Google Business Profile Optimization
At WebForce Digital, we know the awesome power of the Google Local Pack, also known as the Local Pack or Mapspot. This is vitally important real estate in Google Search for all local businesses, but more than 75% of local businesses in the United States do not have their Google Business Profile (GBP) 100% optimized.
Common Mistakes We See With Google Business Profiles
- Less than 30 photos
- No videos
- No Q&A
- Wrong business category
- Not responding to Google reviews, or not responding in the correct way
- Not listing all main services
- Missing descriptions
- Not taking full advantage of all 700 characters on the business description
- Not posting weekly updates
In today’s competitive landscape, if you have these issues on your profile then your listing will likely not see the light of day. Frequent and consistent activity, combined with 100% optimization, is a must in order for your business to show in the Local Pack. The good news? Most businesses do not optimize and stay active in their profiles, so if you make this effort you’ll be in rarified air that can make things happen quickly!
100% Listing Optimization
We are experts at making sure that our clients’ Google Business Profiles are 100% optimized at all times. Our team will completely optimize your listing with one week of engaging WebForce Digital to manage your digital footprint.
We will ensure the following items are completed within one week:
- Correct business category and sub-category
- All services listed
- Complete descriptions for all services
- Fully optimized business description
- Work with you on Google verification if not already verified
- Business category and sub-category listed correctly
- All business details updated
- Initial photos and videos uploaded
- Accurate business hours and holiday schedules added
- Service area details fully updated for targeted visibility
Continuously Updated Google Business Profile
In today’s competitive environment, it’s not enough to optimize your Google Business Profile (GBP) and then let it sit. You have to stay very active in your profile, and we work on our clients’ profiles two to three times each week to stay ahead of the competition.
To make that activity even more profitable, our Lead Generation services help convert increased visibility into real customers. For even stronger results, our SEO Services ensure your business ranks higher and captures more local traffic.
Here are some of the items that we perform on a weekly basis:
- Fully optimized business description
- Adding new services
- Fully optimizing every description for listed services
- Uploading project photos
- Uploading project videos
- Posting updates to the GBP profile
- Adding Q&A
- Working with our clients to get more Google reviews
- Responding to Google Reviews
- Updating special offers and promotions
Citation Building
Once the optimizations above are completed, one of the most important things a business can do to increase their maps visibility and improve their chances of showing in the Local Pack is to build citations and directory listings. This is the secret sauce that a vast majority of businesses do not aggressively pursue, or do so on a limited or infrequent basis.
What is a citation, also known as a directory listing? A citation is a business listing in a directory that lists (or cites) your business in that directory. So when your business is listed in the Yellow Pages directory, that is called a citation. It is the name, address, and phone # of your business, also known as the NAP (name, address, phone #). It usually also includes the website URL, as well as details about your company (# of employees, year started, business category, etc).
Not every citation is created equal! You want to make sure that your business is listed (or cited) in the most important directories, and that’s one of our areas of expertise at WebForce Digital. We know where your business needs to be listed, and we have a very experienced team to properly build these citations.
Here are some considerations in choosing directories:
1) Authority. The authority of the directory website. Some directories carry a lot of weight with Google because of their age and/or quality, and some do not. We know which ones carry the highest authority with Google.
2) Niche-relevance. You want to list your business (create citations) on niche-relevant directories. So if you’re a roofer, then you want a good percentage of your citatoins to be in roofing directories, home services, etc.
3) Location-relevance. Location is also a key consideration when building citations. If your business is in Jacksonville, FL and your service area is the greater Jacksonville area, then you want to look for directories that are Jacksonville focused or Florida focused, not focused on Oshkosh, Wisconsin!
Contact Us