We often get asked, “Why Isn’t My Business Showing up on Google Maps and Search?” To understand why you need to understand how that happens in the first place.
Google My Business, now known as Google Business Profile Manager, is a platform that allows businesses to manage their online presence on Google, including on Google Search and Google Maps. With Google Business Profile Manager, location-based companies can create and manage a free business listing that appears when people search for their business on Google. The listing can include important information such as the business’s address, phone number, hours of operation, and more. Google Business Profile Manager also helps people track and respond to customer reviews and post updates and offers to engage with their customers.
So why isn’t my business showing up on Google Business Profile Manager?
There are a few reasons your business might not appear on Google Business Profile Manager. One possible explanation is that your business isn’t claimed on the platform. To appear on Google Business Profile Manager, you must first claim your business listing by verifying that you are the owner or authorized representative of the business.
To qualify for a Business Profile on Google, a business must make in-person contact with customers during its stated hours. Another possible reason is that your business might not be eligible to appear on Google Business Profile Manager. This platform is primarily for local businesses that serve customers at a specific location. Therefore, if your business is not local or has no physical location, it may not be eligible to appear on Google Business Profile Manager.
Finally, it’s also possible that your business is not appearing in search results because it needs to rank higher. For example, suppose your business is eligible to appear on Google Business Profile Manager but needs to show up in search results. You may need to optimize your business listing and improve your online presence to improve your platform visibility.
What’s the best way to get my business to appear on Google Maps and Search?
The best way to get your business to appear on Google Business Profile Manager is to claim and verify your business listing on the platform. Claiming your location involves providing information about your business, such as your business name, address, and phone number, and then verifying that you are the owner or authorized representative of the company. You can do this by following these steps:
Enter the name and address of your business, and select the correct business category from the drop-down menu.
Choose whether you want to verify your business by phone or by mail. If you choose to verify by phone, you will receive a call from Google with a verification code that you will need to enter to complete the process. If you choose to verify by mail, Google will send a postcard with a verification code to the address you provided for your business.
Once you have received your verification code, enter it on the Google Business Profile Manager website to claim your business listing.
Once you have claimed and verified your business listing on Google Business Profile Manager, you can manage your business information and respond to customer reviews on the platform. You can also use the platform to post updates and offers to engage with your customers and improve your visibility on Google.
What is the best way to optimize a Google listing for Maps and Search?
There are several ways to optimize your Google Business Profile listing to improve your visibility on the platform and attract more customers. Some of the best ways to do this include, after you claim your listing, are:
Add detailed and accurate information about your business, including your business name, address, phone number, hours of operation, and services or products offered. Being detailed will help customers find your business and understand what you have to offer.
Add high-quality photos of your business, products, or services. Visual content can help attract customers and give them a sense of what to expect when they visit your business.
Encourage customers to leave reviews on your Google Business Profile. Positive reviews can improve your visibility on the platform and help attract more customers.
Use the platform to post updates and offers, such as promotions or events, to engage with your customers and improve your visibility on Google.
Follow these steps to optimize your Google Business Profile listing, attract more customers, and improve your online presence.
Does having a presence on other directories help me rank higher on Google Maps and Search?
Having a presence on other directories, such as Yelp or Bing Places, can help improve your Google Business Profile Manager ranking. Why? Because search engines, including Google, use information from various sources when determining a business’s ranking in search results. Having a presence on multiple directories can provide search engines with more information about your business, which can help improve your ranking on Google Business Profile Manager.
In addition, having a presence on other directories can help improve the visibility of your business to potential customers. Many people use directories, such as Yelp or Bing Places, to find businesses in their area, and having a presence on these platforms can help attract more customers to your business.
Overall, having a presence in other directories can improve your ranking on Google Business Profile Manager and increase the visibility of your business to potential customers.
What are some of the outcomes I can expect by claiming my business on Google Maps and Search?
You can expect several outcomes by claiming your business on Google Business Profile Manager. Some of the most significant benefits include the following:
Improved visibility on Google. When you claim your business on Google Business Profile Manager, your business will appear in search results when people search for businesses like yours on Google. The result will be a complete online presence, more views of your listing and more customers who call, visit your website or have walk-in traffic.
Accurate and up-to-date business information helps you get found more easily. By claiming your business on Google Business Profile Manager, you can ensure that the information about your business, such as your business name, address, and phone number, is accurate and up-to-date.
Ability to respond to customer reviews. Google Business Profile Manager allows you to track and respond to customer reviews, which can help improve your reputation and attract more customers.
The ability to post updates and offers. With Google Business Profile Manager, you can post updates and offers, such as promotions or events, to engage with your customers and improve your visibility on Google.
Overall, claiming your business on Google Business Profile Manager can help improve your visibility on Google, provide accurate and up-to-date business information, and allow you to engage with your customers in new ways.
So the next time you think, “Why Isn’t My Business Showing up on Google Maps and Search?” remember that you’ve come to the right place!
To learn more about Google My Business and how to optimize your listing for Google Search and Map so your location is found, read our complete guide.
In our podcast’s recent episode of A Little Marketing, we chatted with Julia McLaughlin, Co-Founder of Review Robin, about the benefits of Review Marketing.
