Google Business Profiles
FAQ Menu
Please select from the menu below.
1. What is Local Search?
2. Why is Local Search Important?
3. What’s the difference between local search and web search?
4. Why is ‘Near Me’ so important in local search?
5. You don’t need a website for local search; you just need an address?
6. How does MiShop.local help with local search strategy?
1. Is Google My Business (GMB) the same as a Google Business Profile (GBP)?
2. Why are Google Business profiles so valuable?
3. Why is Google My Business (GMB) so important?
4. What do people use Google Maps/GMB for?
5. What are the main features in Google Business Profiles?
6. When do customers look at Google Business Profiles?
7. What can I do to improve the performance of my Google Business Profile?
8. How does MiShop.local help with Google Business Profiles?
1. Where does Google get the information for Google Maps?
2. How do I get my business listed in Google Maps?
3. What do people use Google Maps for?
5. Can a service area business be listed in Google Maps?
6. What is the difference between business listings like Yellow Pages and Google Maps?
Features In Google Business Profiles
FAQ Menu
Please select from the menu below.
1. Reviews
2. Google Posts.
3. Google Products.
4. Google Services.
5. Google See What's In Store (SWIS).
6. Free Website.
1. What are Google Posts?
2. What should I use Google Posts for?
3. What are the benefits of Google Posts?
4. How does MiShop.local help with Google Posts?
1. What are Google Products?
2. Why are Google Products useful?
3. What should I use Google Products for?
3. What are the benefits of Google Products?
3. How does MiShop.local help with Google Products?
1. What are Google Services in Google Business Profiles?
2. Why should I use Google Services?
3. What are the benefits of Google Services?
4. How does MiShop.local help with Google Services?
1. What is Google See What's In Store (SWIS)?
2. What is See What's In Store useful for?
3. What are the benefits of SWIS?
4. How does MiShop.local help with Google See What's In Store (SWIS)?
Maintaining & Optimising
Google Business Profiles
FAQ Menu
Please select from the menu below.
1.What is the value of maintaining Google Business Profiles?
2. How does MiShop.local help with maintaining Google Business Profiles?
1. What is Google Business Profile Optimisation?
1. How to use Keywords in Google Business Profiles.
2. How do customers find me in local search?
3. Do people find my business in local search?
1. How can you track the benefits of Google Business Profiles?
2. When will I see benefits from Google Business Profile optimisation?
3. Can you guarantee me more customers from Google Business Profile Optimisation?
4. What does the insight report tell me about my GMB profile?
1. Why is my listing on Google Maps (Google business Profile) suspended?
2. How does MiShop.local help with Suspended listings?
Local Search FAQ
The most frequent questions and answers about local search.
‘Local search’ is when people search for local businesses, places and services using search engines like Google and Bing, or directories such as Yell.com.
Typically people use search terms such as “business near me”, or “businesses in location” , or “service in location”, for example, “hair salon near me”, “dentists in Brighton”, etc. Because the searches are “Local” the results are localised, so only businesses that are based in that locality will be shown. Typically these are businesses that provide their services to a local community such as shops, pubs, restaurants, plumbers, hairdressers, etc..
People use local search to find a business, but then to get directions, opening times, a number to call or a link to the website.
Local search is important because 76% of people go online to search for local services.
Just as people used to use The Yellow Pages to search for local service, today they use Google. Instead of showing individual business listings in The Yellow Pages, Google now shows Google Business Profiles.
This means that your Google Business Profile and how it appears in local search is one of the most important ‘adverts’ for your business. Most people will see your GBP before or instead of your website.
The fundamental difference between local search and web search is that Local search is based around your locality, whereas websearch is based on your website.
This means that you have to be physically based in/around a given location to appear in those search results.
Whereas a website has the potential to appear in search results from anywhere in the world, with local search – it’s all about locality! If you are not ‘listed’ as a local business – you won’t appear in local search. So for local businesses, an address is more important than a website.
