A guide to positioning your local business on Google My Business

Small businesses can really benefit from having a good SEO strategy to increase their sales and compete with bigger companies.

Thus, it is important to understand the different strategies and actions we can implement within our SEO strategy in order to rank as high as possible in the SERPs of the various search engines.

Understanding its particularities and the different tools at our disposal will be crucial to achieving the best results. One of the most important is Google My Business.

So…. What’s SEO?

SEO is an acronym for Search Engine Optimization, and the process can be divided into different steps.

Local SEO refers to techniques and actions aimed at increasing the organic visibility of your website in searches carried out in a particular geographic area.

This is often carried out by businesses that have a physical presence or provide services in one specific area.

In order to make the right decisions about local SEO, we must keep in mind two factors.

There are several reasons for this, but the most significant one is that nearly half of Google searches are local. The other one is that in recent years, mobile searches have increased.

Exactly what is Google My Business?

Google My Business, as its name implies, is a tool designed and created by Google for small businesses.

In a single panel, we can include all the details about our business, including the name, hours of operation, contact information, and address, for free.

This tool makes it easier for our clients to locate our business. Moreover, we will be able to show our potential users what our existing customers have to say about us. We can also keep track and statistics on our business.

The process of creating an account in this Google tool is relatively simple.

You do not need more than a Gmail account to register. The next step is to verify, which can be done via post, SMS, or Search Console. When you are done, you can complete your Google My Business profile.

Local SEO & Google My Business

When our listing appears in Google My Business, it’s time to optimize it using local SEO. Through it, we will be able to appear in the first results of different searches.

Next, we will look at some actions that will help with your positioning in Google My Business.

Up-to-date information about your business

Generally, Google rewards businesses that provide as much information as possible, as well as those who keep it current.

The tool offers a series of fields to complete, and the best way to maximize it is to fill them all out. Additionally, it offers the option of including a 750-character description, our website, and our schedule.

Display products and services

Google My Business allows us to list our products and services. Depending on the type of business, we can offer certain products and list them all on our page.

Ratings

One of the other fundamental factors that we need to work on to improve our positioning is getting good reviews.

We invite our consumers or users to share their opinions about our products or services. It may include a star rating or a comment. It is a good thing we interact with our customers and encourage them to leave reviews.

Publications

Google My Business lets you publish new information, such as promotions, offers, events, etc. They can contain images, text and URLs.

Please note that posts expire after 7 days. Therefore, the fixed information must appear in the description of the business.

This small local SEO guide is meant to help you understand why working on the different areas of SEO is important.

That is why we should engage a SEO specialist to plan each of the steps of our SEO strategy, from the most elementary, such as listing the store name in Google Maps, to the most complex, like carrying out a keyword study and preparing a content calendar for our business.

If you need help with your SEO strategies, we can help you! Feel free to reach out to us.