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Manage and customize Google My Business

Afbeelding Manage and customize Google My Business

If you are looking for a supermarket, restaurant, sports store or whatever business, chances are that you can quickly look at Google for this nowadays. The search engine will then serve you all possible companies in the area. There is one but: to be eligible for this, you have to register your own company for this. You can do this via Google My Business. What this is exactly, what you can do with it and how you create it; you can read it all in this article.

What is Google My Business?

According to Google itself, Google My Business, abbreviated GMB, is a user-friendly and above all free tool, which companies or organizations can use to manage the online presence of their company in all kinds of Google services. This includes, for example, the standard search engine but also Google Maps. Google My Business is therefore a very logical step if you want to be better found with your company, both locally and on a larger scale. With your account, you can fill in all kinds of important information about your business, so Google can provide better results about your business to searching customers.

What can you do with Google My Business?

With Google My Business you can therefore be found better in all kinds of services from Google. You do this by passing on important aspects of your business to the internet giant. You logically enter the name of your company and the location, but there is more. You can also add photos to show an impression of your business. In addition, you can upload a profile description and include data such as opening hours. To do this, you’ll need a Google My Business account. As soon as all requested data is on it, your company will automatically become more visible within Google. Especially within Google Maps, this is extremely useful for the local market.

Why use Google My Business?

Google My Business has several benefits that make it really worthwhile to sign up for your business as well. We list the biggest benefits for you.

  • You generate a lot of visibility, especially at the local level. When people in the neighborhood are looking for a business, you can stand out from the competition in, for example, Google Maps. That gives you extra customers.
  • Customers can leave a review about your serivce via Google My Business. Research shows that 60 percent of all people who search for a business via Google are ultimately guided by the reviews on Google. So make sure that customers have this option for your business.
  • Customers are quickly aware of the data about your website. This way you can already see your address, your telephone number and opening hours directly from Google. Customers with questions can therefore reach you quickly. The immediate availability and your opening hours lead to more customers who arrive quickly.
  • And above all: using Google My Business is free!

Google My Business guide

Google My Business can sometimes take some time to set up properly, but once created, this time investment pays off twice over. Fortunately, the steps are also not difficult and do not require any technical knowledge. Read here the most important things you need to put in order to successfully register your business.

Claim, create, and verify Google My Business

Before you can create a Google My Business, you must first claim your business and prove that it is also your business. Have you done this yet? Great, go on to the next step. Do you still have to do this? Read here how to do that.

  1. Open the Google My Business website
  2. Sign in with the Google Business Account. A personal account is possible, but is not recommended. Your colleagues then have to log in constantly via your personal account and you will receive all notifications about your company via your personal e-mail.
  3. You will now be taken directly to the setup of Google My Business
  4. Enter the name of your business. Is your name given as a suggestion? Then a Google My Business account has already been claimed for your brand. If you don’t see your name as a suggestion, you can click “Create a business with this name.”

Once you’ve clicked on this, you’ll get into a short set-up. Everything around your company and all data is arranged here. To do this, do the following:

  1. Confirm the correct company name.
  2. Choose a category for your business. The options are fairly limited, but spacious enough for many companies. Later you can always adjust the category if it does not fit well enough.
  3. Add the address details of the location where customers can visit you, so for example of your store, showroom, workshop or office. This is automatically linked to Google Maps
  4. You will now be asked whether your customers can also help outside the address you just provided. For example, do you work in people’s homes as a carpenter, hairdresser or another profession? Then choose ‘Yes’ and fill in the region(s) where you work. Is your business a delivery restaurant? Then enter ‘No’.
  5. Enter all the information that people need to reach you, such as a phone number. This will be everywhere on Google, so be sure that the data is correct and certainly not yours private!
    So, your business is now signed up! Calmly check all the data and complete the set-up. Do you want to supplement data or are data set incorrectly? Don’t panic, you can always adjust this later.

Now that you have registered the company, you are already more visible in Google. At least, once you’ve verified your listing. Google asks you to verify the account so they can fight scammers. You’ll be given 4 options to confirm your listing:

  1. By post. In almost all cases, you will receive a card with a verification code in the mail. You then enter this code on the account to confirm it. You will receive such a card within 14 days at the specified address.
  2. Via SMS. This option is rarely offered, but can occur. The phone number provided will give you a verification code, which you can also enter on your account.
  3. By mail. This option is also not very common. Similar to the SMS, you will now receive a code via e-mail that you can use for verification.
  4. Instant verification. You only get this option if you have already verified a Google Search Console account. When this is done from the same account, you can verify it immediately.

Sign in to Google My Business

Once you have created an account, you can easily log in with it. Go back to the main Google My Business page. You will be given the option to log in directly with the company account to which the company is linked. You can also click on the hamburger menu (top left, three dashes below each other). At the bottom of the newly opened menu you will see the option ‘Log in’.

Manage and customize Google My Business

Now that everything is set up and created correctly, you can further expand the company profile. For each part we have placed an explanation below.

