What is Google My Business?

Google My Business is essentially a collection of tools to help you manage and promote your company locally on Google maps.

We will explore everything from uploading photos to your Google My Business listing to communicating with customers through Google My Bussiness free messaging service.

In 2014, GMB (Google My Business) was released to gather and segregate all the business worldwide (no small task) from the rest of the search results.

The significant part of GMB was its integration with Google Maps, giving you the option to use local SEO to target customers in your area.

I know you will want to dive right in and get started, but first, grab yourself a cup of tea or coffee. Don’t worry; you’re not going to be stuck reading a 5,000-word article. But along the way, there are plenty of opportunities to look deeper into different segments and try some things out yourself.

So let’s get started.

What does Google My Business do?

• GMB provides your company with an array of free tools to help showcase your company.
• GMB Info enables you to manage all your company details in one place, keeping your customers updated.
• Google Attributes lets you add simple phrases to inform searces about anything from child friendly to payment types accepted.
• Google Reviews are a great way to help you stand out from the crowd and interact with customers.
• Upload photos to your GMB account so people can see your work. GMB photos can be very beneficial; however, we will dive into that more a bit later.
• GMB Q&A’s, potential customers can ask you general questions about your services. GMB Q&A’s provides you with an excellent opportunity to interact with future customers.
• Google Insights provides you with feedback on your customer base and interactions and can be a very beneficial tool for market research.
• The GMB messaging service allows customers to interact with you within a private messaging service. Activating this feature alone can help boost your sales as people love easy access and quick responses.
• Product listings on GMB is another free and valuable feature to take advantage of. You can list your products directly in your GMB profile for potentially millions to see. 
• GMB services are similar to GMB products in that you can showcase the services your company have to offer. Here you can add your business listing to a variety of categories, helping increase your companies appearance.
• Google My business posts provide you with a place to post about pretty much anything related to your company. Just like you would on social network sites like Facebook pages. GMB also provides you with insights into how the post performs, helping you target your audience more effectively.
• The GMB Website gathers all the data from GMB and allows you to create a free essential website to showcase the information, providing you with a link similar to https://hd-pixel-design.business.site/ 

The GMB Info tab is the best place to start as this is the heart of the business listing.

This page is relatively self-explanatory. You can add information like company name, business hours, areas covered, and a few more valuable bits of information.

Make sure to fill in as much information as possible, as this will help with your local appearance on Google.

Within the info section of GMB, you can also add things like extra hours for holidays and special occasions. Along with categories and service areas.

There are a few more advanced features, but they are beyond this article’s scope.

Within the GMB Info tab, you will also find your Google My Business attributes.

What are Google Attributes?

Google attributes can help you differentiate your company from others by showing unique information about your property or services.

For example, if you were a dog-friendly pud, this would be a very beneficial attribute to add. 

When people search for a pub in your area, the GMB attributes are displayed next to your listing, enabling the end-user to make a more informed decision.

The GMB attributes should be used to add additional information like overnight parking, disabled access, private hire, health & safety measures, and the list goes on.

Depending on the information you provide, this can have a positive impact on your companies local presence. Be sure to fill in as much data as you can, and don’t forget to look at it from a customers point of view.

Google reviews and how to manage them

When people look for products and services, reviews play a big part in the customer’s decision.

GMB lets you collect customer reviews for your company and provides you with the option to reply and interact with them.

Its always good to reply to every review, even the negative ones. Responding to negative reviews on your GMB page shows customers you care and want to help.

The simplest way to collect Google reviews is to send your customers a link to your Google local page. The link can be set up from the GMB Info tab and will be similar to https://g.page/hdpixeldesign

If your selling products from your website, you can also have the Google My Business reviews integrated into the site.

When a customer makes a purchase, Google will email them, asking if they would like to review the service provided.

What are the benefits of GMB photos?

The GMB photos are another great way to show off your products or services and attract more customers.

When you post a picture to GMB photos, add a relevant caption to the image to define search results.

You can even check how popular your image is and the number of clicks it receives using GMB Insights, providing you with vital marketing information.

Within the GMB photos section, you can also upload your company logo and cover picture, helping brand the appearance in local search results.

You can also upload video presentations and virtual tours to the Google My Business photos section.

How does Google My business questions and answers work?

GMB questions and answers allow potential customers to ask you questions that come across your local Google listing.

When someone asks a question using this feature, you can then respond from your GMB account, and this is made public on your listing to help others.

Over time you can build a helpful knowledge base of fundamental questions that customers need answering.

What is Google Insights?

Google insights is a quick insight into how your Google My Business page is performing.

Within Google insights, you can find an array of information that is useful for your market research.

• How your customers search for your site.
• Where customers view your business on Google
• How many calls your company receives from your Google Maps listing.
• How your photos are performing compared to similar companies.

Google Insights is worth checking out to get a good insight into how your listing is performing and help you fine-tune your audience.

Google My Business services and products

GMB services is essentially a category section where you can select various categories for your company listing.

Be sure you don’t underestimate this section. It can be very beneficial to the number of visitors you attract to your business listing. 

GMB products allow you to add your products directly to your listing, and these can show up in a variety of search types and features.

I would recommend you take your time and categorise the products you add. Categorising your products can save you time and make it easier for Google to understand the structure.

Google My Business posts

Google My Business posts allow you to share information with your customers and presented similar to a blog.

You can find the GMB posts within the local section of Google search results and in your Google Maps listing.

If used correctly in conjunction with Google insights, it can become an invaluable tool in helping your brand get noticed in local search results.

What is the Google My Business website?

Within Google My Business, you can create a free mobile optimised website. Google will use your GMB page information to populate your free website.

After the new GMB websites enabled, you can make more changes by adding your images and text.

At the top of the page, you will find your unique URL to share online.

Don’t delay; set up your Google My Business page today.

Creating a Google My Business page only takes a few moments. You will often find the business already has a local listing, so its just a case of claiming your Google listing. 

Setting up your GMB page can take a little longer, and you will need to find time to keep the information updated and fresh.

If you decided to go down the line of search engine optimisation, you could add the marketing company to the profile providing them access. This is usually the first request if you are looking for local SEO services to increase your site’s visitors.