More and more people use ‘near me’ search. It is so prolific as a search term that Google now suggests ‘near me’ in the search string. For example, if I’m searching Google for a ‘restaurant’, Google may suggest ‘restaurant + near me’ and people often choose to use that suggestion.
‘Near me’ is a quick way of saying; ‘in my location’ or ‘X town’, so instead of typing “Restaurants in Brighton”(for example) people can type “restaurants near me”. The reason this is possible is because Google knows where you are!
Near me is all about locality and where you customers are in relation to where you serve your customers from. That is to say; their location versus your business location.
To appear in local search you need to be physically located in the area that people are looking, so in this respect an address is more important than a website.
Many businesses do not have a website, yet appear in Google Maps because their business has been ‘registered’ with a local address.
A big mistake new businesses make is to invest in a website before Google Maps. They then spend a lot of time and money trying to get their website to the top of web searches only to find the people still don’t call.
If you are setting up a new local business, the first thing you need to do is get a Google Business Profile listing before worrying about a website.
Customers are more likely to find your business by searching Google or Google Maps in their local area, than they are to find your new website.
MiShop.local calls on years’ of experience in managing Google Business Profiles for 1000’s of locations in every business sector from small business to national brands with thousands of locations.
We’ve managed Google Business Profiles for businesses in the UK, USA, France, Germany, Spain, Netherlands, Austria, Portugal, Italy, Greece, Poland, Bahamas, Canada, Hong Kong and more.
We know what works and what doesn’t in local search.
We can help your business to maximise the benefits of Google Business Profiles. More importantly, we are honest and realistic about what your business can expect to achieve.
We do not guarantee to get you to the top of Google search (steer clear of anyone who claims they can), instead, we guarantee to get you more customers by optimising and managing your Google Business Profile.
Google Business Profiles
The most frequent questions and answers about Google Business Profiles.
Yes; Google just changed the name. They are trying to make sure businesses are aware of the fact that Google is offering a ‘Business Profile’. This was also the case with ‘Google My Business’ but the name was somewhat confusing to businesses.
A Google business profile is the single most important local digital asset that any business has in local search.
People usually see your Google Business Profile before or instead of visiting your website. As such, people expect the information shown in a Google Business Profile to be correct. Infact, they look at GBP as if it were a digital shop window, and make a judgement on whether to call or visit the business.
An untidy, unmanaged Google Business Profile with poor reviews is like a dirty shop window. It does not fill people with confidence and says “we look closed”, or “we don’t care”.
Google My Business (aka Google Business Profile) is so important because when customers search for local services in Google, the results shown are managed in Google My Business. Google My Business is where local businesses owners control their information to ensure it is correct and that they look good to customers. They can also respond to reviews and to monitor the performance of their Google Business Profile listing.
Businesses that actively manage their Google My Business profile are rewarded with better performance and more customer enquiries.
People use Google/Google Maps to search for local businesses information and services. In essence, Google Business Profiles and Google Maps have replaced the traditional yellow pages.
Interestingly, people use Google Maps regularly to find information on businesses they already know such as opening times, directions or a telephone number. However, they also use Google Maps to search for local businesses they don’t know.
Google Business Profiles provide the core information about a business, namely: the business name, phone number, address, weblink and opening times.
There is also the option to include short business descriptions and brand / product / service images. A key feature is also customer reviews.
Alongside the core features described above, there are a number of other features that truly help businesses stand out in local search including: Google Posts, Google Products, See What’s In Store (SWIS), Google Messenger, Google Adwords, Booking Links, Menus, Service Areas and more.
Customers find your Google Business Profile when they are searching for your products/services. If customers are searching for things generically, or organically, then you will appear alongside lots of other businesses serving your sector in local search results.
For example, if I search for ‘Plumbers in Brighton’ then all the plumbers that are listed in Brighton will appear on the same page in Google Maps. In this case, If I’m not sure ‘who’ I’m looking for – there is a level playing field with all plumbing businesses appearing in the same way. As a result, it is important that your business stands out from your competition when customers are searching for generic products/services in their local area.
