Go ahead and Google yourself

Oct 5, 2017

While Googling yourself can be seen as an egotistical faux pas in your personal life, when it comes to your business it is absolutely key to assessing your online presence and shaping your digital marketing plans.

I often get asked by business owners how they can get top rankings on Google, and the answer is always complex and includes multiple actions, all of which involve knowing your customers and their behaviours, and constantly assessing how easy you are making it for them to find you online.

However, If you are just starting out online and getting overwhelmed by the endless list of expensive measures to help your SEO – fear not, as there are also some simple, effective, and FREE tools you can use to get your business noticed.

One of these delightful tools is Google My Business, which tells people where you are and what you do across Google maps and search. Getting yourself listed is free, is vital in growing your business’s online existence, and, best of all – it’s really easy to set up!

Here are some tips to get you started:

  1. Visit www.google.com/business to create your listing – Be thorough when filling out information including your company name, address and descriptions (using keywords that people may search for to find you). Be sure to add your opening hours – this is important as some devices have ‘open now’ as a default filter for Google searches.
  2. Add images – not only will adding a profile image to your account make you stand out, it will also help your performance on Google search. Ensure your image looks professional and is relevant to your business.
  3. Review, Review, Review! – If you’re working towards that top spot on Google search, you need to be asking for reviews at every given opportunity. Send the link to your listing to past and present customers asking them to leave feedback. Remember that the majority of customers these days will check out your reviews before choosing your services.

You’ll need to verify your listing via a postcard which Google will post out to you containing a code.

Once you’re up and running, explore the functions that Google My Business has to offer – view your website analytics and reviews from the GMB dashboard and see how many views your images have had. You can also use these handy features to assess your listing and optimise SEO:

Insights

See how customers have searched for your business, whether it’s by putting in your business name (direct) or by searching a category or product (discovery). You can also see what actions customers have taken, i.e visited your website, or if they have requested directions to your company.

Posts

An extra marketing tool from Google My Business which allows you to update your listing with special offers and events.

For more advice on how to use Google for your business and further advertising, give HOKdigi a call and we’ll be happy to help.

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