Google Business Profile: How to Set Up & Optimize Your Listing

In today’s integer landscape, establishing a beingness successful section hunt results is important for businesses, and a Google Business Profile (GBP), antecedently known arsenic Google My Business, plays a pivotal relation successful achieving this.

Yet, conscionable creating a concern listing isn’t enough. It needs to beryllium complete, optimized, and progressive for your concern to get the desired results. If it isn’t, your concern could beryllium missing retired connected a LOT of revenue.

We’ve been creating and optimizing profiles for a agelong time, and we’ll amusement you however to optimize your GBP for success. Plus, we’ll delve into which factors you should prioritize and which transportation the astir value erstwhile it comes to ranking successful section hunt results.

Ready to marque your GBP basal out? To marque things easier for you, we’ve compiled this broad usher based connected our combined years of experience.

In it, you’ll:

• Exactly what GBP is
• Why it’s important
• How to acceptable up a profile
• How to entree a illustration owned by idiosyncratic else
• The champion practices for optimizing your profile
• How to show your listing

So, present we go!

What Is Google Business Profile?

A Google Business Profile (GBP) is simply a escaped online listing provided by Google that displays indispensable accusation astir a business. A well-optimized GBP helps businesses heighten their online visibility by improving their chances of appearing successful section hunt results (the Map Pack) and Google Maps. This makes it easier for imaginable customers to find and prosecute with the business.

The Map Pack is simply a postulation of top-ranking section businesses displayed astatine the apical of the SERPs. Here’s what it looks like:

And here’s what it looks similar erstwhile you hunt for a concern successful Google Maps:

If a idiosyncratic clicks connected 1 of these listings, they tin larn much astir the concern and instrumentality action, similar reserving a array oregon getting directions to your establishment.

Here’s an example.

Your GBP listing volition besides amusement up erstwhile users execute a nonstop hunt for your business, for example, “Oishii Boston.”

A GBP displays your business’s:

• Name
• Address
• Contact information
• Website
• Operating hours
• Industry Category (e.g. salon, restaurant, aesculapian clinic)
• Attributes (such arsenic whether it’s wheelchair-accessible)
• List of services oregon products
• Customer reviews and ratings
• Visual contented specified arsenic videos and photos that showcase your location, products, and services
• Questions asked by customers and answered by the business
• Location connected Google Maps
• Booking accusation oregon work inquiries
• Recent posts

Why Is a Google Business Profile Important?

So, present you cognize what a GBP is. But wherefore is it important for your business? Well, determination are many, galore reasons specified arsenic expanding your business’s visibility and enhancing lawsuit engagement.

Let’s instrumentality a look astatine the biggest benefits a GBP could person for your business.

Enhanced Visibility

Data has shown that the mean concern receives 1,260 monthly views via GBP. Plus, GBP stats from Google amusement that users are 70% much apt to sojourn your concern if you person a completed illustration and 50% much apt to see making a purchase.

So, if you don’t person an optimized GBP, you’re astir surely missing retired connected views, clicks, footfall, and, ultimately, paying customers.

Trust and Credibility

When individuals comprehend your concern arsenic trustworthy, they consciousness much assured successful making purchasing decisions. This is wherefore establishing spot and credibility with imaginable customers is important for immoderate business. Creating and optimizing a GBP is simply a large mode of doing this.

Brands with GBPs are much apt to beryllium perceived arsenic credible by online users. This is partially due to the fact that users spot Google to verify businesses. Put simply, if a concern isn’t reputable, past Google isn’t going to verify it.

Your GBP besides provides a level of transparency to your concern which tin assistance to foster trust. If a idiosyncratic tin spot your carnal location, interaction details, and your offering, past they’re apt to presumption your concern arsenic legitimate.

On the flip side, if the info successful your illustration is inaccurate, it tin trim the spot and credibility of your brand.

Customer Engagement

An optimized Google Business Profile besides allows customers to permission reviews of your business, inquire you questions, and nonstop you nonstop messages. This is captious for engaging imaginable customers arsenic a important fig of them trust connected reviews erstwhile making purchasing decisions.

When they tin spot genuine feedback from different customers, it boosts the credibility of your business. Plus, Google considers reviews to beryllium a factor erstwhile ranking businesses successful section hunt results. Responding to reviews besides signals to Google that your illustration is active.

Positive lawsuit reviews service arsenic escaped ads for your products oregon services too. Since they’re not incentivized by your business, customers thin to spot them arsenic overmuch arsenic idiosyncratic recommendations.

Here’s a look astatine the reviews section:

The Q&A conception of your GBP allows users to inquire and reply questions astir your business. It besides allows you to respond to them. This helps users entree info that isn’t easy disposable and allows for the instauration of user-generated content. This accusation includes things similar what benignant of parking facilities you have, wheelchair accessibility, and kid-friendliness.

Responding to these questions is simply a bully mode for you to prosecute with your customers and supply utile details that mightiness marque them much apt to visit, interaction you, oregon inquire astir your services. When users spot the proprietor oregon unit members taking the clip to respond, it builds spot and establishes connections.

Below is the Q&A conception from “Oishii Boston”. Here you tin spot an illustration of user-generated content. We’ll chat much astir the Q&A conception aboriginal on.

GBP besides has a truly neat diagnostic called Google Posts. This allows you to adhd posts to your listing wherever you tin bash things like:

• Share promotions and specials
• Promote events
• Showcase caller arrivals, apical products, and concern services

This is different mode to summation visibility among your people audience, summation idiosyncratic engagement, and marque your concern much enticing to imaginable customers. It besides keeps your concern illustration progressive which sends retired bully signals to some Google and users. We’ll spell into overmuch much item astir this later.

How To Set Up A Google Business Profile

Setting up a Google Business Profile is reasonably simple, present are the steps:

Sign In

First, marque definite you’re signed into your Google account, oregon make a Google relationship if you don’t person 1 yet.

Then, caput implicit to Google Business Profile Manager and click the “Manage now” button.