On the other hand, if a customer knows your business and they search for you in Google/Google Maps – they want to use your business again, find more information, or visit your business.
Sometimes customers don’t know they are using Google Maps or Google Business Profiles to find your business – they just understand that relevant information is presented to them. This is why it is essential that you manage your products/services/promotions in your Google Business Profile.
Customers are, invariably, viewing your Google Business Profile/Google My Business when they are looking to buy your products/services or visit your business.
It is crucial that businesses understand that customers are on a mission to buy something when they are looking at your Google Business Profile. Therefore, it is essential that your business looks good and stands out from your competition at a time when customers are interested in buying from you.
Google has made it very simple for businesses to manage their information in their Google Business Profile.
In order to improve the performance of your Google Business Profile you need to ensure your business information is correct and maintained: your business name, opening times, address, phone number, link to your website and branding all need to be correct.
Make sure you are categorised correctly: For example, if you are a ‘French Restaurant’ make sure you are categorised as such rather than an ‘Italian Restaurant’.
Ensure your services are fully listed with descriptions of the services you provide.
Add Google Product images and descriptions; Let customers know what you do.
Keep customers engaged with Google Posts – use these frequently to inform customers about what you do, where you do it and why. Offers are also useful Google Posts that have keywords about your products, services and location ensure that you are found more often in local search results. If applicable, Google Posts can also be used to clearly show events.
Encourage customers to leave reviews, and make sure you respond to those reviews.
MiShop.local is a leading provider of Google Business Profile optimisation services.
We have managed Google Maps since its inception on behalf of many businesses.
Our experience managing thousands of business locations in Google Maps allows us to provide significant and effective optimisation for any business.
We have developed a service that helps small businesses to benefit from our experience at a price they can afford – managing everything on your behalf, so you can do what you do best – serve your customers.
Google Business Profiles on Google Maps
The most frequent questions and answers about the value of Google Maps for Businesses.
Google gets its information from a number of third-party sources, including business listing and government services. It compiles this information with various other sources including reviews, websites, social media pages to create a ‘composite’ of your business.
Finally it encourages Google ‘Local Guides’ and the general public to add/update information about local businesses as well as writing reviews.
If your business is not already listed in Google Maps, you can create your own listing very easily here:
https://business.google.com/create?service=plus&hl=en&gmbsrc=uk-en-et-ip-z-gmb-s-z-l~mrc%7Cayb%7Cps&skiplp=1
If your business is already listed, you can claim it and go through a verification process using an activation code, which is sent either by post, or via your registered business telephone number.
Google maps is the single most used application that people use to search for local businesses, services and directions. More importantly, it’s used globally, so if you want to attract foregin visitors, you can be confident that they will probably be using Google Maps too.
As a global mapping and business listing application, Google Maps is used by everyone for researching businesses, services and products, as well as finding directions, opening times, phone numbers and information about local services. These services can be businesses, public services, travel information etc..
Whereas most businesses want to be found in Google Maps, people with home based businesses may not want to reveal their address. The good news is that it is possible to list home based businesses in Google AND to hide your address.
There are limitations on which types of business can do this, and hiding your address can impact the performance of the Google Business Profile listing.
If you serve customers in their homes or premises rather than them coming to you, then you can be listed in Google Maps as a Service Area Business. This includes businesses like Locksmiths, Plumbers. Mobile Hairdressers, Carpet Cleaners etc.
This is particularly helpful for small businesses that operate from home.
Service Area Business can also ‘hide’ their address, which is useful if they are trading from a home address, however it does affect local search performance when the address is hidden.
Most of us remember The Yellow Pages, which was the default place to look for local information about local businesses. Currently, the default place to look for local information is Google search and Google Maps.
However, the difference is that in The Yellow Pages, businesses paid for an advert if they wanted to appear prominently, and businesses were listed alphabetically or within a certain distance from a particular location.
