Registering on Google My Business is a must do for any small business in the UK. It’s a great way to advertise your business to local customers.
In the screenshot below you can see the Google search results for Web Design Poole, but it will have the same format for any similar search, such as Web Design Bournemouth or for another profession such as Graphic Designer Poole.
Starting at the top of the results, the first 3 listings are paid adverts from Google Adwords and they continue in the right aligned column that you can see underneath the map. I have scrolled past the top advert so you can see the top organic (free) result too.
After that, you can see some listings that I have drawn a box around to highlight as it’s what we’re interested in for this blog post.
These are the Google local listings. Which include…
- Your business name which links to your website
- Your URL
- A pin that identifies the location of your business on the map above
- Your address
- A telephone number
- A link to your Google+ page
- The number of comments people have made about your business, and if you have enough, an average rating.
As you can see customers that are looking for a web designer in Poole can easily find local businesses and how to get in contact.
You can sign up for Google My Business here, it’s free. Make sure you select the correct category when you sign up.
Just like the organic results, Google has an algorithm for determining which business gets the top spot and the A pin in the listings. Note: the algorithm doesn’t use the same criteria as normal SEO.
Here are our top 3 tips to get the most out of Google My Business…
- Fill out as much information as accurately as possible, not just the mandatory fields.
Customers want to be able to find out as much as possible before deciding which business to contact.If a competitor offers more information than you do then you may well lose business to them as well as finding yourself in a less prominent position. - Encourage clients & customers to review you.
Once you reach 5 or 6 reviews you will be given an average score that is shown with orange stars. That’s helpful because the stars will make your listing stand out and more comments mean you rank higher. - Integrate your account with Google+.
Doing so will give you more options, such as being able to…- Create Posts
- Respond to reviews
- Set a cover photo
Putting the time in to get your business listing working as hard as possible, will create more traffic and in turn generate more high quality referrals for your business.
If you need any further information regarding this topic, feel free to get in touch.