PW Media | Oct 08, 2021

Utilizing your Google Business Profile can increase your company’s local reach and help you keep ahead of the competition—without spending a dime. 

What Is Google Business Profile?

Google Business Profile (GBP) is a business profile for businesses of any size. It is provided by the most widely used search platform in the world—Google—and acts as a powerful and dynamic marketing tool. This product is impossible to pass up. Here’s why:

• Free 
• Easy to create, edit, and manage your business information
• Improves local SEO 
• Helps gain an edge over competitors

How GBP Works

When someone types in search terms for a particular product or service, the most relevant results populate Google’s search. From operating hours to reviews, Google Business Profile reaches into local businesses’ profiles and pulls the relevant information into their search system for instant user access nearby. 

Consider an example: You’re a local coffee shop. A customer types into their Google Maps search the name of your shop. The results showcase your shop’s name and image with hours, menus, updates, ratings, and directions. But your shop may also show up if someone types in, “coffee shop near me.” 

With hyperlocal service recommendations, you can ensure that your coffee shop reaches your community before competitors do.

Oh Hai: Google Business Profile may seem small, but it’s a mighty part of your local marketing strategy.

3 Reasons Google Business Profile Can Help Take Your Local Brand To a New Level

Most business owners don’t know that Google Business Profile’s capabilities extend far beyond merely putting hours and directions in front of searching customers. If you take steps to optimize your listing properly, Google Business Profile can help you generate higher traffic, convert searches into sales, and boost your revenue.

Wondering how Google Business Profile can bring immediate benefits to your brand right now? Take a look at these three top reasons you should be using Google Business Profile to get seen by potential customers directly.

1. Boosts Your Local Reach

The real magic of Google searching is found in the hyper-local search results that Google offers based on user location and stored cache information. When a user in your company’s region hops online to look for a service or product you provide, Google will run through its listed local business directories using Google Business Profile to pull the closest and most relevant offerings nearest that user.

Google uses its search algorithm to quickly offer searchers three local options based on specific keywords and locality at the top of the page. Have you ever searched for a restaurant online and promptly found three local listings at the top of the results page? 

This top group is called the Local 3-pack, and it's the crown jewel of any business’s local SEO efforts. With a fully developed and optimized Google Business Profile account, you can help increase the likelihood that your company will appear in this Local 3-pack whenever buyers on the hunt use relevant keywords and “near me” searches.

Remember that 80% of searches start on Google. If your company isn’t connected to Google’s system, your information won’t appear on Google’s SERP (Search Engine Results Pages), and you will lose valuable customer potential. You don’t exist to consumers if you aren’t showing up.

To ensure that your company exists in Google’s search algorithms and receives a boost over your local competitors, a robust Google Business Profile account will get you that leg up. Google boosts local results through the following three markers:

1. Proximity: Is your business in the location of the individual searching for this product or service?
2. Prominence: Does your company have an SEO-optimized web presence that features updated information and content?
3. Relevance: Does your company offer the credentials, recognition, and reviews necessary to be “trusted” as an expert provider in this area?

Updating your Google Business Profile account to include important information and relevant keywords (such as specific products and services) in each of these areas helps ensure that the SERP will pull your brand to the top of the list.

2. Grow Your Brand Reputation and Credibility

One of the most significant ways to grow your business is through positive online ratings and reviews. Not only that, reviews and ratings are known to be SEO ranking factors in Google. Unfortunately, disgruntled customers can be among the loudest in the reviews section; learning how to address negative reviews and low ratings with a delicate hand is a skill worth investing in. Customers use reviews as one of the most prominent markers of a business’s trustworthiness when researching, so having top ratings, stellar reviews, and mindful, engaged responses can allow your business to rise above the rest, generating leads and sales. 

3. Get to Know Your Audience

While the main goal is to have your GBP listing show prominently in local searches, it can double as a data analytics tool to help you learn about your target audience. Google compiles and sorts customer search data to answer questions like:

• How many people viewed my listing?
• How and where did customers find my listing?
• What further actions did customers take once they found my listing?

These metrics can give you a broad overview of how your listing performs over time or give you a granular snapshot of particular customer behaviors. 

Trust Your Google Business Profile Optimization to the Experts

Utilizing a powerful Google Business Profile presence can help your brand reach new levels of relevancy and accessibility in your local market, as well as boost your earning potential with customers across the web. So how can you begin taking advantage of your Google Business Profile presence? 

While there are plenty of resources on the internet that can help guide you through setting up and maintaining your Google Business Profile, the importance of its strategic development and professional curation is vital. If you are ready to take advantage of Google Business Profile’s capabilities, you may benefit from expert advice and support. 

By hiring an experienced digital marketing agency’s talents, you can ensure your Google Business Profile is utilized to its full potential within your larger marketing strategy. Not only can an improperly maintained Google Business Profile cause hiccups in your company’s ability to reach potential leads, but incorrect or outdated information can negatively impact your brand and SEO ranking.

Right the First Time

Do you want your Google Business Profile account set up correctly with quality content and complete optimization? PW Media is happy to walk you through the process. With personalized development and implementation strategies at your disposal, you can rest easy knowing that your Google Business Profile account is boosting your SEO potential and helping you reach high-impact customers.