Now, you can buy adverts in Google Maps to appear at the top of Google Maps listings (at the top of the results), but the format of the business listing is the same for every business – no matter the sector – and businesses are not listed alphabetically. Google also uses several criteria as well as the location, relevancy and consistency of information about a business to determine where it appears in search results.
A business with a free listing in Google Maps can look exactly the same as a business that has paid to advertise theirs. The only thing Google does differently is using paid adverts to get a business found higher up, or at the top of, search results in Google Maps. This is the only time that a business can be found at the top of local search results in Google Maps, no matter what you might have heard from SEO’s.
MiShop.local optimise all the features in your Google Business Profile that are proven to raise your profile so that you appear higher up in Google Maps results when customers are searching for your products/services.
We do everything for you so that you can do what you do best: serving your customers.
Whether you’re starting out, or you’re an established business, we manage your information in Google Business Profiles to ensure your business appears when people are searching. We also advise on various tasks that you can do to help your local search performance.
The most frequent questions and answers about the features in Google Business Profiles.
There are key features in Google Business profiles that determine if, and when, customers find your business. Moreso, if they engage with, buy from you or visit your business website or premises.
- Name, Adress, Phone Number (NAP).
- Google Posts
(Content, Schedule, Management). - Google Products
(Product or Service Images:
Content, Management). - Google Services
(Key Content). - Google See What’s In Store
(Content, Management). - Google’s Free Website.
- Business Images
(Content). - Customer Reviews
(Content, Management). - Google Messenger
(Customer Service). - Google AdWords.
- Booking Links.
- Service Areas.
- Menus.
- New features and updates to all of the above.
Please navigate to the correct sections in the FAQ using the menu at the top of the page for more information.
It is both necessary and important to show Google that you are actually interested in maintaining your business profile by providing accurate information for your customers.
However, it is not necessary to keep producing brand new content. For one thing, it’s very difficult to come up with new things to say about what you might be doing. For example, if you are a Plumber and you fix taps there are only so many things you can say about that. So it’s not necessary to keep coming up with new content and wording.
What is necessary is that you keep showing activity. With Google Posts, for example; you can Post content, take it down, and put it back up. As a Plumber, you could rotate through a selection of Google Posts that display your core services and add in the occasional Post to embellish specific works you have completed for customers at a specific location.
Essentially, as long as your content is effective, repurposing, reusing and rotating the same/similar content is indicating to Google that you have an active, maintained and managed Google Business Profile.
Notably, the most valuable content in a Google Business Profile is produced by your customers. Encouraging customers to write reviews about your business that reference the services/products you provide will help to influence your local search performance.
As an example: if a customer was to review your Plumbing service with “Best plumber fitting Victorian taps in Brighton” that would be a clear indication to the Google Algorithm that you are providing the service you specify. Thereafter, your business could very well appear at the top of local search results if customers are looking for ‘Victorian tap fitting in Brighton’.
In summary: produce effective content, rotate it on a regular basis and ensure that you get your customers to leave relevant reviews that mention your products and services on a regular basis (positivity helps too!).
Reviews
Google Business Profile reviews matter for every business. Reviews help to reassure customers, or they can turn customers away.
When customers are looking for a business that they are not familiar with people invariably read reviews to understand if your products and services are a good fit for their needs. Research shows that 63% of consumers will check reviews on Google Maps before using a business.
Invariably, customers also leave reviews about your products and services to indicate their satisfaction or dissatisfaction with your services or products.
Clearly, reviews that paint your business as a dependable and reliable provider of products and services are better.
In Google Business Profiles and across Google in particular, those reviews feed into your business performance. If there are relevant keywords in those reviews that mention your products and services in positive light in a specific locality (local area), you are sending positive signals to Google – increasing your chances of being found more often in local search results.
Reviews are important across the board. You can’t hide from them or avoid them. So embrace customer reviews, encourage them and respond to them to make sure that they work for your business, not against it.
