We’ll talk about

1) WHY SHOULD I UPDATE MY GOOGLE MY BUSINESS LISTING AFTER IT’S VERIFIED?

2) HOW CAN THIS HELP ME TURN SEARCHERS INTO CUSTOMERS?

3) HOW CAN I MAXIMIZE THE POTENTIAL OF MY GOOGLE MY BUSINESS LISTING?

You may already have a verified listing on Google My Business, a no charge service that helps local customers find your business on Google.

But, if you want to take full advantage of Google My Business, you need to do more than just create your listing, verify it, and hope for the best. To understand why, take a moment and imagine you’re moving into your dream home.

This house is in a great neighborhood, has spacious rooms, several bathrooms, a huge yard, a pool, and a hot tub.

You now can decide what you want to do with the interior of the house.
Let’s choose

Neglecting your Google My Business listing is like keeping your dream home empty and undecorated.

But a bare home might just make you a bit uncomfortable (along with any unfortunate visitors), while a Google My Business listing that lacks complete and up-to-date information could lose you customers.

Your listing can help convince searchers to do business with you rather than your competitors. Complete listings can help, since they are 2x as likely to be considered reputable by customers.

To make your listing complete, add as much info as you can – like photos. You may already have some in your listing now, but make sure they’re the right type.

Most people are painfully familiar with stock photos and the unrealistic lifestyle they portray. As tempting as it is to post photos of businessmen running on a beach, don’t use them. Instead, feature real photos of your business.

Also, your images should be a minimum of 720 pixels wide by 720 pixels high. Anything smaller and you risk customers wondering why you’re suddenly featuring abstract paintings in your photo section.

REMEMBER
Along with photos, another important image to include is your logo. This helps customers quickly identify your business. Keep in mind that the image will get cropped.

Another great idea to help your Google My Business listing stand out is to add a virtual tour.

This type of tour will allow customers to virtually “walk” through your store and see what’s inside. It’s a nice way to introduce them to your business, get them comfortable with how you operate, and encourage them to visit in person.

To request a no charge quote for this optional feature, just click the “Add Virtual Tour” button on your dashboard. A Google-certified professional can provide the quote and also help you create the tour and add it to your listing.

Reviews are another element of a strong Google My Business listing. The more you have, the better.

Having a lot of reviews and responding to them shows searchers that you have a large, engaged customer base that you care about. And 88% of customers say they trust online reviews as much as they trust personal recommendations.

Also, these reviews aren’t just for the benefit of people looking at your listing. They give you insights into your customers’ experiences with your business. You can use this to make improvements and to capitalize on positive feedback.

Finally, a Google My Business listing isn’t really complete until it tells people when your business is open and closed.

This may seem obvious. However, it’s easy for businesses to change their hours of operation and forget to update their Google My Business listing. And having incorrect hours can really frustrate and deter potential customers.

Once you add or update your regular business hours, you can also add “Special Hours” for those days you’re open late, closing early, or are completely closed, like holidays.

Speaking of holidays...did you know “Near Me” searches surge by 55% during the New Year holiday season? It’s a time when local customers looking for a last minute gift or meal will want to know when you’re open.

TIP
Depending on what business category you chose, you might see more options to add info to your listing.

To see what options are available to you, click “Edit Info” in your Google My Business dashboard.

Once you have a complete business listing, check out the other features in your Google My Business dashboard.

Google My Business comes with built-in analytics reports called Insights. It shows you how many people found your business info on Google Search and Maps, and how many people visited your website from your listing.

Insights can also tell you how many people requested map directions to your business and – major bonus – gives you a general idea of what area they’re coming from.


If you’d like to try online advertising, the Google My Business dashboard can connect you to Google advertising to set this up.