GMB is a powerful tool, and with Google adding more advanced features to this almost every year, it is becoming increasingly efficient in providing your business the necessary digital spotlight.<\/p>\n
So, if you haven\u2019t claimed your Google My Business listing yet, then you should probably head to this https:\/\/www.google.com\/business<\/a> to get one now for your local business.<\/p>\n If it is your first time creating the Google My Business account, don\u2019t worry. Today in this article, I will be giving you an in-depth view of GMB, which will provide you with the answers to your questions like,<\/p>\n So, without any further delay, let\u2019s jump right in.<\/p>\n Here, I am going to show you how to create a Google My Business account and how to verify your business on the GMB tool.<\/p>\n If you are listing your business for the very first time on Google My Business, then go to the GMB home page and click on sign in. Once you do that, you will be taken to a page with a link \u201cAdd your Business to Google\u201d.<\/p>\n This link will redirect you next to the page where you will be asked to enter the necessary information about your business. The Categories to fill up here are:<\/p>\n Once you complete filling out all of the above information, Google My Business will show you the contact name and the business address where they will mail the postcard containing the 5- digit pin code for the business verification on GMB.<\/p>\n Now you have to wait for a couple of days (sometimes, a few weeks) to receive your code to manage your GMB listing further.<\/p>\n After you receive your GMB verification code, put it into your Google My Business dashboard for verification. Once Google successfully verifies your business, you will be given access to the complete GMB dashboard of your listing.<\/p>\n The various information-sections that are the part of the GMB listing, which you have to fill to complete your profile are:<\/p>\n Every time you log in to the GMB tool, it will first take you to the Google My Business dashboard. GMB dashboard briefly shows a few essential listing details that you can manage from inside the tool.<\/p>\n If you start checking the dashboard from the top, you will see the below-mentioned sections one after the other.<\/p>\n The GMB home tab is the summarization of the information that you will be filling up in all the tabs mentioned above. Google strongly recommends filling all the information asked to optimize Google My Business listing. The more the information you feed here, the better will be your listing\u2019s potential and SEO<\/a>.<\/p>\n Now, let\u2019s look into every tab that you will have to fill to complete your GMB business listing.<\/p>\n This is the section where you can create a post for your company in 1500 characters. It can be a simple update about your business, an event announcement, an offer, or anything related to your company. Google gives you the options to choose what you want to create a post about and displays it accordingly.<\/p>\n Jut press the \u201cCreate Post\u201d button and fill-up the form that comes up. Depending on your type of post, there will be corresponding call-to-action buttons<\/a>. For example, if you are giving information on a course, then there will be a CTA like \u201cBook\u201d for your consumers to take them to your landing page, where they can sign up for your advertised course.<\/p>\n You would have the option of adding an image along with the written content as well. It is highly recommended to add a custom image along with your post every time you create one. Pictures are better in capturing the attention of your target audience. So, include one with every GMB post you add here.<\/p>\n If you are creating an event post on Google My business, you have to mention the event title, start date, end date, event details (optional), and the CTA button (optional). Apart from these, as I told earlier, you should add an image related to your upcoming event without fail.<\/p>\n Other than the simple update and event, if you want to display an offer on your GMB listing, you can opt for the \u201coffer\u201d option on the GMB post section. This section asks details like offer title, start date, end date, offer details, coupon code (optional), link to redeem the offer (optional), and the terms and conditions of the offer (optional). Add an image that best describes the offer and, at the same time, attracts customers to it.<\/p>\n The visibility of a post has an expiry date of seven days after you publish them. After the seven days are over, the post section of your business listing on search results will turn blank. In your GMB account, you will be able to see the posts that you have created, but it won\u2019t be displayed to the online visitors.<\/p>\n So, make sure to add a new post every week or more frequently, to keep the post section of your online listing visible and fresh.<\/p>\n This is the section where you have to fill in all the details of your company and later on can edit them.