MiShop.local help you to ask customers for reviews. We provide you with a card with instructions that you can give to a customer at a time when they are engaged with your services.
It just encourages them to go to the right place; your Google Business Profile, and write a review that is enriched with keywords about your products, services and location.
We can also help to monitor the reviews on your Google Business Profile and respond to them with your input.
It is not necessary to respond to every review, especially if they are positive. However, if you have lots of reviews and get a negative review – that says more about your business than all of the positive reviews together.
The way your business deals with negative reviews says more about you than all the positive views of your customers. Especially as people often view the negative reviews to get a balance opinion of your business.
On that note, 5-star reviews across the board are not necessarily the best. Our research indicates that customers see this as unnatural and are wary of any businesses with just 5-star reviews.
Clearly, you do not want lots of 1-star ratings that drag your star rating down either.
Taken together, a balance of positive and negative reviews that push you into the high 4-star ratings are best – it speaks to customers that you are, in fact, more trustworthy.
By tracking, managing and reporting on your reviews – MiShop.local provide strategies to ensure your reputation is protected and your Google Business profile is found more often in relevant searches.
Google Posts
Google Posts are a feature in Google Business Profiles. These Google Posts inform customers of products, services, promotions, news and events.
It’s a great space to use for whatever you want*: advertise your products or services at a time when customers are actively engaging with your Google Business Profile and, most likely, looking to buy from your brand or visit your store.
*Providing you adhere to Google’s general Guidelines and Guidelines around Google Post*.
Google posts can be used to promote your services, but because they have SEO value, they can also be used to raise your profile in local search.
Google posts are one of the single most important factors in improving local search performance by highlighting keywords, but also in raising awareness of your products and services.
When people land on your business profile page, use Google Posts to raise awareness of the different products/services/events/promotions/special occasions that your business needs to promote. It’s also a good opportunity to leverage Google Posts to upsell products or services.
Google posts have SEO benefits and help to raise your business profile for keywords searches in Google and Google Maps, but they also help your business to stand out in local search results when people land on your Google Business Profile. Google Posts can also be used to promote specific products and services.
We’ve done extensive research that shows that when you use Google posts to promote a particular product, that you will see an increase in the sale of that product.
Mishop.local is one of the leading providers of Google Posting services.
We’ve managed more than 100,000 Google Posts across 7,000 locations in the UK, USA and Europe. Due to this experience, we know what works to get local businesses found by more customers in local search results.
We will help you to make the most of Google Posts with the right strategy, and ongoing management of a Google Post schedule for your business.
Google Products
Google Products are feature in a Google Business Profile. They are an attractive way to showcase the products and services you sell. They can even include categories for better effect.
Using Google Products to its full extent ensures that your business is highly visible in local search results.
Customers landing on your Google Business profile are visibly drawn to your product and service offering. It’s a great way of showcasing the best of what you sell, or the most popular products in your inventory.
Customers need clarity and direction when making buying decisions, so help them with a clear offering presented with Google Products in your Google Business Profile. Make sure your customers clearly see your products/services.
Google Products help businesses highlight their products and services at a time when people are looking to engage. As a result, we have seen an increase in the sale of these products. Google Products are most useful for a shop / service provider that has a relatively fixed range of products and services, such as pest controllers, locksmiths, solicitors, accountants, business services etc..
If you are a retail shop that sells lots of different products that are turning over frequently, then you would be best to use another feature called ‘Google See What’s In Store’, or SWIS for short.
Google products are ideal for businesses that offer a relatively small range of products or services that can be arranged in a simple framework.
They should be used to display key products or services to customers who visit your Google Business Profile.
Google products should be used for highlighting the key products that you want your customers to know that you sell. These can be organised by key categories.
Google Products are seen when people are already on their way to your shop, or while the are considering coming to your store. When you show then your eye-catching products and/or services customers are engaged with your offering as they already have the intent to research, buy or visit.
Added to that is the opportunity to upsell various products or services that they may not be aware that they need.
We make sure Google Products work for your business.