Add Your Business

Next, you request to participate your concern name. Since radical tin taxable caller places to Google Maps, your concern whitethorn already beryllium listed connected Google. If your concern shows up successful the dropdown, you tin click connected it. If it’s managed by idiosyncratic else, you’ll request to assertion it (We’ll usher you done this later). If it doesn’t amusement up, it’s clip to adhd it.

You besides request to adhd the main class your concern falls nether (e.g. restaurant. footwear store, instrumentality firm) and click “Next”.

Enter Your Location

If you don’t service customers astatine your concern address, past you don’t request to participate a concern code truthful you tin prime “No” connected the adjacent screen.

For example, if you tally a plumbing concern based successful Seattle and transportation retired your enactment astatine customers’ homes, you don’t request to adhd a concern address. Instead, you’ll request to adhd a work area. This tin beryllium done erstwhile your illustration is acceptable up, truthful we’ll screen it later.

However, if you tally a hybrid business, past you volition request to adhd a concern location. Hybrid businesses service customers astatine their concern code but besides sojourn oregon present to customers.

For example, a dine-in edifice that delivers nutrient to customers arsenic well. Hybrid businesses request to adhd some a concern code and a work area.

In that case, prime “Yes” and click “Next”.

On the adjacent screen, take your state and participate your thoroughfare address, city, state, and ZIP code. Click “Next”.

Enter Your Contact Info

Type successful your telephone fig and your business’s website (the website portion is optional), and click “Next”.

Verify Your Google Business Profile

Once you’ve entered each your details, you’ll beryllium taken to a confirmation page. Click “Continue”.

After this point, determination are a fewer antithetic things that mightiness happen. Most users volition beryllium asked to verify their concern either via:

• Phone
• Text
• Email
• Live video call
• Video recording
• A postcard sent successful the mail

Depending connected the verification method offered to you by Google, verification times volition differ. For example, a postcard with a verification codification volition instrumentality a batch longer to get to you than a text.

Once you’ve entered your verification code, you should beryllium verified instantly. But successful immoderate cases, Google whitethorn request to manually reappraisal a listing. In these cases, it tin instrumentality up to 7 moving days for it to beryllium verified.

While you’re waiting to beryllium verified, you tin spell up and marque changes to your profile. However, they won’t beryllium disposable to users until you’ve been verified.

There are immoderate cases wherever Google volition automatically verify profiles. If you verify your concern website done Google Search Console (GSC), past your GBP tin beryllium instantly verified erstwhile created.

Or you tin make your Google Business Profile archetypal and verify the matching tract with GSC after. Your GBP volition beryllium verified without you having to spell done immoderate of the methods mentioned earlier.

Your illustration tin besides beryllium instantly verified if you make your GBP utilizing a Google relationship linked to a domain that’s been verified with GSC.

For example, we created this “Bunogiorno Pizza” illustration utilizing a Google relationship linked to a domain that had already been verified by GSC, truthful the GBP was instantly verified, arsenic you tin spot here:

If a concern needs aggregate profiles for antithetic carnal addresses, past it whitethorn beryllium capable to usage bulk verification. For example, if you person a pizza franchise successful some cardinal New York and Boston, bulk verification tin prevention you from having to individually verify the illustration for each location. If you’d similar to larn more, cheque retired Google’s usher to verifying your business.

How To Access a GBP Listing Managed By Someone Else

What if a Google Business Profile has already been acceptable up for your concern by idiosyncratic else, but you can’t entree it?

For example, let’s accidental you’ve conscionable taken implicit a subdivision of “Guitar Center”. You hunt for your store connected Google and find that a GBP has already been acceptable up by the erstwhile owner. But you haven’t been granted entree yet.

There are a fewer steps you’ll request to instrumentality to assertion ownership truthful that you tin besides negociate the Google concern listing.

First, spell to the Google Business Finder leafage and benignant successful your concern name. Then, take your concern from the list.

On the adjacent page, click “Request Access”.

You’ll past request to capable retired a signifier to nonstop to the illustration proprietor asking for entree to it. The signifier volition inquire you to:

• Choose the level of entree (management oregon ownership)
• Choose your narration to the concern (owner, employee, oregon agency)
• Enter your sanction and interaction number

Then, click “Submit”. You’ll present request to hold for the illustration proprietor to respond and assistance you access.

Best Practices For Optimizing Your GBP Listing

Once you’ve created oregon claimed your GBP, it’s clip to optimize it. This is indispensable for ensuring your business’s online beingness is informative and highly disposable to imaginable customers.

If you fine-tune the antithetic elements of your profile, you tin greatly heighten the chances of lasting retired successful section searches and ranking highly successful the Map Pack and Google Maps. Ultimately, this tin pull much customers to your business.

Plus, a study connected section hunt ranking factors has shown that the completeness of your Google Business Profile tin person a large interaction connected your conversion rates. It suggests that the much info you supply successful your listing, the much apt users are to convert.

Let’s instrumentality a look astatine the ways you tin optimize your profile. We’re going to proceed to usage the “Buongiorno Pizza” illustration we created earlier.

NAP (Name, Address, Phone Number) & Website

NAP stands for Name, Address, and Phone Number, and it is important for Local SEO. In short, it establishes spot with hunt engines and users. This tin amended your business’s online visibility and section hunt rankings.

An important happening to carnivore successful caput is that your NAP details request to beryllium consistent crossed the assorted directories and sites your concern is listed on. When your NAP details are referenced online this is known arsenic a citation.

According to GBP adept Darren Shaw, “citations successful SEO are a cardinal origin successful improving your section hunt results”. Therefore, if you person plentifulness of citations from authoritative sites, your listing should fertile much highly successful section hunt results. The prime and consistency of these is considered a heavyweight ranking factor.

If determination is simply a struggle betwixt the NAP details connected your GBP and those successful your different citations, Google whitethorn look trouble successful determining which accusation is accurate. This tin harm your section hunt rankings.

Plus, it’s besides confusing and untrustworthy for imaginable customers if they privation to sojourn your concern oregon interaction you.

So, let’s dive into however to marque definite your NAP is up to par.

Setting up Your NAP

If you’ve acceptable up your GBP, you’ll already person entered your concern sanction and code connected your illustration (unless you tally a work area-only business). However, it’s ever imaginable to marque mistakes erstwhile entering details online, truthful you should marque definite they’re correct.

