For those of you who’ve never heard of Google My Business (GMB for short), it’s a tool that allows businesses with physical retail locations to manage how they appear on Google Search and Maps. There are a handful of reasons you need a Google My Business profile. Let’s take a moment to discuss some of the biggest ones.
Google My Business is an easy and cost-effective way to make your business more discoverable both online and in real life.
One aspect of Detroit that I found intriguing was the difficulty in finding various cafes, shops, bars, clubs and retailers. Some of them were deep in the basements of what looked to be abandoned buildings. Other’s where hidden far back in shady alleyways. And, with nearly 200,000 buildings and houses sitting empty, it was difficult to know what was open and what wasn’t. So, to combat this, nearly every business had a Google My Business profile. In fact, I didn’t walk into one that didn’t. GMB makes it simple for customers to find the exact location of your retail location in Google Maps, not having to rely on dated word of mouth directions like… “You want to take a right at this next light, go down three or four blocks, veer left on a street called Oak or Oath, one or the other, and it will be the brick building on your right.” Who can remember that?
Let’s say you were to Google “graphic designers in Saloon, New Delhi.” On the first page of the Google search results, above the organic listings and paid listings, you will notice a high-visibility panel showing three local businesses matching your search. GMB doesn’t just make it easier for customers to find you physically, but digitally too. It can vastly improve your search visibility in Google. Not to mention, when prospective customers are looking for local businesses, they are generally ready to make a purchase (or at the very least are highly interested in making a purchase). Folks don’t Google, “delicious street tacos in Toronto” to read a blog about tacos… they do so because they’re hungry and want to hand over their hard-earned money to whoever has delicious street tacos in Toronto. If you’re a local business, it’s good to be seen when hungry customers are Googling.
In addition to being easier to spot both physically and digitally, GMB allows businesses to add useful information like their name, what they do, their location, phone number, website, hours of operation and pictures. GMB also makes it ultra-easy for customers to leave reviews and for businesses to manage the reviews that are left. Whether businesses like it or not, customers will leave reviews if they have good (or bad) experiences. It’s nice to have them in one easily manageable place where you can quickly respond in a professional manner.
