What Are the Benefits of Google My Business?

According to Smart Insights, billions of people worldwide use Google to search for almost anything. People mainly use Google to search for things such as:

• Where their local coffee shop is
• Reviews for a new restaurant nearby
• Home repair tips
• The latest fashion trends
• Celebrity gossip and news
• How to do something, like fixing floating shelves

Smart Insights have also stated that Google holds over 75% of the search market share – that’s how popular it is, globally, as far as search engines go. In addition to this, Smart Insights claims that Google receives about 5.6 million searches in one day, with a very high percentage of that being queries that are made about local businesses.

Google My Business will help tremendously with exposing your company to those who are searching for local shops. Whether you own an independent florist, a roofing company or a driveway firm, you will be found online by local customers if they’re searching for such a service or product nearby. So what is Google My Business, exactly, and how can it help you?

What is Google My Business?

Google My Business (GMB) is an internet-based service that’s free to use at any time of the day or night. It’s specifically designed to promote local businesses online to help increase their overall presence in the community. The good thing about GMB is that it enables the business owner themselves to manage exactly how they appear in Google in order to give their business the edge online.

As already touched upon, billions of people use Google to search for a variety of different things. This means that you’ll be guaranteed an impressively large audience who have the potential to view your website and find out more about the services and/or products you offer. 

The more visible your website is, the more often your business will appear in the search engines when people search for a specific thing nearby. For example, let’s say you’re a tree surgeon with your own business and people start searching for “tree surgeons in Nottingham”, then it’ll be highly-likely, with the help of GMB, that your firm will show up high in the search engine. 

What are the benefits of Google My Business?

Search Engine Watch claims that 50% of people who use their mobile devices to search for local businesses will end up making enquiries or visiting the store itself. In this modern, digital age, it’s never been easier for a company to promote their business, highlighting the excellent products and/or services they have to offer their customers.

Assuming that almost everyone has a smartphone on hand with quick and easy access to the internet in seconds, you can imagine how many organic searches occur due to a firm utilising GMB and, as such, how many sales a business might receive as a result.

Creating, verifying and optimising your GMB profile is extremely quick, simple and easy. It provides the company with the perfect opportunity to get as much local exposure as possible. As an invaluable tool for business owners alike, regardless of the industry you’re in, GMB is something every company should be using in this day and age, and for several reasons. Some of the benefits of GMB include the following:

It allows your business to appear on Google local pack listings & online maps

When looking at a map online, generally through Google Maps, you’ll notice that several different shops and businesses will become visible the more you navigate around the map itself. 

In addition to this, even when you search for a local business online, at the top of the Google search engine, there’s usually a small map that pinpoints exactly where that business is in relation to where you are. Sometimes, it even tells you how far away it is from you, offering directions should you wish to make your way over there.

This is called the Google Local Pack and it’s important for a number of different reasons.

• It presents the user with relevant searches extremely quickly
• It provides the user with all the relevant information they’ll need to engage with the company, i.e. contact numbers, addresses, location on a map, opening times, reviews and star ratings
• It’s convenient for both the company and the potential customer
• It’s the biggest determining factor of Google local park rankings, according to MoZ
• It allows you to target customers specifically in the local area

It enables your customers to leave reviews of your company

Reviews are valuable for any business, especially if they’re exceptionally positive, so reviews should never be underestimated by a firm looking to stand out from their competitors. A study done by MoZ shows that reviews have a 10% influence rate when it comes to how the Google search engine, or any search engine for that matter, ranks its results.

GMB makes it very easy for a customer to leave a review about a business, whether it be good or bad. The thing is, however, this then gives the business owner the power to remove reviews that are negative, if they so wish, and leave positive reviews out there for the world to see. 

Your company needs to have reviews associated with it in order to improve reputation throughout the community. It also helps to build trust and somewhat of a rapport between customer and company – a valuable aspect of running a local business.

Why else does your company need to have reviews associated with it?

• Reviews will improve local SEO
• Reviews can help to increase sales
• Reviews will expose exactly what your customers think of your business and/or your products or services

GMB will provide you with insights that offer helpful information

GMB promotes your service or product but it also helps a business owner to understand the market at a single moment in time. This helps a company to tailor their services, products and even website content to what’s popular at the time, helping to increase leads and sales in the process.

GMB can provide business owners with valuable insights and information to help the aforementioned commence, those things include, but are not limited to, the following:

• It can show you how many views your business profile gets, including every time visitors click on photos, blog posts and website pages, for example
• It provides a report that shows how people are searching for what they need including any keywords that make a regular appearance
• It can show you how your audience is interacting and engaging with your online content, including photos, articles, website pages etc
• It’s able to provide you with a demographic that you should be aiming your content towards, including specific age groups, genders and the countries they’re from
• It can show you how many clicks your website links get when you appear in the SERP (search engine results page)

It’s free and extremely easy to use

If a company is on a particularly tight budget when it comes to content and marketing, then GMB is an exceptionally valuable tool. It’s free and easy to use, meaning you do not have to be an SEO expert to navigate your way around it and understand the insights it gives you. 

Business owners who have the budget to bring a digital marketing agency into the fold will have an SEO expert look through this information for them and a full report will be given which breaks down everything a company owner will need to know. 

This saves busy business owners a considerable amount of time as the report will only highlight the most important, relevant pieces of information. They’ll be able to scan over the facts and figures whilst still completely understanding how their website is performing and how their leads and/or sales have improved.

In order to get the most out of your GMB account, you should look to hand responsibility over to an SEO or marketing expert, such as the highly-experienced specialists here at Kumo – it will allow you more time to do what you do best.

Kumo has a team of knowledgeable SEO and PPC experts at the helm of our operations. Regardless of the industry you work in, we have the expertise to help you. Whether you need to update your website, would like regular articles to be posted to your site or would simply like to increase your leads and sales, you’ll be able to count on Kumo to meet your every need and requirement. For more information, get in touch with a member of our friendly, expert team today – we’re always happy to hear from you.