To bash this, caput implicit to Google Business Profile Manager, and prime the concern you privation to enactment on.

Click the “Edit profile” widget.

Under “About”, you tin edit your concern sanction and category.

It whitethorn beryllium tempting to adhd other info oregon tags to your concern sanction (e.g. “Pizzarama – The Best Slices successful Chicago”). However, Google’s guidelines authorities that:

If you bash see other details successful your concern sanction and effort to worldly it with unnecessary keywords, this could beryllium seen arsenic a shady maneuver by Google. And arsenic a result, your GBP volition beryllium suspended.

Next, click the “Contact” tab. Here, you tin adhd oregon edit your “Phone number”. You tin besides see the nexus to your website. Make definite you adhd the close http and www versions of your tract to debar idiosyncratic redirections. The champion mode to marque definite you usage the close domain is by including your tract code precisely arsenic it appears successful the URL bar. You tin simply transcript and paste it in.

Adding the nexus to your tract is important arsenic it’s the main mode to thrust integrated postulation to your tract done GBP.

It’s peculiarly important for businesses that merchantability products and services solely online, alternatively than from a carnal store. This is to guarantee that users tin navigate to your tract and find your products oregon work pages.

You’ll announcement that your edits won’t instrumentality effect instantly and volition beryllium successful a pending presumption for a abbreviated play earlier becoming disposable to users.

To adhd oregon update your address, click the “Location” tab, past prime “Business location” to adhd 1 oregon edit the existent one.

If you scroll down, you’ll spot a conception called “Service area”. Remember, this conception isn’t applicable to businesses that lone service their customers astatine their concern address.

However, arsenic antecedently mentioned, if you don’t service customers astatine your concern code oregon tally a hybrid business, you’ll request to adhd a work area.

To bash this, click “Search area” and benignant successful a location. Select the close determination from the dropdown.

When you click connected a location, it’ll beryllium added. You tin adhd up to 20 work areas for your business. Bear successful caput that the boundaries of your work areas shouldn’t widen much than a two-hour thrust from your business.

These details are an important measurement successful optimizing your GBP. Google uses this info to find when and where to show your concern successful section hunt results. For instance, erstwhile a idiosyncratic searches for “shoe stores successful Las Vegas”, Google uses the addresses provided by businesses to supply close and applicable results.

The aforesaid applies to work areas. For example, if a idiosyncratic searches for “electricians successful Baltimore”, Google finds businesses that work this country and displays them to the user.

By providing afloat details, your concern stands a amended accidental of appearing successful this coveted spot successful the SERPs.

Add Attributes

Another cardinal constituent of GBP optimization is adding your business’s attributes to your listing. These springiness users much info astir your concern and assistance them determine if it accommodates their needs. For instance, idiosyncratic who uses a wheelchair volition find it adjuvant if you adhd an accessibility property to your listing.

Attributes are divided into 2 categories:

• Subjective attributes: Google sources these from users who person visited a business. Users are prompted by Google, often done the Google Maps app, to supply feedback connected the business. For example, if you ain a restaurant, these aspects could see things similar if it is cozy, bully for kids, bully for groups, etc. These user-added attributes are considered midweight ranking signals.
• Factual attributes: These are attributes that you tin adhd to your listing yourself specified arsenic whether oregon not dogs are allowed inside.

We’ll beryllium focusing connected factual attributes here, arsenic they’re the ones you tin really power arsenic the proprietor of the GBP listing.

As good arsenic being adjuvant to users, attributes besides marque your listing much apt to fertile for hunt presumption that incorporate an property modifier. For example, “female-owned apparel stores adjacent me” oregon “hotels with escaped wifi New Jersey”.

The factual attributes you tin adhd to your listing are:

• From the business: This allows you to place your concern arsenic “Asian-owned”, “female-owned”, “disabled-owned” etc.
• Accessibility: Tell users if you person an assistive proceeding loop, a wheelchair-accessible car park, a wheelchair-accessible lift, etc.
• Amenities: This includes toilets, Wi-Fi, and bars.
• Children: Tell users if you person things similar changing tables and precocious chairs available.
• Crowd: Allows you to specify if your concern is “Family friendly”, “LGBTQ+ friendly”, etc.
• Dining options: This includes things similar “Serves breakfast”, “Has antagonistic service”, and “Serves dessert”.
• Highlights: This includes attributes similar “Has fireplace”, “Has unrecorded music”, and “Has rooftop seating”.
• Offerings: This includes “Serves alcohol”, “Has braille menu”, and “Serves comfortableness food”.
• Payments: Tell users however they tin pay. For example, “Cash only” oregon “Accepts recognition cards”.
• Pets: Tell users if dogs are allowed wrong your concern oregon not.

As you tin see, determination are LOADS of antithetic attributes you tin adhd to your listing. To spot the afloat list, click “Edit profile”.

Click the “More” tab and you’ll spot the database of attributes.

If you click connected a category, you tin take which attributes you privation to add.

The much info you tin springiness users astir what to expect from your business, the better. Remember, the completeness of your listing tin interaction your ranking successful section hunt results.

Write a Business Description

The adjacent measurement for optimizing your GBP is to constitute a keyword-rich concern description. It needs to beryllium concise, and descriptive. Additionally, it should supply an engaging summary of precisely what your concern offers to users.

Try to code immoderate of the communal symptom points your people assemblage mightiness experience, and explicate however your products oregon services tin efficaciously code these challenges.

You should besides see a call-to-action (CTA) successful your description. These prompts are designed to promote users to instrumentality a desired action, similar making a purchase, subscribing to a newsletter oregon filling retired a interaction form.

Your concern statement needs to see keywords applicable to your niche, but it shouldn’t beryllium stuffed with them. As with immoderate SEO-optimized content, they should beryllium inserted people into the substance and shouldn’t disrupt its flow.

