Best Practices for Google My Business

Google My Business is a free and easy-to-use tool for businesses and organizations to manage their online presence across Google, including Search and Maps. By verifying and editing your business information, you can both help customers find you and tell them the story of your business.

Setting up a Google My Business account is valuable for your business, whether you are a local business or online only. It’s common for those who use Google My Business to just enter their business name and address and call it a day, but this approach is a massive waste of the tool’s potential. Here are some key practices to ensure you are getting the most out of Google My Business.

How To Use Google My Business

The first step is to set up your page and verify your ownership. You can start filling in the details before it is verified, but it won’t show on Google search or maps until your verification is complete. Verification usually involves a postcard with a verification code mailed to your address. Sometimes other verification options are available, such as via phone or text message.

Visit https://www.google.com/business to start. Next, fill in all the relevant fields for your business and complete as much information as possible. Make sure you add your business details consistently across Google My Business and other online directories, using a consistent business name, address and phone number format as this is beneficial for your Local SEO.

For this reason, you also want to make your address the same address that you use on your website. For example, if your website says “11 Wallaby Street” don’t use “11 Wallaby St” in your Google My Business. Similarly, if your website says “Unit 1, 24 Kangaroo Road”, don’t use “1/24 Kangaroo Road” in GMB. Make sure the addresses match exactly.

It is possible to hide your address on Google My Business If you work from home.

When adding your business name to Google, ensure that you don’t add additional keywords to your business name, this is against Google’s terms of service and also can get your business listing suspended if a competitor suspends your listing.

Google My Business Categories

When selecting your category, choose it with care. Have a look at the categories other businesses similar to yours have chosen by checking them out in the Google Maps section. This way you can select the category that relates to your business the most. When setting up you can only choose a single primary category, but you can add up to 5.

Google My Business Services

When listing your services, you can list out all the main product or service pages on your website.

You will see each category you have chosen above, and you can then list items underneath them.  You can add ‘Custom services’ to make your headings, then add a description underneath once you save it.

This information is fairly prominent on a mobile phone and you can present most of your product & service information here without anyone having to click through to your website.

Products

This is a section where you can add your products, if relevant. In this section, you can categorise products into collections. You also have the opportunity to add product images and prices if you wish. This shows up prominently in your Google My Business listing on a mobile device when someone searches for your business name, so if you have an e-commerce website and sell products I would get on this quick!

Business Description

Add your business description and include some keywords that you trying to rank for in there if it makes sense to do so. I would recommend you add as much information to this section as possible and make use of all available space.

Photos

This section is a great opportunity to add business photos and even videos to your listing. You can upload your business logo and a cover picture. The cover pic needs to be 1080 x 608 and your logo should be 250 x 250. You can add as many photos as you wish and can put them into categories such as ‘At Work’,  ‘Team’ and  ‘Identity’ if you wish. Again these are clearly visible on a mobile device when someone is searching for your business. If you have already added photos to your listing then I would recommend you review them and make sure they are all on brand and representing your current business.

Other Business Information

From this point you should complete any other field you can, such as Trading Hours, Opening Date (adds credibility) Appointment and Menu URLs that may be relevant to your business. You want to make all your details as accessible as possible for both Google and Google users.

Google My Business Posts 

A common tool in Google My Business that people don’t utilise is Google Posts. These appear on the front page of Google when your business is searched for and are really prominent on the front page of Google when someone searches for your business. This gives your business valuable exposure, so it’s important you don’t forget this step.  Posts are only live for a short time, so make sure you keep adding new ones to make the most of this feature.

You might also be interested in “Why You Should Be Using Google Posts”

Posts can take the form of Updates, Events, Offers and Products.

That’s It!

From here your Google My Business is up and running. All that’s left to do is keep the information updated and submit your website to online directories to further increase your chances of being featured in a local search or snippet.

Using my decades of experience as an SEO specialist in Perth, I designed The SEO School especially for small business owners who want to get searched online, get seen AND get sales.  The SEO School is a DIY step-by-step modular course, so you can do it in your own time at your own pace – plus you get exclusive FaceBook support from SEO experts if you need help.

Karen Dauncey

Karen Dauncey has been working in SEO since 2003. She specialises in helping businesses get found online through Google using Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) She is the founder and creator of The SEO School an online SEO Course to help teach business owners how to do their own SEO. She regularly delivers educational programs for both Local, State and Federal Government and is an advisor for the ASBAS Digital Solutions Program. Karen’s passion and commitment to help small business owners get found online is the driving force behind her online school, making SEO advice accessible to all with free resources and online courses.

Karen's wealth of SEO knowledge and practical digital marketing experience comes from running her own SEO and Google Ads agency, Blue Cherry Online Marketing since 2008. Karen has optimised over 1000 websites, managed millions of dollars' worth of spend on Google Ads and has a solid understanding of the constantly shifting industry of digital marketing and SEO. This gives her a unique advantage when it comes to being able to recommend the right online marketing strategies for your business. This gives her a unique advantage when it comes to being able to recommend the right online marketing strategies for your business. She was recently recognised as an SEO Expert for the popular course creation platform, Kajabi as well as appearing on ABC Radio
for her expert opinion on the ACCC's investigation into search engines.

Karen has attended search engine conferences in London, Stockholm, Adelaide and Sydney, and was also invited to attend a pilot Business Coaching Course at Google’s Head Office. She has a Diploma in Marketing from the Chartered Institute of Marketing in the UK.

She is also the co-owner of the Digital Experts Directory, an online directory for female serviced-based businesses to promote their business (with a great backlink for SEO).

To keep up to date with the latest in SEO, join her Facebook group The SEO School Community or follow her on Facebook or LinkedIn.