How to Improve Your Visibility on Google Maps with Your Business Profile
When thinking about SEO, we often focus on keyword positioning in search engine results pages, content marketing campaigns, backlinks, and sponsored articles. However, the scope of optimization has expanded in recent years to include areas such as video (YouTube SEO), voice search (still in its early stages), Discovery, App Store, and Local Search.
For local search, an essential tool is your Google My Business profile. In this brief article, we offer some tips on how to improve your positioning with your Google Maps profile:
1. Complete All Fields and Sections:
Make sure to fill out every field and section in your profile. Firstly, it shows visitors that you care enough to provide complete and useful information. Secondly, it signals to Google’s algorithm that you have an optimized profile (including keywords in the description, relevant and frequent posts, etc.).
2. Company Description:
This should not be a mere formality. Use the 750 characters to describe the services or products your business offers, as well as some information about your company, its values, and its mission.
3. Images:
Upload relevant images of your products and services. Google My Business is like any other social media profile: visuals are essential to attract attention.
4. Categories for Online Stores:
If you have a Google My Business profile for an online store, include all relevant product categories and populate them with appropriate products. This is crucial for ranking over time (obviously associated with other SEO actions).
5. Create Frequent Posts:
Contextual posts or offers are all welcome. An active profile shows that your business is active, sought-after, and appreciated by customers.
6. Activate and Use Messaging:
Google now allows direct communication through Google My Business with potential customers. Direct and immediate interaction is always preferred for generating leads. However, if you don’t respond to and ignore written messages, Google may deactivate your messaging feature after a period. You can, however, reactivate it.
7. Ask and Answer Questions:
Use the question and answer feature on your business profile to create an FAQ list for interested users. Obviously, you should also respond to questions asked by others, but why not use the feature to provide a list of frequently asked questions that are useful for visitors (and well-regarded by Google)?
8. Reviews:
Request reviews (you can use the link generated from your profile) and encourage positive ones. By appreciating and responding to reviews, you can attract more reviews, and Google will display them as relevant, even if they are not necessarily the most recent.