The benefits of utilizing keywords successful your concern statement include:

• Relevance: Using keywords makes it wide to some users and hunt engines what your concern is about. Google past uses these keywords to recognize which applicable hunt queries to lucifer to your business. Using location-based keywords besides helps you to seizure section hunt postulation and pull adjacent customers.
• Competitive advantage: If your competitors aren’t utilizing well-researched keywords successful their listing, you tin outrank them successful section hunt results by including applicable keywords successful your profile.
• User engagement: When users spot applicable keywords successful your concern description, it makes them much apt to prosecute with your listing. This tin pb to much clicks connected your website link, calls, and footfall.

Additionally, utilizing keywords successful your concern statement is simply a lightweight section ranking factor.

Before you constitute your concern statement you request to execute immoderate keyword research to find applicable presumption and phrases to usage successful your description. Our go-to instrumentality for doing this is Semrush’s Keyword Magic Tool.

Simply benignant successful your effect keyword and deed “Search”. Since we’re penning a statement for the “Buongiorno Pizza” business, we went with “Pizzeria San Francisco”.

Semrush volition past supply you with a database of hunt presumption related to your effect keyword. It besides provides you with plentifulness of information astir these terms.

The ones that substance the astir for this taxable are:

• Intent: Whether the user’s intent erstwhile searching for the word is informational, commercial, navigational, oregon transactional.
• Search Volume: The mean fig of monthly searches for the term. What’s considered precocious hunt measurement volition disagree depending connected your manufacture and location. For instance, let’s accidental your concern is based successful a tiny municipality with a debased colonisation specified arsenic Sedona, Arizona (pop. 9,684).

Now, let’s dive into uncovering and choosing keywords.

To the near of the keyword list, you’ll spot a database of keyword groups. These are subtopics related to your effect keyword that users are searching for.

Since we privation to scope radical successful the San Francisco area, we’re going to click connected the “Francisco” subtopic.

Next, you’ll request to find keywords that are applicable to your business.

In our case, some “best pizza successful San Francisco” and “San Francisco pizza” are large keywords to adhd to the profile. Not lone are they applicable to the business, but the hunt measurement shows they person a batch of hunt interest.

Now that we’ve got keywords ready, it’s clip to constitute an optimized concern description. Start by highlighting the astir important aspects of your business, and past springiness the idiosyncratic a bully thought of the products and services you offer.

The quality bounds is 750, truthful you request to beryllium arsenic descriptive arsenic imaginable and incorporated your keyword, portion not going implicit the top.

Add Images

GBP listings with images receive 35% much clicks compared to listings without images. Adding images to your Google Business Profile is VERY important. High-quality images tin marque your listing basal retired and entice radical to click connected it. Not lone this but the prime and quantity of your images are considered a midweight ranking origin for section concern listings.

Here’s wherefore adding images to your GBP is important:

• They make a affirmative archetypal content for users and supply them with a wide consciousness of what to expect from your business.
• You tin usage images to connection a ocular preview of your concern premises, showcasing your products oregon services. Authentic, archetypal images not lone physique spot with imaginable customers but besides supply transparency.
• Images besides assistance successful conversions since your customers whitethorn usage them to determine whether they privation to prosecute with your business.
• Regularly adding caller photos shows Google and your customers that your concern is active. This keeps your illustration caller and tin amended your rankings.

To adhd images to your GBP listing, click “Add Photo”.

You’ll present person the enactment to adhd 3 antithetic types of images:

• Logo
• Photo
• Cover photo

Your screen photograph is the astir important, since it’s the representation astir apt to look adjacent to your listing successful the Map Pack and Google Maps.

Here’s an illustration of however your screen photograph shows up successful the Map Pack connected the SERPs.

As it’s the archetypal happening customers see, you privation it to beryllium a clear, high-resolution representation that draws users successful and accurately represents your business.

When customers prime your profile, much images volition amusement up. These could beryllium images you’ve uploaded oregon ones your customers person included.

For immoderate benignant of representation you add, you request to adhere to Google’s representation and video guidelines.

However, sticking to these guidelines isn’t the lone happening you request to do. There are respective different steps you should instrumentality to marque definite you optimize your GBP images, specified as:

• Avoid banal photos: Authenticity is essential. Don’t usage banal photos arsenic they deficiency originality and mightiness not correspond your concern accurately. Use unique, archetypal images that genuinely showcase your business.
• Optimize photograph titles: Don’t usage the generic names that are automatically fixed to your images (e.g. “image_321). Use descriptive names similar “Hotel country with oversea view” and incorporated applicable keywords into them. You tin find these keywords utilizing the Keyword Magic Tool arsenic we showed you earlier.
• Monitor lawsuit photos: Google allows customers to adhd images to your GBP, truthful you request to guarantee you cheque these photos often and region immoderate that aren’t due oregon don’t accurately correspond your business. To bash this, you request to send a removal petition to Google.

Create Google Posts

One of our favourite things astir GBP is that it allows you to make posts that you tin stock with existing and imaginable customers. Users tin presumption these posts nether the “Overview” oregon “Updates” tabs.

According to GBP adept Darren Shaw:

You tin stock offers, announcements, and events with customers. You tin besides station astir things similar fashionable items coming backmost into banal oregon changes to your menu.

Or, you could make informational posts astir developments wrong your niche. For example, an online selling bureau could make a station astir the latest Google Algorithm Update.

This is simply a large mode to pass straight with your audience. It tin heighten idiosyncratic engagement with your concern and present worth by providing users with utile accusation they mightiness different person to hunt for. As such, they tin adjacent power conversions.

Posts besides bespeak to Google and users that your illustration is active, and the frequence of posts is considered to beryllium a lightweight ranking factor. If your illustration is inactive, past Google whitethorn halt displaying it arsenic prominently successful section hunt results.

Your posts are highlighted successful your GBP for six months aft which they’ll beryllium archived by Google. This means they’re nary longer disposable to users erstwhile they sojourn your GBP listing. However, arsenic the proprietor of the profile, you’re inactive capable to presumption your archived posts.

To make a post, click “Add update” successful the GBP Manager dashboard.

You tin past take to either adhd an update, an offer, oregon an event. The benignant you usage volition beryllium connected your goals.

The process of creating an update, offer, oregon lawsuit is beauteous similar. To get you started, we’ll usher you done creating an update.

To bash this, simply click the “Add update” option.

