There’s no excuse to not have a fast, attractive website that converts. After all, 97% of people say they learn more information about local businesses online than anywhere else. And most of that information comes from queries typed into search engines—more specifically, Google. In fact, Google holds 90% of the internet search engine market share.
In addition to analyzing search terms to deliver the most accurate results to users, Google also maintains its own directory of businesses called Google Business Profile (GBP), initially called Google My Business. This directory includes a wealth of information about businesses, including their names, industries, addresses, hours, phone numbers, their website URLs, driving directions, user reviews, photos, frequently asked questions, popular times, live crowd updates, and more.
How Can an Optimized Google Business Profile Help You?
Google Business Profiles aren’t just helpful to searchers—they’re absolutely essential for local business owners who want to compete in their markets. However, it’s not enough to just slap together a profile and call it a day. To be successful, Google My Business listings must be carefully built and frequently managed by people with experience and track records of success.
At BHC Group, our Local Search Team will work hard to ensure that your Google My Business listing delivers on all fronts, including:
We’ll give your potential customers the information they want—When people search online for a local business, they’re often bombarded with results. It can be difficult to sort through them all to find the most relevant or highest quality offering. Google My Business condenses much of that information into one easy to read listing. With our optimization, your listing will quickly tell potential customers whether you’re open, how busy you are, and where you’re located—including a pin on Google maps that shows up via both traditional and navigation-based searches.
We’ll boost and even bypass traditional search rankings—Ranking highly in Google and other search engines via search engine optimization (SEO) is essential. It’s important to beat your competitors and have a higher page rank than them. But did you know that Google My Business listings can leapfrog even national brands with massive advertising budgets? That’s because they’re location-based, and listings that are both relevant and close to searchers will show up before other results. Leave it to us to take care of the “relevant” part.
We’ll create “proof” that your business is legitimate—Got a website? Good. Have social media? Great! Those help searchers feel more confident in spending their hard-earned money at your business. But if they use Google to search—and 90% of people do—they’ll also likely see your Google My Business listing, which includes customer reviews and photos. Properly utilizing these can make a huge difference in people’s initial perceptions of your business, making them much more likely to call, submit a form, or visit you in person. That’s where we come in.
Think of Google Business Profile as a game within the game that is “ranking on Google.” It’s important to rank well, but it’s equally, if not more, important to have a robust listing that beats your competitors. With our Local Search Team on your side, you won’t have to worry about whether you’re getting the most out of this increasingly important service.
Sound Too Good to be True? Well, There’s Always a Catch.
It’s clear that Google is pushing GBP hard, and it’s giving it more emphasis with every passing year. While that creates an opportunity for business owners looking to generate more revenue through the internet and their websites, it also creates a new problem: keeping searchers on Google and away from actual websites.
If you’ve ever Googled a question and gotten the answer without ever clicking on a website, you’ve experienced a “No-Click Search.” Google is applying that technique to Google My Business, which means that people can do all the functions your website offers without ever actually clicking on it, such as:
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- Call you
- Message you
- Ask questions and get answers from people who may or may not even be associated with your business
- Post reviews
- Learn about your promotions
- And many other essential functions and features of your website
Google Business Profile Can Drive Traffic While Also Hurting Your Website
You rely on your website to get information about your potential customers. By having access to all data, you can find out how they found your website and what they’re visiting for. In addition, you have full control over the messaging and content. But with Google My Business, the “experience” of interacting with your business online is handled by Google—and that can be a problem for people who are unprepared or who don’t know how to adapt.
There’s a fine line that must be struck between optimizing Google My Business and using it to its full potential—and letting Google run roughshod over your website and business and unknowingly giving it possession of your most valuable commodity: data. Yes, it’s extremely important to be highly visible on Google My Business, but ultimately, you still want conversions to happen through your website—and that’s where we come in.
We Optimize GBP without Sacrificing Your Web Conversions
It’s best to think of Google My Business as a “teaser” for your business and your website. If you let Google have its way, potential customers will come to view your business entirely based on what Google shows them. But as you well know, even the most robust and optimized Google My Business profile can’t match what a customized, responsive, and conversion-focused website offers.
At BHC Group, we make Google and Google My Business work for you—not the other way around. Google wants to “own” your content by displaying it and other important information to keep searchers on its website, not yours. And while that can still lead to new conversions and engagement with your business, it hurts your website and takes control out of your hands. We can give you that control back.
Don’t Ignore Google or Rely on Outdated Techniques—Contact Us to Manage Your Listing Today
When it comes to your Google My Business listing, the worst thing you can do is ignore it. Whether that means failing to even create a listing or not bothering to update it, neglecting the situation means that you aren’t even playing the “game”—but all your competitors are.
The second worst thing you can do is optimizing it using outdated techniques, whether you do it on your own or pay an agency to do it for you. Sure, it may result in a few extra clicks or calls here and there, but ultimately, you’re playing right into Google’s hands—and they want eyes on their own ads, NOT your website and branding.
When used properly, Google My Business can be a massive boon not just for your business in general, but also for your website—and that’s despite Google’s insistence on wresting control away from business owners like you. But achieving the results you want requires the assistance of an experienced team of Local Search experts, and that’s exactly what we are.
Contact BHC Group today to find out how we can make Google Business Profile a revenue-generating asset for you without sacrificing any traffic and data.