Change company name

Here is of course your company name, but you can still expand it with an important (local) keyword. This will help you find your company even faster and you will get higher positions within Google. So put short and to the point after your company name what your company does exactly, if this is not yet clear from the name of your company itself.

If your company bears the name ‘Jansen Timmerwerken Gouda’, then adding a keyword is unnecessary. Is your name only ‘Jansen’? Then you can better add words like ‘carpentry’ or ‘Gouda’.
Don’t skip this! A few extra keywords is very useful, but much more than that only works against you. This principle of ‘keyword stuffing’ is immediately punished by Google, so that you no longer appear high in the search results.

Add categories

You have already linked a category to your company for this. This category is also called the primary category. You can, as the indication ‘primary category’ suggests, add several more categories. Compare this with adding keywords, only then actually what your work entails. So look for some synonyms for the services your company provides.

Change address details

Is your company or visiting address moving? You can easily change this via your Google My Business account. This way, customers can easily find you, even at your new address.

Add service areas

In this section, determine where your company is all active. This goes beyond just the visiting address for customers. You can add any region, even if they overlap. So do you want to offer your services throughout the Netherlands, but also in your area? Then enter ‘The Netherlands’ as well as municipalities, provinces, cities or villages in the region.

Add opening hours

Very useful for customers who would like to come by, but doubt whether you are open. You can enter a specific opening time for each day of the week. You can also adjust your regular opening hours for one or more days, for example during holidays or holidays.

Do you have different opening hours, for example for the office and the showroom? Or are you available by phone longer than on location? Then fill in different opening hours for each part within your company.

Add phone number

You have already entered this number during the set-up. If you have multiple phone numbers, you can add them here. Stick to the extremely necessary telephone numbers: adding the mutual numbers of the different secretaries is not so convenient. If your phone number changes, you can also quickly change it.

Add a short name

With this shortened company name, you can make it even easier for customers to search for your company. For example, have them search for a part of your company name, so that you can be found faster.

Add a domain name

By adding the URL of your website or webshop, you lead interested visitors directly to the right website. To see which visitors come to your site directly from Google, it’s best to add a URL with UTM tags.

Add appointments URL

Do you have a special URL that customers can use to make an appointment right away? Upload it here. Preferably use a URL that supports UTM tagging again.

Add logo and header

With your logo and a header you immediately distinguish yourself from your competition. Keep in mind the dimensions that a logo or header may have. For example, your logo can be a maximum of 250 by 250 pixels. Your business cover photo can be 1080 by 608 pixels in size.

Add description

In up to 750 characters, you can give a brief description of what your company is, what your company does, and what important characteristics you include. 750 characters are so exhausted, so think carefully about what exactly you want to say here.

Add services and products

Indicate here which services, products or services your company provides to customers. Choose an existing category that your products fall under. Do you miss a suitable category? Simply add it by creating your own.

Add media files

In addition to the logo or header, you can also add other media files. For example, show in photos what the exterior of your building looks like, so that customers can easily find it. Photos of the inside give a good impression of the layout and atmosphere of your visiting address. Images of your products or services can also help people in their selection process for your store.

Permanently delete account

You can have your account permanently deleted, for example when you stop the business. To do this, follow these steps:

  1. Sign in to Google My Business on your computer. Log in with the corresponding company account you used during setup
  2. Click the profile you want to delete
  3. Open the menu on the left and click on ‘Information’
  4. Choose “Close or delete this entry”
  5. Choose ‘Delete Listing’
  6. Choose ‘delete’

Your account and all associated data have now been deleted.

Install Google My Business app

You can also manage everything around your company on your phone. The Google My Business app makes it easy to change, supplement, or delete information about your business. In addition, you are also more quickly informed if someone asks a question about your company. Also, respond faster to reviews left by your customers. By the way, we also explain how to optimize these reviews.

Optimize account with Google reviews

Reviews do not immediately result in Google’s listings, but can still encourage customers who have already found you to choose your company. You create a higher click through rate for your own website and customers can compare you more easily with competitors. 82 percent of Google visitors say they read these reviews.

Reviews should always be completely honest and sincere. Google therefore prohibits asking for reviews in exchange for something, such as a discount code or a free product. Of course, you can always ask if someone wants to leave a review. You can do this by placing an easy link to the reviews, creating a QR code to this page or simply asking in person.

To do this, share the review form associated with Google My Business. You can retrieve this from your Google My Business account via ‘home’ and then ‘Get more reviews’. You can create a personal link here that you can send to the person who wants to post a review. To make it easy, you can also adjust the link to something you can remember yourself. The customer can then leave his review here, which will then be quickly visible.

Need help with Google My Business?

Your Google My Business is now fully set up! Unless it didn’t work out and you ran into problems. Would you still like to have this solved? Or did you find it all too much trouble and do you simply want to outsource everything? Please contact a Google My Business specialist or another expert in the field of
online marketing
. They are happy to look along with you and arrange everything exactly to your liking. Saves you a lot of hassle and everything is right at once!

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