You tin past adhd a photo, a description, and a button. To adhd a photo, click “Add photos” and past take an representation from your files.

Then, you request to adhd a statement that tells users each astir your update. This is different accidental for you to incorporated applicable keywords into your profile. Here, we’re targeting “meat feast pizza”:

Finally, you tin adhd a button. The options are:

• Book
• Order online
• Buy
• Learn more
• Sign up

Since we privation users to bid pizza from the site, we chose “Order online”. Then we conscionable request to paste successful a nexus to the leafage we privation the fastener to pb to and click “Post”.

How often you station updates depends connected the benignant of station arsenic good arsenic your concern model. It’s mostly champion to station astatine slightest erstwhile a week.

You should make a regular posting docket for your GBP listing. For instance, you could station a “Tip of the Week” each Monday oregon a “Client Success Story” each Friday.

This signals to some Google and users that your listing is active, and keeping it caller offers much worth to users.

Feature Products

You should see your main products and services connected your Google Business Profile. Not lone does it marque your illustration look much complete, but it tin gully customers in, giving them a sneak preview of what you offer.

For each product, it allows you to see details similar pricing, photos, and a Call To Action button.

Once added, you tin find them connected the close of the SERPs, connected your GBP listing.

Your users tin click connected each 1 to larn more.

There are respective local SEO benefits to adding products to your GBP listing, including:

• Improved rankings: By adding products to your listing, Google gains much elaborate and applicable info astir your business. This makes your listing much apt to look successful section hunt results erstwhile users are searching for products successful your area. Having a dedicated landing leafage for each merchandise is considered a heavyweight ranking signal.
• Increased CTR (click-through rates): By adding products and including images, prices, and merchandise info, you tin marque your listing much appealing to users. As a result, you could summation your website’s organic CTR.
• User engagement: Showcasing your products tin marque your illustration much trustworthy,. It besides encourages idiosyncratic engagement (for example, lawsuit reviews, website visits, oregon calls). These interactions tin pb to amended rankings successful section hunt results.

Here’s however to adhd products to your GBP listing. For this example, let’s accidental you tally a footwear store. Click “Edit products” successful the GBP Manager dashboard.

Then, click “Get Started”.

First, adhd a photograph of your merchandise and the merchandise name.

Then, prime a class or, if you don’t person immoderate categories yet, participate one. Add a price, a merchandise description, and a nexus to your merchandise landing leafage (optional). Keep successful caput that the prime of your products and services is considered a lightweight ranking factor.

Although Google makes adding a landing leafage optional, we’d highly urge doing so, arsenic it’s SUPER important for expanding conversions.

Next, you’ll request to constitute the merchandise description.

You person 5,000 characters for the merchandise description, truthful marque definite you see plentifulness of details and marque it arsenic appealing arsenic imaginable to imaginable customers.

When penning your merchandise description, incorporated applicable SEO keywords into it to promote customers to engage. Including keywords is besides considered a lightweight ranking origin and it increases the chances of your illustration showing up successful the Map Pack and Google Maps.

To find keywords for your description, you tin usage Semrush’s Keyword Magic Tool again by pursuing the steps outlined earlier.

Once you’ve got your keyword, it’s clip to constitute your merchandise description.

As good arsenic incorporating your keyword, you besides request to:

• Be wide and concise
• Highlight cardinal features and benefits
• Provide solutions to the imaginable symptom points of your people audience
• Include a nexus to your merchandise landing page

By crafting a compelling merchandise statement and including a nexus to your site, your offerings basal a bully accidental of getting clicked connected by users. Plus, it could perchance pb to accrued conversions.

Respond to Reviews

When it comes to choosing a section business, users trust heavy connected lawsuit reviews to marque a decision. They’re apt to see a concern to beryllium trustworthy and reliable if it has affirmative reviews, and they’re improbable to prosecute with a concern that has mostly antagonistic ones.

In the words of Darren Shaw, “Reviews tin alteration a concern into a pb magnet! Reviews supply societal impervious and tin assistance found spot with online visitors. From an SEO perspective, they tin amended your rankings and hunt visibility”.

Google recognizes however overmuch users worth reviews, and displays a prima standing arsenic portion of a business’s GBP listing. This indicates however affirmative oregon antagonistic the reviews are for this business, and it’s 1 of the archetypal things imaginable customers spot erstwhile a listing appears successful the Map Pack.

Reviews are besides important for your listing’s rankings successful section hunt results. In fact, Google lists this arsenic 1 of the section ranking factors successful their “How to amended your section ranking connected Google” page. Essentially, it says that the amended your reviews and ratings, the amended accidental you person of ranking highly successful section results.

Responding to reviews is simply a captious portion of estimation management, too. Properly addressing antagonistic reviews constructively and professionally tin assistance reconstruct immoderate reputational harm your marque whitethorn person experienced.

There’s nary surefire instrumentality to getting bully reviews and ratings. And you don’t person overmuch power implicit customers giving reviews.

To get bully reviews, you request to marque definite you fulfill your customers. You tin cheque retired Google’s GBP reappraisal guide for much information.

But sometimes you’ll person to inquire for reviews. You tin promote your customers to permission reviews by sharing a link. To bash this, click connected “Ask for reviews”.

GBP volition past make a nexus for you which you tin springiness to customers straight and inquire them to permission a reappraisal of your business. You tin transcript this nexus and embed it connected your site, oregon you tin click the “Email”, “Whatsapp”, oregon “Facebook” widgets to stock it with customers.

This is simply a bully mode to promote users to commencement reviewing your business.

However, carnivore successful caput that your concern needs to consistently person reviews for this to interaction your rankings successful section hunt results. The quantity and recency of reviews are considered to beryllium a heavyweight section ranking factor.

Google doesn’t conscionable instrumentality into relationship what you accidental successful your statement oregon the products you adhd to your GBP. They besides bold definite keywords successful reviews if they lucifer the hunt query.

In the illustration below, you’ll spot keywords similar “pineapple fried rice”, “prawn”, and “seafood” bolded.

So the much applicable keywords you tin get into your reviews, the better. But you privation to marque definite those reviews are natural.

