Today with 87% of Americans actively using the internet for around 7 hours each day, it’s more important than ever before that businesses have an online presence. Since the majority of this time is spent using search engines local SEO plays a major role here.
Harness the Power of Google My Business
It’s no surprise that sites listed on the first page of the SERPs get most of the clicks. To get there you’ll need a properly-managed Google My Business listing. With this, you’ll get more clicks and more attention from customers who are located near your business. Clearly, you’ll want to pay a great deal of focus on this part of your local SEO strategy. However, it’s going to require more effort than simply registering an account for your company. There are several other things you must also do.
Create or Claim Your Listing
The first thing you need to do when working with local SEO is located your business on Google. If your business already has a listing you need to claim it by clicking on the “claim your listing” button. Otherwise, you’ll need to go to the Google My Business page, click “manage now” and “add your business to Google.”
Fill Out Your Listing
Once you have your listing you’ll need to fill out a form, answering questions about your business. The information you enter here needs to be the same as the information on your website and social media accounts so you don’t confuse your customers.
Set Your Hours
For local SEO purposes, you’ll need to make sure you enter your correct operating hours, including those for holidays. Over half of customers who research a business online will eventually visit it in person so make sure they know when they can do so.
Write an Optimized Description
It’s also important to click on “add a business description” and create a short summary about your business. You only have 750 characters to tell people what makes your business unique (e.g., products/services, awards, certifications, special mentions) so make it count. The better job you do with your local SEO here, the more likely you’ll make it to the first page of the SERPs.
Add Attributes
This part of your Google My Business listing offers you an opportunity to tell your customers about special features (not your products/services). This can include things like accessible parking, air conditioning, restrooms, free wi-fi, and if you have a drive-thru. Customers can also add additional attributes here.
Upload Professional Photos
Make sure you add important, professionally-taken images (e.g., your logo, your storefront) and a cover photo to your Google My Business listing here. You can also set an image as your logo. Simply select the photo, click “more” and select “set as a logo.”
Share Important Updates
When something special (e.g., events, promos) is coming up you’ll want to make sure you add it to your Google My Business page. You only have 70 characters to use in creating a short, captivating call-to-action here.
Respond to Reviews
Your local SEO should bring more visitors to your business. Make sure to ask them to leave you a Google review. Once you receive a review, make sure to reply to it. Thank you visitors for leaving you positive reviews and inquiring about negative reviews so you can learn about what you could do better.
Verify Your Listing
Once you save your profile it’s time to let Google verify it. They want to make sure that you own the business at that address. One of the easiest ways to do this is to allow them to mail you a postcard at your business location. When you receive it (usually in about two weeks) you just sign back into your dashboard and enter the code/password. Within a few hours, your listing will be live and you’ll see that all of your hard work will start to pay off.
Hopefully, some of these tips will help you with optimizing your Google My Business page. Some of these things will take you a lot of time and effort to do them correctly, but they’re necessary. Fortunately, we’re here at Local SEO Tampa Company in Tampa FL to help you.