MiShop.local manage your portfolio of products on behalf of your business so that your products/services are clearly displayed in your Google Business Profile. We also produce the product images, wording and descriptions to make sure they are presented in an engaging way that attracts customers. This is an entirely manual process that cannot be automated.
Google Services
Google Services are a simple tab in your Google Business Profile listing that tells people what you do. There is a whole list of services that Google tries to gather itself, but it’s far better than you actually take control of them yourself and list out exactly what you do.
Google Services are very similar to Google Products but have better SEO value. If people also leave reviews that mention your services specifically, Google will match the two together in local search to magnify your Google Business Profile listing in local search results.
As an example, a customer leaves a review: “Fantastic service from X Plumbing Business, fitted Victorian taps for me in Brighton”. The next time someone in Brighton searches for Victorian tap fitting, Google will tie that review together with the services you offer and is more likely to present your business to the prospective customer.
As a bonus, that prospective customer is also likely to read the glowing review about your Victorian tap fitting.
Google services help to magnify your service representation in local search.
There are keywords that are indexed within these services that can appear in local search results for customers who are looking for your type of business, services or products.
Google Services have SEO benefits as well as helping to present what you do to prospective customers.
Google Services need convincing copywriting with carefully selected keywords to improve your local search performance in Google Maps and Google Search results.
MiShop.local’s team does that for you manually: carefully adding our expertise and copywriting to ensure your business appears at the right place and at the right time in local search results.
Google See What's In Store (SWIS)
Google See What’s In Store is a feature in Google that enables businesses to present their inventory and all the stock that they have in their local store so that it appears in Google Search results. This is so that a customer searching for the type of products that you sell is able to find your business inventory/products in local search results.
For example, if you sell a particular brand of taps and somebody searches for that type of taps in the area you serve, then those taps that you sell will appear in search results as a product available to the prospective customer. That customer can then click on and look at that product, and the rest of your inventory if they like – such as other products in a similar range.
Google See What’s In Store presents what you have in stock into the digital shopping space that is Google. This is crucical when competing with the likes of Amazon and so forth, because Google will present your local products that nobody else will have in that area.
Say that I’m searching for a very specific product in my area, Google will help me find that product and See What’s In Store is the vehicle for me to find it, read about it and for me to engage with the relevant business to purchase their products/services.
Google See What’s in Store helps you to present your products so that they appear in local search results when people search for your products, or similar products, in their area.
See What’s In Store increases the chance of your business being found when people are looking for specific products in your area.
By presenting all of the products that you have on your shelf, in your shop and in See What’s In Store, you maximise the chances that customers will engage with your products and services in their local area. Both traditional in-store marketing and a digital front door to your local products and services ensure that customers find your products and services.
It is also far more likely that customers will click on your products, do their research, and then come to your shop than buy the item/service online and pay for delivery.
MiShop.local help your business to configure See What’s In Store.
We work with your point of sale machine (POS) to add your local inventory via your stock management system.
Through that, you can then start to promote all of your products and services online.
Google Business Profile Free Website
Google Provides a free website that is tied to your Google Maps Listing.
This is brilliant because it just presents all of the information that you have in your Google Business Profile on a simple, free Google webpage (with a custom URL?). For many businesses, that is all they need – a free, attractive presentation of their business information that works: businesses use this free webpage to get people to call, book appointments or message.
Maintaining
Google Business Profiles
The most frequent questions and answers about local search.
Maintaining a Google Business Profile means ensuring that the information is correct, and frequently looking through your Google Business Profile to check reviews, and monitoring and responding to those reviews.
Adding Google Posts to broadcast what you do on a regular basis is also considered maintenance, as in ensuring that your images on your Google Business Profile are on-brand.
Taken together, the value of doing these tasks is that you are sending out a message to Google – you care about your Google Business Profile, and that is rewarded with better search performance for your Google Business Profile.
In sum, the simple act of maintaining your information, improving and enriching it for your customers is rewarded: Google gives you a better performing business listing.