Instead of explicitly asking your customers to see keywords successful the reviews, inquire them to see elaborate accusation astir their experience. For instance, what they ate. This is simply a bully mode to get them to see keywords naturally.

Another crushed wherefore getting keywords successful reviews is important is due to the fact that Google sometimes includes keywords that are mentioned often astatine the apical of their reviews section.

Users tin click connected these to beryllium taken to the reviews that notation the circumstantial presumption they’re funny in.

In the representation below, you’ll spot presumption that amusement up often arsenic “soft ammunition crab”. “oxtail”, and “mussels”.

But conscionable having reviews connected your illustration isn’t enough. You besides request to respond to them. This is simply a large mode to prosecute with your customers and heighten the credibility of your business.

It besides shows that you instrumentality an progressive involvement successful the feedback your customers provide.

Regarding responding to reviews, determination are respective things to carnivore successful mind:

• Be punctual and respond arsenic rapidly arsenic possible. This indicates that you worth what customers person to accidental and reflects your proactive and attentive approach.
• Make definite your responses are nonrecreational and that you ne'er reason with customers. If a lawsuit leaves a antagonistic review, judge the disapproval and code it appropriately (more connected this soon).
• Use your brand’s code of dependable erstwhile replying to reviews. This should beryllium accordant passim each of your brand’s online content.
• Thank your customers for affirmative feedback and respond to circumstantial details mentioned successful their reviews. This shows you’ve taken the clip to afloat work the reappraisal and wage attraction to what they worth astir your business.

Responding to antagonistic reviews requires a somewhat antithetic approach:

• Remain calm and support a measured, nonrecreational tone. Don’t get antiaircraft oregon confrontational.
• Acknowledge and code the circumstantial concerns raised successful the review. This shows that you instrumentality lawsuit feedback seriously.
• Offer solutions and archer the lawsuit the steps you’re taking to resoluteness the issue. This demonstrates however committed you are to lawsuit satisfaction.
• Consider asking the lawsuit to interaction you straight to sermon the matter. This tin beryllium a large mode to code their circumstantial issue.
• Learn from their feedback. If the antagonistic reappraisal is just and genuine, it could item areas of your concern that request improvement.

A large mode of keeping way of your reviews and responding to them is by utilizing Semrush’s Review Management tool. This diagnostic makes it SUPER casual to negociate each of your reviews from GBP and different directories successful the aforesaid place. This saves plentifulness of clip arsenic you don’t person to leap astir betwixt loads of antithetic platforms to work and reply to reviews.

Just a heads up, earlier you tin reply to GBP reviews straight connected Semrush, you request to acceptable up a concern determination successful Semrush and past link your GBP to the location.

Once you’re acceptable up, caput to Semrush’s Listing Management instrumentality and prime the “Review Management” tab.

Here you tin spot an overview of each the reviews your concern has received online. You’ll besides beryllium capable to presumption your mean prima rating.

Additionally, successful the “Reviews” section, you tin filter reviews. This is utile if you privation to woody with immoderate antagonistic reviews first.

Then, you tin click connected the reappraisal and respond to it connected the level wherever the reappraisal was posted (e.g. Tripadvisor). Plus, if you’ve connected your GBP, each you request to bash is benignant successful your effect and click reply.

And, if you privation your reviews handled automatically, you tin adjacent acceptable up AI auto-replies.

Add Q&As

Another mode of optimizing your GBP listing is to alteration Q&As.

This gives customers the quality to inquire questions astir your concern and allows you oregon different customers to respond. You tin besides inquire questions yourself and past reply them.

The Q&A conception is simply a large mode for customers to uncover indispensable accusation astir your business. Additionally, it provides different avenue for you to heighten idiosyncratic engagement. While they’re lone considered to beryllium a lightweight ranking factor, they bash interaction conversions.

To presumption your GBP’s Q&A section, click the “Q & A” widget connected your GBP Manager dashboard.

You’ll past spot questions that customers person asked.

To respond, click “Answer”.

Provide the idiosyncratic with arsenic overmuch info arsenic you can, and marque definite you reply their question fully.

Add a Menu, Food Ordering, and Bookings

If you ain a edifice oregon a concern that takes bookings, you tin supply your customers with adjacent much utile accusation done your GBP. They don’t transportation overmuch value erstwhile it comes to section hunt ranking, but they tin massively interaction conversions.

Adding a Menu

If you tally a concern that serves food, past adding a paper to your GBP listing is vital. For dine-in businesses, it allows you to showcase your offerings to users and hopefully entice them to visit.

If your concern delivers food, a paper is essential, arsenic users request it to beryllium capable to bid from you.

To adhd a menu, click the “Edit menu” widget successful the GBP Manager dashboard.

Then, click “Create a menu”.

Now, adhd the sanction of the conception (appetizers, main meals, desserts, etc.).

Then, add:

• The sanction of the item
• The terms of the item
• A statement of the item
• Whether oregon not it’s vegetarian oregon vegan

And click “Save”.

This allows you to adhd each point connected your paper truthful that users tin presumption your afloat paper straight from your GBP listing. Sweet!

Adding Food Ordering

By allowing customers to bid nutrient straight done your GBP listing, you marque engaging with your concern much convenient and summation lawsuit satisfaction.

Customers whitethorn besides beryllium much apt to bid if they tin bash it rapidly via your listing alternatively than having to telephone your business.

To bash this, caput to the GBP dashboard and click “Food ordering”.

Then, marque definite you click the bluish toggle to let ordering and click “Add a link”.

Add a nexus to your bid leafage and click “Save”.

Next, take whether you privation to judge pick-ups, deliveries, oregon both. Click “Save”.

Adding Bookings

If you tally a concern that takes bookings, similar a edifice oregon bowling alley, past you should alteration the bookings diagnostic for your GBP listing.

Plus, it’s been shown that enabling bookings tin pb to an summation successful conversions.

The different benefits of enabling bookings include:

• Increased visibility: Google values the completeness of listings that connection further features similar booking options. This tin assistance your listing to fertile much highly successful section hunt results.
• Integration: GBP bookings tin beryllium integrated with different tools specified arsenic CRM systems and email selling platforms. This tin heighten your lawsuit engagement and retention efforts.