<\/p>\n The notable information to be added here are,<\/p>\n There is also an advanced information section. If you are a physical store owner, then Google My Business will ask you to mention a few advanced information about your business. And they are,<\/p>\n If you are running a Google ad campaign, then you can mention the \u201cGoogle Ads location extensions phone\u201d in the advanced information section.<\/p>\n All of the data that you add here will be visible on the local listing on Google, plus, all of them are editable here. But if you do edit them, Google may first verify the information before making it available to the public, which may take up to 3 days.<\/p>\n Remember, if you want to optimize Google My Business for your business listing, specify as many details as you can here. Make sure that your company\u2019s Name, Address, and Phone number (NAP) is hundred percent correct. Also, consider using a few important keywords contextually in the \u201cCompany description\u201d and \u201cServices\u201d section to make them more SEO friendly.<\/p>\n This tab will give you a detailed view of how your GMB listing is working online and how effective it is in bringing new customers to your business<\/a>. This means here you will get all the statistics regarding the consumers visiting your listing.<\/p>\n The different categories of data that you can find here are:<\/p>\n As the name suggests, this GMB tab contains all the reviews that your customers have written for your business. You can manage all of them from here, as it has a \u201cReplied\u201d and \u201cHaven\u2019t replied\u201d section to make your job easy while replying to your customers\u2019 reviews.<\/p>\n GMB reviews are very crucial to optimize Google My Business listing. Make sure that you are consistently getting positive reviews from genuine customers and clients.<\/p>\n You can share your GMB profile link (https:\/\/g.page\/profile-short-name?gm) with your happy customers using social media platforms, messaging apps, email signature, sales invoice, etc. and ask them for a positive review. Remember, reviews that have the key terms relevant to your business mentioned in the review body are more likely to help in GMB optimization and local SEO than reviews that are generic without the key phrases.<\/p>\n Don’t be shy; request your customers to share their experience with your business, products, or services on Google My Business review section. You may also consider following up with them a couple of times for the same. However, be polite while requesting them for the review.<\/p>\n Besides getting reviews from your buyers, also make sure to reply to their reviews as soon as possible. Again be gentle and try to be as detailed as possible. In case you get a negative review, try to find out the reasons behind that, talk to the customer, and address the problem quickly.<\/p>\n You can download and install the Google My Business application on your smartphone through the Google Play Store<\/a> or App Store<\/a> for free. With this app, your customers viewing your GMB listing can message you directly. This means you can connect with your customers quickly and in real-time, which makes it a very convenient tool for customer support. And it is free, so that\u2019s a major plus as well.<\/p>\n This is a crucial tab for your Google My Business listing optimization. As mentioned earlier, in the insights section, the number of photos is directly proportional to the views gained. Which means, the more images you post on GMB, the more view your listing obtains. So, don\u2019t be stingy while posting photos of your business here.<\/p>\n The various categories under which GMB allows you to upload images are:<\/p>\n In the Google My Business Services section, you can list the products and services that your company has to offer to its customers.<\/p>\n You can segment your items based on their types by assigning proper section names to them. Further, you can add an item here, by specifying the name of the item (in 140 characters), price of it, and the description (in 1000 characters).<\/p>\n This section is mainly for those businesses that don’t have a website of their own.<\/p>\n Google gives you an option to create a website in this section. You can customize it by adding texts, photos, and selecting a theme. Finally, you can hit the publish button on the upper right-hand corner of the page to launch your website.<\/p>\n The users section is used to allow and manage permissions. The primary owner is the primary user who has complete control over the listing.<\/p>\n Additionally, the primary owner can add on more users to the listing, who will then be permitted to make changes in your listing along with the primary owner.<\/p>\n You can launch a Google ad campaign right from the GMB tool. This will give you a direct link to the Google Ads dashboard and help you launch an ad campaign or manage paid Google ads<\/a> that you might be running for your business using the same Google account.