MiShop.local fundamentally does everything to make your business perform better in Google local search results: we make sure that your listings are correct, regularly updated to reflect information that you want customers to find, and we make sure your Google Business Profile is performing as it should.
These are all things that take time, as the process can’t be automated. However, Google made it easy because it wants you to do it, but ultimately it takes time, skill and effort to make a Google Business Profile work optimally.
We bring the skill, time, effort and effective content from years of experience well-spent optimising Google Business Profiles and a variety of other local listing sites.
Optimising
Google Business Profiles
Google business profile optimization is using all the features in Google to their full potential.
That means adding images, encouraging customer reviews, using Google posts in different ways, frequently using Google products and using Google services.
And all the other features, such as click to call, links to your website, links to booking forms and so forth.
There is a panoply of services that you can use in Google my business. If used to their full potential, your business will be rewarded with better performance and more customers.
Hygiene Factors For
Google Business Profiles
Your Google Business Profile is the digital front door to your business in local search.
It is the first and last thing that most people see before they choose to either click away or engage with your brand; calling, messaging, or visiting your store or website.
Therefore, it is important that your Google Business Profile contains correct information: your business’s address, opening times, links, phone number, on-brand images and relevant reviews that show your brand in a positive light.
As an example, If the basic information on your Google Business Profile are incorrect then people may not call you because they think you’re closed. Conversely, they call you thinking you are open, when you are not, and you don’t answer the phone.
Or say that your map pin on Google Maps is not in the right location, and customers waste time trying. They may also think that your business isn’t real when they view you on Google Street View – only to see that your business name doesn’t exist where they are looking, and they miss that important first connection where they see your shopfront and like what they see.
Both of these examples are bad experiences and damage your local reputation, oftentimes encouraging bad reviews too. So, make sure that you place yourself in your customer’s shoes and take the customer’s local search journey to find your business. Would they find correct information? Can they easily view and find your business location? Does it look good?
You need to check your Google Business Profile at least once a month. While you should maintain it on a weekly basis.
Once your have inputted the relevant, correct information you would assume it stays the same forever. You’d be wrong here.
This is for a number of reasons: Firstly, Google doesn’t necessarily believe the information you supply in your Google Business Profile. Google cross-references the information you supply with other sources on the internet. So, if there is conflicting information about what you say about your business elsewhere on the internet versus the information in your Google Business Profile, Google can actually overwrite and change your information.
For example, if you gave your business a different name to what Google ‘thinks’ it should be, or a different phone number, Google may change it.
Another scenario is that your competitors may hijack your listing – by suggesting changes to your listing they can cause your listing to change; the name, web link etc… and before you know it, Google has made those changes to your Google Business Profile. Suddenly, customers have stopped calling.
Overall, you need to check and maintain your Google Business Profile to keep control of your brand. This ensure your profile information is not changed by Google or by suggestions from your competitors.
MiShop.local check your Google Business Profile to ensure your information is correct. In essence, we do the job for you as most businesses forget or get bored. That’s the truth of it.
People get bored with maintaining their Google Business Profile because, on a day-to-day basis, you may not see a big difference. However, this doesn’t make maintenance any less important – you cannot rely on Google to keep everything correct, just as you need, because Google’s indexing and algorithms are constantly cross-referencing the internet – it’s a constantly moving thing.
Keywords In
Google Business Profiles
There are only a few places a business can really use keywords in a Google Business Profile. Those are ultimately within your business profile name, which is limited in length, product names, Google Services, Google Posts and customer reviews.
We recommend that you encourage customers to write reviews that mention what you do with keywords. Also use Keywords in your Google Services, Products, and more importantly in Google Posts.
Keywords are indexed almost immediately in Google Posts, so they can influence your local search performance quickly.
It does depend on location, sector and so on, but the more than you help Google to understand what you do, the more likely it is to present customers with your services.