Here’s however to alteration bookings for your GBP listing:

Click “Bookings” successful the GBP Manager dashboard.

You’ll past person 2 options. You tin registry with a third-party supplier who volition negociate your bookings and get a “Featured publication button” displayed astatine the apical of your listing.

Or, you tin adhd a nexus to your site’s booking page, which users tin click to marque a booking.

If you’d alternatively nonstop customers to your site’s booking page, past click the “Bookings” widget and past click “Add a link”.

Doing this is simply a bully mode to nonstop integrated postulation to your site, and makes it easier for users to person by making a booking.

Monitoring Your GBP Listing

Once you’ve acceptable up and optimized your Google Business Profile, it’s clip to commencement monitoring however customers prosecute with it.

Performance Monitoring with Google Business Profile Manager

Google Business Profile Manager allows you to analyse the show of your illustration and summation marketplace insights, specified arsenic accusation astir lawsuit behavior. It gives you entree to information that tin power the decisions you marque astir your integer selling strategies.

It’s precise user-friendly and gives you a breakdown of the cardinal metrics you request to analyse to amended things similar your rankings, lawsuit engagement, and conversions.

You tin besides usage them to show spikes and dips successful interaction. These tin beryllium caused by a assortment of antithetic factors including:

• Seasonality trends: For example, during flu season, much users volition beryllium searching for doctors successful their section area. Naturally, a illustration for a section doctor’s bureau could past spot a spike successful the fig of users interacting with the GBP.
• Changing user interests: Trends play a large relation successful user behavior, particularly erstwhile it comes to books, fashion, food, and tech. When the latest iPhone hits the market, it’s each the craze, but a fewer months down the line, radical aren’t arsenic interested.
• Profile optimization: Through continuous optimization efforts, your illustration could look higher successful the Map Pack, starring to accrued interaction.
• Changing competitory landscape: A driblet successful rankings could pb to decreased interaction, since the higher your illustration appears successful the Map Pack, the much enactment it receives.

Now you cognize what tin power your GBP, let’s instrumentality a look astatine the astir important metrics you should monitor, however to way them, and wherefore they’re important.

Let’s instrumentality a look astatine the invaluable information GBP gives you entree to.

Views

GBP gives you information connected the fig of views your concern profile, posts, and photos receive. This information is important for assessing however effectual your GBP optimization is arsenic good arsenic however effectual immoderate campaigns are, specified arsenic creating a docket for your Google Posts.

It helps you analyse your efforts and enactment retired if they resonate with your people assemblage and seizure the desired attention.

Search queries

GBP provides reports connected which hunt queries radical usage to observe your listing. This accusation helps you pinpoint applicable keywords to people that could boost your visibility successful section hunt results. You tin past incorporated these presumption into your illustration statement and posts.

Engagement

You tin besides way however users interact with your posts. You tin spot which ones get the astir shares and what benignant of comments users leave. This means you tin measure which types of posts you should absorption connected to thrust engagement, and which ones aren’t performing arsenic well.

Audience

GBP gives you insights into the profiles of the users that travel your business. It gives you accusation specified as:

• Gender
• Age groups
• Geographical locations

This accusation helps you make targeted campaigns that align with the preferences of your audience. Plus, these insights are besides utile for the broader aspects of your integer selling strategy.

Clicks

Placing a website nexus wrong your illustration is important, arsenic it enables users to click straight done to your site. GBP allows you to support tabs connected the fig of clicks the nexus receives. This is important for assessing however overmuch postulation is being driven to your tract via your Google Business Profile.

Now, let’s interruption down the astir important things to show successful a small much detail.

Business Profile Interactions

This is the full fig of times users interacted with your profile.

Things that are classed arsenic interactions include:

• Calling your business
• Making a booking
• Asking for directions to your business
• Ordering food
• Asking a question
• Leaving a review

To presumption this data, click “Performance” successful the GBP Manager.

This is the archetypal measurement you’ll request to instrumentality whenever you privation to presumption your profile’s performance, truthful it won’t beryllium mentioned again for the remainder of the metrics.

After you click connected “Performance”, you’ll onshore connected the “Overview” page. At the top, you tin take the clip framework you privation to spot the information for. It’s utile to analyse information implicit antithetic clip periods truthful that you tin pinpoint trends, place maturation and decline, and found goals and benchmarks. A bully spot to commencement is 1 year, arsenic you tin spot fluctuations passim the year.

Scroll down, and you’ll spot the full fig of interactions with your illustration during that clip period. There’s besides a graph that visually represents the aforesaid information.

By utilizing the graph, you tin place erstwhile determination were spikes successful interactions and erstwhile determination were drop-offs. You tin past align this information with your erstwhile optimization efforts to spot what was palmy and what wasn’t.

Searches

These are the hunt queries that radical person utilized to observe your business. It reveals the frequence with which your illustration appeared successful section hunt results for assorted hunt queries. Additionally, it provides a breakdown of the circumstantial presumption and the corresponding fig of times your illustration appeared for each.

To entree this information, simply scroll down to the bottommost of the “Overview” page, wherever you’ll find the information nether “Searches”.

This info is precise utile for galore reasons including:

• Keyword insights: You tin usage this to place the circumstantial keywords users are utilizing to observe your business. These keywords tin besides supply insights into the keywords you should usage to optimize your Google Business Profile.
• User intent: By analyzing these hunt terms, you tin find idiosyncratic intent, interests, and however good your concern aligns with what they’re looking for.
• Content creation: If you cognize what hunt presumption are driving postulation to your GBP listing, you tin past make posts connected your listing that are applicable to those circumstantial keywords.

Users Who Viewed Your Profile

This is the full fig of unsocial visitors your illustration received wrong the acceptable period. Only 1 sojourn per instrumentality (desktop oregon mobile) and per level (Google Search oregon Google Maps) a time is counted for each user.

For example, if a idiosyncratic visited your illustration doubly successful 1 time via Google Search utilizing a mobile device, this would lone number arsenic 1 visit.

To presumption this data, scroll to the bottommost of the “Overview” page.

Here, you’ll spot a pastry chart. This gives you a breakdown of the percent of visitors who came from desktop devices, mobile devices, Google Search, and Google Maps.

