The Google Business Profile is a free feature from Google. The feature aims to help business owners manage their online presence across this top-notch search engine.
Expert SEO professionals usually use Google Business Profiles to support a location-based strategy. A benefit of creating a Google Business Profile is that it offers success in local Search. It is ideal for brands looking for their local exposure. Local Search, a feature of Google, stresses creating a Google Business Profile for new and established business ventures.
You can entirely optimise Google my Business Profile following a bunch of simple steps. To start with your Google Business Profile, you must know the basics and then learn how to optimise the profile.
Let us indulge in detail about how to optimise Google my Business Profile.
The basics of the Google Business Profile
Before exploring how to optimise Google my Business Profile, it is essential to know the basics of Google Business Profile. The Google Business Profile provides people with a lot of information about the nearby businesses or any specific businesses they are looking for in this search engine. You can easily find the business address, active hours, category and reviews.
The knowledge graph of Google also utilises the verified information of the Google Business Profile to help generate the details for its business database and related subjects for specified searches. After creating the profile on Google, the location gets generated on Google Maps. Hence, it gets synchronised with Google Search for easy access and searchability. The Google Business Profile acts as an effective SEO, which will help you optimise all of its possible facets.
Knowing the basics will help you optimise Google my Business Profile. Creating the GBP will help you support your business venture on Google and on the various third-party platforms that use the Google Maps API to generate the location information for the users. It is crucial to be aware of the value of your Google Business Profile and that it is free to use. But, using GBP does not mean it is a replacement for your business website. It helps give the brands a public identity with the Google Profile.
How to start with your Google Business Profile?
To optimise Google my Business Profile, you must start with creating the profile itself. You must search in Google’s in-platforms to locate your business on Google Business Profile to make sure you do not have one previously. But, if your business has existed for a while, you are likely identified on GBP. So, now, you will have to claim it for yourself.
After successfully claiming your business, you must manage the information carefully. Those who do not already have a Google business profile will have to set it up quickly before someone claims their business carefully. Starting with the verification of your business profile which takes about a week, is the first step towards the ways to optimise Google my Business Profile.
To get the account verified, you will have to put in the official name of your business before elaborating the other essential information about your business. Now, you will have to choose the main category under which your business will fall. Though you can later change the category, opting for the right one will help you optimise your Google Business Profile. Hence, finding the best relatable category is essential.
Next, to optimise Google my Business Profile, you will have to choose one of the most valuable information, the location of your brand or store where the customers can visit you. You can also add more contact details, including your website URL, contact number, business address, etc. Then, the following step will ask you to enter the parameters of delivering your goods or services.
You can also change your service area location at any time after fully creating your Google Business Profile. But, if your brand does not conduct any delivery of your goods or services, then you will have to skip this step. After inputting all this information, you must verify your profile to optimise Google my Business Profile.
Why is verifying your Google Business Profile Essential?
You will have to verify your profile to optimise Google my Business Profile. The verification takes place via a postcard by mail that might take up to five business days. Verifying your profile proves to Google that you can manage your profile, representing your claim’s business.
It is an essential step to optimise Google my Business Profile as it helps boost your visibility and the overall performance of your business profile. It is only after the verification of your profile that Google will display your business for others to explore. The verification process takes about a week or less, and Google will send you a verification code via a postcard that you can use in your profile to officiate your business.
After verifying your profile, an essential step to optimise Google my Business Profile, you can add additional details to complete your profile like photos, business descriptions, messaging options, active business hours etc.
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Why should you publish your Google Business Profile?
With the completion of these steps, you will be led to the Google Business Profile Manager so that you can manage your profile and modify the details you have already entered.
Now let us list the crucial steps to optimise Google my Business Profile.
- You will have to enter the complete date for your profile.
- Including keywords will make your profile more visible.
- Keep the active business hours updated to accuracy.
- The addition of photos will help create a prominent image for your profile.
- You will have to respond sincerely to customer reviews and manage them regularly.
- You must keep an active customer messaging option to stay informed of their queries.
- Use the local posts to keep the customer engaged.
- You can use special attributes to stand out to optimise Google my Business Profile.
- You can use a product catalogue to showcase your products.
Apart from these, you must also use photos and videos and monitor your Google Business Profile to bring out the best of your profile.
Thus, following this, you too can easily create and optimise your Google Business Profile for better visibility on the search engine and stay on your toes to respond to all the possible queries of your devoted customers.
