights

The profile provides valuable analytics, such as how customers find your listing, where they are coming from, and what actions they take on your profile.

Key Features of a Google Business Profile

Here’s a deeper dive into the GBP range of features designed to help businesses connect with potential customers and enhance their online presence. Understanding and utilizing these features correctly can greatly benefit your business.

• Business Information: Your GBP allows you to display essential business details such as your name, address, phone number, operating hours, business categories, and the extent of your service area. Accurate information ensures customers can easily find and contact you.

• Customer Reviews: One of the most powerful features of a GBP is the ability to collect and respond to customer reviews. Positive reviews build trust and attract new customers while addressing negative reviews shows your commitment to customer satisfaction. In addition, new AI searches are heavily considering reviews as a “ranking” factor.

• Photos and Videos: Adding high-quality photos and videos of your business can significantly enhance your profile. Visual content helps potential customers get a better sense of what to expect, making them more likely to visit your business. Depending on your industry, there are many types of photos you can consider uploading to your GBP.

• Posts and Updates: Google Posts allows you to share updates, promotions, events, and news directly on your GBP. Regularly posting updates keeps your profile fresh and engaging, encouraging customers to stay informed about your offerings. Increased activity also helps Google promote your business more. While they won’t admit it, remember that Google is a company too, and the more you use their products, the more they will reward you.

• Products and Services Showcase: Add detailed listings of your products with descriptions, prices, and photos. Organize them into categories and highlight special offers to attract customers. List and describe your services, provide pricing information and integrate booking options for easy scheduling. This transparency builds trust and encourages customer engagement.
• Q&A Section: The Q&A section on your GBP lets potential customers ask questions about your business. Providing timely and helpful answers can improve customer engagement and provide valuable information to other users. Note that this feature is being deprecated on July 31, 2024.

By leveraging these features, you can significantly improve your online visibility and customer engagement. It is true that staying on top of this is time consuming, but optimizing your Google Business Profile is a critical step in enhancing your local SEO efforts and driving more traffic to your business. To help alleviate this burden from our clients, we offer GBP management and optimization in our digital marketing services.

How important will a Google Business Profile be in the world of AI?

Now, with generative AI search results, everything points to strong Google Business Profiles becoming extremely important to stay visible and relevant. Google has recently launched AI Overviews for Search (previously called Search Generative Experience) in the United States, and this feature will soon be available in Canada. This new tool uses generative AI to search the web based on your query and provide a customized answer. This response is prominently placed at the top of the search results and includes a curated selection of links and previews to products and services deemed most relevant and helpful.

Due to the exclusive and highly competitive nature of these placements, having a strong, positively rated GBP will be the key differentiator for local search queries. For example, if someone types into Google: “Give me 3 Indian restaurants near me with 4-star reviews or higher,” AI will curate a small list of restaurants and exclude many that don’t meet the criteria. It is still unclear how far users will go beyond these results to find the information they need, but the convenience of this feature may make it the primary source of research for hiring contractors, tradespeople, artisans, or professional services.

What is Google Business Profile Optimization?

Optimizing your GBP maximizes the benefits and ensures your business stands out in local search results. Here are key steps to optimize your profile effectively:

Keep Accurate and Complete Information: Ensure that all your business details, such as name, address, phone number, business hours, and business categories are accurate and up-to-date. Ensure this information is consistent with your website, social media profiles, and other third-party listings.

Link to Your Site and Social Profiles: Ensure you add your full website link in the provided field, and do the same for your social media profiles.

Provide a Good Business Description: Write a clear and engaging business description that highlights what your business offers and what sets you apart. Use relevant keywords that your clients would be looking for.

Use the Products and Services: Showcase your products and services with detailed descriptions, prices, and high-quality images.

Add High-Quality Photos and Videos: Upload high-quality photos and videos of your business, products, services, and even your team to give customers a better sense of what to expect.

Encourage and Manage Customer Reviews: Encourage satisfied customers to leave positive reviews and respond promptly to all reviews.

Use Posts and Updates to Engage with Customers: Regularly update your profile with posts about promotions, events, and news.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

The following common mistakes tend to revolve around neglecting to maximize the profile and reap all of the benefits it can offer. Here are the common mistakes I’ve seen hinder GBP performance:

Displaying incomplete or Inaccurate Information: One of the most common mistakes is failing to provide complete and accurate information. Inconsistent information can confuse customers (as well as search engines attributing trust values to your online presence) and hurt your search rankings.

Ignoring Customer Reviews and Feedback: Customer reviews are a critical component of your GBP. Ignoring reviews, especially negative ones, can damage your reputation. Always respond to reviews promptly and professionally.

Neglecting to Update the Profile Regularly: In my years of experience, I have observed this to be the pitfall to many businesses. Your GBP should be dynamic and regularly updated. Neglecting to post updates, add new photos, or revise your business description can make your profile appear inactive or outdated, which can turn potential customers away.

Not Using All Available Features: Failing to leverage all the features offered by GBP, such as posts, Q&A, and detailed product/service listings, means missing out on opportunities to engage with customers and improve your profile’s performance.

Thinking Beyond Google: Bing Places for Business and Apple Maps

Expanding your online Maps presence to other platforms can provide additional benefits. Bing Places for Business is Microsoft’s equivalent to GBP and offers several advantages for enhancing your digital footprint, and ensures Bing search engine users can also see your business. Apple also offers the Apple Business Connect platform, which is, once again, the same premise as the previously mentioned platforms but is limited to Apple Maps users on iPhones and Macs. Many people use Apple Maps to navigate in the car or on foot, so as a business owner, setting up an Apple Maps listing will ensure you are visible to them.

Benefits of having a presence on all platforms:

• Increased Visibility: By being present on Google, Bing, and Apple, you broaden your reach and increase the chances of being found by potential customers who use different search engines or Maps applications.
• Diverse Audience: Bing or Apple Maps users might differ demographically from Google users. Targeting all platforms ensures that you capture a broader and more diverse audience.
• SEO Benefits: Listing your business on multiple platforms can positively impact your overall SEO strategy. Search engines often cross-reference information; consistency across platforms can enhance your search rankings.

 

Setting up and optimizing your Bing Places for Business profile or Apple Maps Business is similar to GBP. Ensure that your business information is accurate and complete, add high-quality photos, and encourage customer reviews.

Final Thoughts and Next Steps for Your Business

In conclusion, a well-optimized Google Business Profile is a powerful tool for local businesses looking to enhance their online presence, improve customer engagement, and boost local SEO. By leveraging the key features of GBP, such as accurate business information, high-quality photos, customer reviews, and regular updates, businesses such as yours can benefit from increased visibility and credibility.

Recap of the benefits of a Google Business Profile:

• Visibility: Ensures your business appears in local search results and Google Maps, attracting more customers.
• Customer Engagement: Facilitates interaction with customers through reviews, Q&A, and posts.
• SEO Benefits: Contributes to better local SEO, driving more traffic to your website.
• AI Integration: Enhances profile effectiveness with AI-powered tools and insights.

As a digital marketing expert who has seen how these profiles can benefit entrepreneurs, I encourage business owners to take action and create or update their Google Business Profiles. Regular optimization and engagement are essential to maintaining a strong online presence and staying competitive in the digital landscape.

If you need assistance with optimizing or managing your Google Business Profile, WSI is here to help. Our experts specialize in SEO, PPC, and comprehensive digital marketing strategies tailored to your business needs. Visit our digital marketing services page to learn more about how we can help you achieve your business goals.