Your Google Business Profile is your local businesses’ number 1 asset; yet it often goes overlooked.
What makes a GBP truly optimized? Many SEO’s don’t tell you cause it’s really quite simple.
We’re going to discuss the top changes to make that helped our clients climb to page 1 on Google Maps.
Fill Out Every Section Of Your Profile
Every missing field is a missed opportunity. Here are the most important fields ranked by importance:
Google Business Profile Title
The title of your GBP is the most impactful thing to update. You want to make sure the title matches exactly how it appears on your physical signage and legal documents.
Many SEOs will keyword stuff your title – giving you a significant edge for whatever keyword you’re trying to rank for.
This is a risky move and must be done with care and attention. See our guide on changing the name of your GBP to rank here.
Google Reviews
Reviews are a vote of confidence from your customers. Google pays close attention to this.
If your business is already super relevant to searchers (website is focused on the services you offer with structured SEO content) — then the only thing you need is authority.
We look at your competitors review count and shoot for the same number.
If they have 100 reviews, you want the same amount. However quality of reviews and your overall ratings matter as well.
You want an average rating above 4 stars – without a doubt.
But the quality of a review is measured by whether they mention the service you offer. If you are trying to rank “concrete contractors” — then a review that mentions “best concrete contractors in Colorado Springs” is going to be a super high quality review.
Prompting customers to mention the keyword you’re trying to rank for will give you more quality reviews.
Doing this allows you to signal to Google you’re a trustworthy business in the region for whatever service you offer.
More info on review generation strategies for local businesses on our blog.
Map Pin
Perhaps one of the strongest ranking factors is proximity to searcher. “Near me” searches are designed to help users find a business near them – makes sense right?
Therefore, you want to make sure your pin is in the correct place (where your actual address is).
For particular clients, we’ll insist they get a small office in the city center just so they have this proximity signal Google weighs so heavily.
Primary Category
This should reflect your business’ core offering. See a full list of categories on Google’s website here to find one that reflects your core business function.
We always search the keyword we’re trying to rank for – and notice what other competitors put as their primary category.
If it matches the service we offer – we use it. If not, we use the category that makes the most sense.
Secondary Categories
Secondary categories should be exhaustive list of services you provide – but do make sure they all are accurate.
Compelling Business Description
Use keyword research to guide your writing and include natural language around your service areas and what makes you unique. Descriptions have a limit of 750 characters so be sure to you’re comprehensive about who you do it for, who you are, where you do it, what you do, and why you do it.
Additional information like the year you started, your headquarters, and values will be critical here.
Photos
Engagement on your Google Business Profile is an indirect ranking factor.
Like social media algorithms, Google likes to see people using their platform. The more engagement it sees on its platform, the more likely it is to show it to others.
Therefore, you should show authentic photos of your jobs, locations, and staff. This also let’s you show off your awesome services or products.
As for how many photos…. We look at competitor photo counts – and shoot for the same number.
If your competitors ranking in #1 spot have 200 photos – you should have that many as well.
If you don’t have enoguh photos to compete, we recommend creating your own graphics using your branding in a tool like Canva or Photoshop.
We provide GBP content services for this and can help make your profile more engaging, if interested.
Services
The list of services you provide should be comprehensive and accurately mirror what you offer. We recommend looking directly at your competitors services and taking notes.
Typically, you’ll find some that are not relevant, which you can ignore.
Then write a brief description that incudes a keyword that actually gets searched in the description. The key is to write in a natural way but incorporate the keyword in the description.
This isn’t a huge ranking factor but it does provide context to people searching – they can click and see what services may be relevant to them.
Products
Products are things like books, courses, workshops – but we also incorporate geo-pages.
Google actually allows links for products – so you can build a connection between your local services pages (geo-pages for short) and those pages themselves.
We’ve tested this and see that it helps create some traffic to those pages. And it also helps create a good link to those service pages, helping it rank better in organic search.
FAQs
FAQs are an under-rated way to provide more local relevance. Including questions like “what areas in Colorado Springs do you service? is a good question to add. Then you can incorporate local keywords naturally throughout the FAQ.
Adding questions about payment is another way to help people understand whether they can afford your services or how insurance works.
Here are a list of other FAQs to add:
- Frequently asked questions from your clients/ customers
- What payment methosd do you accept?
- How soon can I schedule an appointment?
- How much does X cost?
- Where is X located in Colorado Springs?
- What do customers love most about X brand?
This is also an opportunity to sell yourself so include questions that position you as an expert. Think back on any awards you have or what makes you credible.
Google Posts
Lastly, Google posts (like photos) are not a direct ranking factor, but they can indirectly help you increase engagement on your profile, which Google likes to see.
We recommend developing a content strategy with regular posts coming from your website’s blog and repurposing them into Google posts.
The best cadence is one post per week minimum. Use a tool like buffer.com to schedule them out so you can get them done in one batch every 6 months.
But don’t skimp on on quality – you want to make sure you design a graphic that is engaging, a hook in your intro, and something that provides value.
Leaving a link to your actual blog post is recommended as it can increase site traffic as well.
Types of Google Posts
There are several types of posts, not just blog updates (which Google calls updates)
- Community updates — great for getting the word out about what you’re doing in the community
- Sales — When sales seasons come (Black Friday, Cyber Monday, Christmas, etc) you should promote a good deal to get the word out
- Updates — these are simply updates about your business – new blog post, team member, accomplishment or milestone
Wrapping Up
Well there you have it – how to optimize your Google Business Profile so it’s as SEO-friendly, engaging, and user-friendly as possible. Follow these tips and you’ll be quickly on your way to page 1 rankings.
If that sounds like a lot of work – you’re right it is. We specialize in optimizing Google Business Profiles to drive reenue for local businesses in Colorado Springs.
Reach out today to get a free SEO audit so we can show you how your profile can be improved.
Thanks for reading!