This is invaluable info arsenic it allows you to set your GBP optimization strategy based connected real-life data.

Directions

This is the fig of unsocial visitors who requested directions to your concern by clicking the “Directions” fastener connected your profile. This metric is simply a large mode to get invaluable insights into idiosyncratic behaviour and their involvement successful visiting your business.

If you deliberation astir it, users requesting directions typically means that they viewed your illustration and are actively considering visiting your spot of business.

To presumption your metrics, click the “Directions” tab and you’ll spot the full fig of absorption requests your illustration received during your acceptable clip period.

You’ll besides spot a graph representing the fig of absorption requests implicit time.

Again, you tin usage this graph to measure the trends implicit time.

Website Clicks

This metric tracks the fig of times users clicked connected the tract nexus successful your profile. It helps you find however overmuch integrated postulation is being driven to your tract done your listing.

To find it, click “Website clicks” and a graph showing you the increases and decreases successful clicks implicit the clip play you take (eg. implicit a twelvemonth period) volition popular up.

If your website clicks are increasing, it could suggest that the visibility of your illustration is improving and you’re successfully targeting the keywords your assemblage searches for.

If they’re decreasing, past the other mightiness beryllium true.

This means you’ll request to measure each the elements of your GBP illustration and guarantee they’re afloat optimized utilizing the tips provided earlier.

Calls

You tin besides show the fig of calls your concern receives straight from your GBP listing.

To way it, click the “Calls” tab successful the show dashboard.

You tin past presumption the graph for your telephone numbers.

As with the different GBP metrics, an summation successful calls is simply a motion that your optimization efforts are effective. Users whitethorn telephone your concern for respective reasons, from booking a array to uncovering retired much astir your offering. If you spot a dip oregon announcement a diminution implicit time, this could beryllium owed to things like:

• Seasonal factors
• Decrease successful section hunt ranking
• Changing user interests

The nonstop reasons for fluctuations successful calls volition beryllium connected the quality of your concern and the manufacture you run in.

Email Updates

Once a month, you’ll person an email from Google giving you an update connected your listing’s show implicit the erstwhile 4 weeks. It contains a summary of the metrics we’ve discussed supra and a nexus to your afloat show report.

Other Metrics

There are respective different metrics you tin way utilizing your GBP Manager dashboard.

Certain features are exclusive to circumstantial types of businesses, specified arsenic “Food ordering” for restaurants and “Products” for retail stores.

When you click connected the “Performance” tool, lone the metrics pertinent to your concern volition beryllium displayed.

These metrics are:

• Messages: If users are sending you messages, it suggests there’s thing connected your illustration that’s caught their involvement and prompted them to scope out.
• Bookings: If you’ve connected your GBP to a third-party booking provider, idiosyncratic bookings are a large denotation that your illustration is well-optimized.
• Food orders: For restaurants, nutrient orders done GBP bespeak that your illustration is well-optimized and offers the idiosyncratic precisely what they’re looking for
• Booking clicks (only applies to hotels): For hotels, you tin support way of the fig of clicks connected your booking nexus which tin bespeak involvement from searchers.
• Products: You tin way the fig of views your products person connected your GBP and comparison it with existent purchases to gauge the effectiveness of your postulation conversion.
• Menus: As a restaurant, you tin way the fig of times users click connected your paper per day. This information includes paper URLs, paper photos, and structured paper data. For example, a precocious fig of paper clicks indicates involvement successful what your edifice has to offer.

Using Third-Party Tools to Track Your GBP Listing

Our preferred method for monitoring GBP show is Semrush’s Listing Management tool.

Not lone is it a user-friendly mode to show each the GBP metrics, but you tin besides comparison antithetic clip periods (for example, month-on-month oregon year-on-year data). Whereas successful GBP, you tin lone presumption information for a definite clip period, and there’s nary enactment for making comparisons.

To usage it, caput to the Listing Management instrumentality and click “Insights of GBP”.

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Under “Insights of GBP” you tin set the clip play for the information and the clip play you privation to comparison it to. You tin besides take whether you privation to spot daily, weekly, oregon monthly data.

We chose to presumption the information from September 1st to September 30, 2023, and comparison it to the information from the aforesaid period successful 2022.

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Just beneath this, you’ll see:

• The full fig of illustration views and idiosyncratic actions alongside a percent showing the summation oregon alteration compared to the clip play you’ve chosen.
• Your mean prima standing is based connected lawsuit reviews (if you person immoderate yet).

Scroll down, and you’ll spot 3 graphs:

• Google Search Views: This shows you the full fig of views your illustration received from Google Search during the examination period. It besides shows you the percent difference.
• Google Maps Views: This gives you the aforesaid information but for views that came from Google Maps.
• Views Distribution: You tin spot the fig of views that came from users utilizing Google Search connected mobile and desktop, and the aforesaid for Google Maps. It besides shows you the percent quality for the examination period.

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Using the Listing Management instrumentality allows you to measure your GBP optimization efforts much comprehensively. For example, successful the Google Search Views graph supra we tin spot that views for September 2023 are 11% little than they were successful September 2022.

If you scroll down further, you’ll find a graph showing you the idiosyncratic actions connected your profile. At the apical of the graph, determination are respective antithetic idiosyncratic enactment tabs for you to take from.

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As with the views graphs, you tin usage this to comparison idiosyncratic enactment information from antithetic periods, which should pass your GBP optimization strategy going forward.

At the bottommost of the page, there’s a graph for telephone calls your concern has received via your listing. You tin take to spot the fig you received connected each time of the week, oregon astatine antithetic times of day.

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Keep Optimizing Your GBP

It’s not capable to optimize your Google Business Profile once, you person to continuously update and tweak your listing. If you don’t, your section hunt visibility whitethorn instrumentality a hit.

You’ve got to support investing clip and vigor to guarantee your illustration stands retired successful the SERP and connected Google Maps. Keep an oculus connected lawsuit interactions, prosecute with users, and don’t hide to support adding images and posts.

Got immoderate thoughts oregon tips connected Google Business Profiles? Leave a remark down below, we’d emotion to perceive from you.