Enhance Your Online Marketing Efforts by Optimizing Your Google My Business Listing

How easily can people find information about your Medicine Hat business online? Regardless of the products or services that you provide, your company might as well not exist at all if the right people can’t easily find it through online searches. Find out how optimizing your Google My Business listing can boost your online marketing efforts.  Read on!

Why Google My Business Matters

Previously known as Google Places, Google My Business is a platform through which local businesses can control how they appear across all Google platforms. Given that Google continues to reign supreme in the world of online searches – particularly through mobile searches and Google Maps – it’s crucial to establish high visibility for your local business there.

How to Claim and Verify Your Company’s GMB Listing

If you don’t have one already, create a new Google account that is specific to your Medicine Hat business. Next, search Google Maps to find your company’s business listing. Click on the link for claiming the business, and then follow the instructions. You will be asked to provide a mailing address; P.O. box addresses are not permitted. Google will send you a postcard with a PIN on it. Go back to your Google account and enter the PIN to verify and claim your listing. You now have complete control over it – and that means that your competitors can’t mess with it, either.

Tips for Optimizing Your GMB Listing

After claiming and verifying your business listing, you can use the online portal to optimize it. Here are some things to keep in mind:

• Use the complete, verified address for your business – Make sure that your business address is correct. Going forward, be consistent whenever you share it online – it should always match what is listed on your GMB listing.  Check out our Business Listing Management control panel for the easiest way to propagate your business listing to the places that matter!
• Specify the areas that you service – Tell Google the areas that are served by your business. You can either establish a mile-radius area around your primary business location, or you can provide Google with postal codes for areas that you serve. Enhance your company’s ability to rank high in the local search engine results pages, or SERPs, by including geo-targeted keywords (Like "Web Design Medicine Hat") within your online content whenever possible.
• Optimize your introduction – Your GMB listing includes an introduction where you can introduce visitors to your business and briefly explain what it has to offer. Make sure to specify what sets your company apart from competitors, and use relevant keywords and links wherever it makes sense to do so. This can help bolster your SEO significantly.
• Select relevant categories and subcategories – When establishing your GMB listing, you are required to select one primary category for your business. Don’t stop there, though; enhance upon that by selecting any additional categories or subcategories that apply to your Medicine Hat business.
• Add and optimize photos – Your GMB listing will stand out more prominently when it includes at least a few photos. Use a third-party tool to add localized metadata to these images. For example, you might tag them with the precise coordinates of your business or create image names that reflect relevant local keywords.
• Solicit actively for online reviews – Reviews on Google Maps play a role in how well a company ranks in the local SERPs, so it pays to actively solicit customers for them. Make it as easy as possible for people to do so; for example, you might send follow-up emails with links that send them directly to your listing. Respond to all reviews, including – and especially – negative ones.  Check out our "Customer Voice" control panel to help solicit your customers for reviews when their experience is fresh in their minds!
• Be persistent – The work isn’t done after you’ve completely optimized your GMB listing. For one thing, you can and should log in regularly to post updates to your listing. For another, you should assess how well your listing is ranking and adjust and reoptimize it as needed to keep it as close to the top as possible. The goal, of course, is for it to appear in the coveted Local 3-Pack – the top three, highlighted results that appear across all Google searches.

Get Started Today!

Claim, verify and optimize your Google My Business listing today to give your online marketing efforts the best odds for success. Gaslamp Village Media, Inc., is also here to assist you with everything from on-page SEO to automated software for soliciting online reviews, so contact us today for more information.