People are researching their visits to local stores and restaurants online before they go. For example, searches for “pick up” have grown globally by more than 3,000% year over year and searches for “takeout restaurants” have grown globally by over 5,000% over the same time. If you’re not using Google My Business to assist consumer then you’re missing a trick.
If you’re business is open to the public, them make it easy for them to find you and any services you offer such as “pick up” as well as your opening hours. You can engage with customers on Google for free and with a Google My Business Account, you get more than a business listing. Your free Business Profile also lets you easily connect with customers across Google Search and Maps.
You can post photos and offers to your profile to show what makes your business unique, and give customers reasons to choose you every time.
Google My Business is a also great way to keep customers up to date with the most accurate business information, especially since that information often varies by location. You can add service attributes about your business, like “In-store pickup” and “No-contact delivery”, which appear on Google and the Business Profile page , so customers know how you’re operating when planning their visit.
Google My Business user generated content from consumers
Consumers can also assist by suggesting edits to the status of a Google My Business entry. Plus of course they can add reviews and access you contact details if they want to phone or message you directly to arrange a pick up, double check opening times or check stock before visiting.
Mark a business temporarily closed
- Open Google Maps Maps.
- Search for a place or select it on the map.
- Select Suggest an edit and then Close or remove.
- Under ‘Reason’, select Temporarily closed.
Mark a business reopened
- Open Google Maps Maps.
- Search for a place marked as temporarily or permanently closed or select it on the map.
- Tap to expand the ‘Closed’ banner.
- Select Suggest an edit and then Reopen this place.
Google My Business is a free tool, so if you’re not yet using it and want to connect with customers then open an account here.
6 Responses
Agreed. Google My Business is an essential tool for Local SEO. It’s incredible how little time it takes to set up and maintain. Yet still, we found 48% of local businesses haven’t claimed their business yet
Just a note to readers, if your business is online-only, it is not eligible for a listing in Google My Business.
Google “Brands, organizations, artists, and other online-only businesses aren’t eligible for Google My Business listings.”
You can still use Google Ads and Local SEO for Local Areas but not a listing.
google feedback is wide open to abuse
we have negative comments left on our profile by competitors
that simply are impossible to remove
we know of others that get friends and family to load the profile with positives
I have one and seem to get tons of views and so many alerts about people viewing images. I do not know if it drives any traffic really. It is easy to maintain, I normally just do it with my phone while she is watching the soaps. A lot of local directories seem to pick you up also.
I have been using Facebook market with my own profile and have shifted a ton of stuff from my business with local pick up which is probably more effective than Google .
Smaller businesses got to utilize everything these days. Corporations have got the net saturated and I cant pay to play to that level.
Plus all the personal stuff and old furniture that we have got rid off. Which the wifey puts on her FB. She loves the wheeling and dealing.
Get a lot of views on Facebook more than Ebay.
I also use it to drive traffic to my site with a lot asking for delivery I just send them a link to the listing on my site ..