<\/p>\n If you have more than one location registered to your business, then this is the place where you add the other locations. In the listing, it plays a tremendous role in directing consumers to their nearest branch of your business. So, take extra care in filling this out, especially if you have a business with multiple locations.<\/p>\n If you have multiple locations registered in GMB, you can manage all of them under this one tab. You can also add or import new locations as and when required.<\/p>\n In the linked accounts section, you can see and manage link requests from other Google products like Google Ads<\/a> or merchant center.<\/p>\n In the GMB settings tab, you can manage all of the email notifications that you want (or don\u2019t want) to receive for a variety of updates. This includes customers\u2019 messages, reviews, questions, bookings, quotes, photos, business profile health, data insights, product updates, posts, reminders, and feedback.<\/p>\n You can opt-in or opt-out of any of these at any time you want.<\/p>\n Google has recently introduced a program called My Business Provider (MBP). According to Google, this initiative allows organizations managing the bulk amount of data related to various businesses to help companies claim and verify their Google My Business listing and thus increase their online visibility on Google Maps and Google Search.<\/p>\n Google has also indicated various organization types who are eligible to participate in the My Business Provider initiative. Real-world service providers like banks, telephone operators, chambers of commerce, delivery agencies, government bodies, shopping malls, and city airports can apply for this program.<\/p>\n My Business Provider is indeed a great initiative from Google to help small businesses go online<\/a> who have limited exposure to the internet and online channels, especially in rural areas. This program allows My Business Provider eligible organizations to share business data with Google and get the GMB verification codes thereafter, which they can further use to verify the business\u2019s GMB listings.<\/p>\n Remember, if you are an SEO, or reseller, or running an agency, you are not eligible for the Google My Business Provider program. Additionally, the entire platform is free, hence, MBP partners must not charge for the business verification process.<\/p>\n If you want to read more about this, you can read the details of Google My Business Provider<\/a> here.<\/p>\n Wrapping Up<\/strong><\/p>\n Now, if you have gone through the sections I have described above, you can probably see that Google My Business is a very comprehensive and efficient tool that can help you manage and optimize your business listing online with minimal hassle but with maximum results.<\/p>\n So, do not waste any more time. Get your free Google My Business listing now to improve your local SEO and boost your overall business.<\/p>\n After reading this article, hopefully, you won’t have to go it blind while creating your listing. However, if you face any difficulties, then visit Google My Business Help Community<\/a> to chat with other fellow business listing owners and uncover solutions to your queries.<\/p>\n I hope you found this article helpful. Let us know in the comments down below about your experience with the GMB tool and SEO<\/a>. How it helped your business and how you further optimize your Google My Business listing to get more out of this tool?<\/p>\n An advanced All-in-One Digital Marketing Course.<\/strong><\/p>\n Mentored by Mr. Soumya Roy, the Founder, CEO of PromozSEO Web Marketing Academy.<\/p>\n\n
Google My Business Verification Process<\/h2>\n
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<\/p>\nSet Up Your GMB Account and Optimize Your Google My Business Listing<\/h2>\n
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Google My Business Dashboard<\/h3>\n
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GMB Posts<\/h3>\n
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<\/p>\nGoogle My Business Info<\/h3>\n
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GMB Insights<\/h3>\n
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![\"gmb](\"https:\/\/www.promozseo.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/gmb-customer-view-data.jpg\" "\\"GMB")
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Google My Business Reviews<\/h3>\n
GMB Messaging<\/h3>\n
Google My Business Photos<\/h3>\n
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GMB Services<\/h3>\n
GMB Website<\/h3>\n
Google My Business Users<\/h3>\n
Create an Ad<\/h3>\n
Add New Location<\/h3>\n
Manage Locations<\/h3>\n
Google My Business Linked Accounts<\/h3>\n
Google My Business Settings<\/h3>\n
Google My Business Provider Program<\/h2>\n
![\"google](\"https:\/\/www.promozseo.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/google-my-business-provider.jpg\" "\\"Google")
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<\/span>CHECK OUT NOW !!<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"