Word of warning: do not key word stuff your Google Business Profile. Google doesn’t like that. It want’s natural speech, i.e. sentences similar to search strings people use to search for your products/services. For example, It doesn’t like #hashtag #keywords.
Overall, do not keyword stuff, or use hashtags keywords and write in natural language when you are using keywords for local search in the features of Google Business Profiles that are essential in local search.
Google provides information about how people find your business in its dashboard. The dashboard shows what keywords customers used to find your business, or the words in search strings that you appeared for. This information is freely presented by Google.
With this information, you are told statistics/insights from the last week, month or three months. You can also do your own search – use your own keywords to find your business and see when/where you appear in Google search results and Google Maps.
However, it is important to note that everyone has a different search experience – Google changes search results depending on your previous search history, such as your interests, where you are, or what you typically tend to click on.
For this reason, it is best to browse incognito/clear your cache/use a different browser than you would normally to get the best overview of how customers would typically find your business with keywords.
For example, if you frequently search for ‘high-end restaurants’ you will have a history of those searches that are recorded by Google. Guess what? Google is not going to present you with low-end burger joints and chip shops.
You could have two people standing in the same place, searching for the same thing and they will see different search results. There are several other factors at work here too. Theses are yet more reasons why it it’s not worth paying SEO’s that guarantee the top position in Google search results or Google Maps results – your performance depends on who’s searching and a number of other factors.
Well, the only way to find out is to search for yourself to see in Google and Google Maps to see how you appear. Or setup a Google Business profile and look at the insights in the Google Dashboard.
Tracking & Reporting for
Google Business Profiles
Your Google My Business dashboard has an “Insights” section which shows how many times people searched for your services, what keywords they used and how many times people clicked on your website, clicked for directions or called you.
All of that information is presented in your Google Dashboard. Other information is also included, such as the number of times customers viewed your images and photos, as well as the time of day that they call you.
Google tracking and reporting in your Google Dashboard is a very valuable, free tool that gives your business a snapshot report of your business performance in search results and information about specific actions that a customer took on your Google Business Profile.
This very much depends on what your starting point is. A new business with no history can take up to 3 months to start performing ‘organically’, however an existing business with an established presence can see improvements almost immediately*.
Typically we see almost *immediate improvements in customer engagement, where more customers click on your website, call or click for directions. Incidentally, if somebody clicks for directions, Google’s own data shows that 88% of those customers are likely to visit your business in the next 24 hours.
Yes – we guarantee that we will get you more customers through Google Maps by ensuring your GBP listing appears in the right place at the right time when people search for your services and by increasing the number of times people engage with your listing.
The more people that see and the more people that click for calls and directions will result in more enquiries to you and ultimately more business.
Google Business insight data shows the number of times people found your business, clicked on directions, clicked to your website, and clicked to call you as well as the number of times your photos were viewed and the keywords searches in which you appeared.
Taken together, these data show us how your profile is performing.
When you optimise your Google Business Profile to improve local marketing, you will see an improvement in the performance over time – You’ll see an increase in the number of times people click and call, and that’s reflected in your insight data.
Suspended
Google Business Profiles
If your Google Business Profile has been suspended, or disabled, the chances are you’ve done something that has broken Google’s guidelines and/or operating principles.
Because Google is a machine, it needs some basic rules about what a business can or cannot do with their listing information using Google Maps or Google Business Profiles. It does this to create a ‘level playing field’ for all businesses, but also to stop unscrupulous businesses abusing Google to get more customers.
You can see these guidelines here:
https://support.google.com/business/answer/3038177?hl=en-GB
Sometimes, the problem may not be with your Google Business Profiles, but with other information on the internet that has confused Google.
Other times, it’s not what you have done, it’s what you haven’t done. There is no simple answer, you need to investigate.
If you are not getting anywhere, or need some help, drop us a note and we’ll help you out.
We are proud to say that we have never had a suspended or disabled listing, which reflects our approach to managing Google My Business, however we have fixed many listings and will identify the root cause of the problem before fixing it. We will then apply to Google to reinstate your listing.