For businesses, reputation is everything. While some of your business’s reputation comes down to word of mouth, most have to do with online reviews. For example, 94% of consumers say that a favourable review makes them more likely to choose a business. Because humans innately trust others’ experiences. So as a business owner, you must stay on top of reviews and find ways to generate positive customer reviews.
Managing online reviews benefits any business. Review management means reaching out and asking for reviews, as well as responding to feedback from customers. All of this helps to build social proof – something that is so important for attracting new customers.
And while many business owners may think that good or bad reviews come down to fate, that’s not necessarily true. There are tools available that you can use for review management. Using a review management tool is a part of a review marketing strategy. Incorporating reviews into your marketing strategy can be very impactful – especially for local businesses.
Online reviews help businesses build social proof by increasing trust and credibility. It also has many other excellent benefits, which we’ll get into throughout this article.
Our favourite tool for review marketing is Review Robin. Review Robin helps businesses get online reviews through semi- or fully- automated approaches. Incorporating this software into your strategy can help your business generate more reviews while also managing these reviews simultaneously.
Review Robin’s Julia McLaughlin discusses the importance of online reviews for small businesses.
Benefits of a Review Marketing Service
Here are some of the ways that a review marketing tool, such as Review Robin, can benefit your business, according to our guest expert Julia McLaughlin:
Reviews build trust and credibility with potential customers. “People take comfort in knowing that someone else has done it before them, had a positive experience with a business and are happy with that business,” says Julia.
Many good reviews will boost your local SEO – the more reviews, the better you’ll rank. Optimizing for local search is crucial for location-based businesses, giving them a competitive advantage.
Review Robin automates sending requests for reviews to customers (either through email or text message), which removes the burden off of you and your employees.
Review Robin allows unhappy customers to leave internal feedback, enabling you to handle negative reviews privately.
Review Marketing 101 with Julia: Five Takeaways
Here are five things that Julia shared with us about review marketing that we want to share with all of you:
1. Review Marketing Boosts Your Review Rating
“How would your life change if you could become the highest-rated company in your area? First, think of the marketing potential,” says Julia, “If you’re consistent and you keep asking all of your customers for reviews. You do have a chance to become the highest rated in your area potentially.” The more reviews you acquire, the higher your chance of having an excellent rating, giving you a leg up against your competition.
And because the software filters unhappy customers to internal feedback, you significantly decrease your chances of obtaining bad reviews when using review marketing software.
2. Using Reviews as Social Proof
The thing people trust the most is people like them, which is why reviews are so powerful. “One tip is to put reviews on your website on your contact page. It’s a great way to build that trust and add in that social proof element,” Julia says. Consider taking screengrabs of your best reviews to place them on your social media pages too!
3. Who Should Use a Review Marketing Service?
Julia says that anyone with a large number of customers should be using a review marketing service. “Any service-based business… plumbers, roofers…dentists, spas.” Also, any business that has access to their customer’s emails or phone numbers. You could certainly benefit from review marketing software if this sounds like you.
4. Local SEO
We all know how important local SEO is. Suppose you’re in a competitive business area. In that case, Google will suggest the business with the best-optimized listings and the best/most reviews, which is why reviews are so important for local SEO. “If you’re Googling ‘restaurants in my area’ and one has 500 or 1,000 reviews, and the others have 20 or 30, it’s a shoo-in. You’re going to use the business with more reviews,” Julia says.
5. Boost Productivity
“It’s a great way to boost productivity within your business,” says Julia. Why? Rather than having your receptionist (or even you) follow up with each customer and ask for reviews, Review Robin takes care of the nitty-gritty work for you. Because following up with every customer can be highly time-consuming and gruelling. Review marketing software makes this process much more efficient, so you can focus on what’s important – running your business.
Julia’s Top Three Reasons Why Businesses Should Use a Review Marketing Service
Julia’s top three reasons business owners should consider a review marketing service? “[Review Robin] saves time, builds trust and credibility with prospects, and builds social proof to round out your marketing strategy.”
And these are just a few of the many benefits of review marketing.
Incorporate Review Marketing into Your Business’ Marketing Strategy
Generating reviews for your business is essential. Good reviews help build social proof and credibility and bring significant traffic (and ultimately more revenue). And using review marketing software will help you better manage those reviews. With software such as Review Robin, you can generate more reviews and filter out the bad ones (ethically, of course) by dealing with unhappy customers privately.
So, if your business can benefit from review marketing and management software such as Review Robin, we can help. 10|20 Marketing can help you get set up with this specific review marketing software, helping you generate more reviews and taking the burden off of you. Contact us if you’re interested in learning more about what this service can do for your business.
And if you want to learn more about Review Robin and what review marketing entails, check out the recent episode of our podcast with Julia here. And remember to subscribe while you’re listening, so you can catch up on the latest in marketing for small businesses.
It’s no secret that having a robust Google Business Profile is key to gaining more exposure for your business. There are plenty of ways you can optimize your Google Business Profile to make it as strong as possible. Making sure you have a properly optimized Google listing makes it easier for customers to find your business and gives you more credibility.
One way that you can strengthen your Google Business Profile is with reviews. 94% of consumers say that a positive review makes them more likely to choose a business. So building up a good collection of reviews on your Google Profile will significantly benefit your business.
But how can you get more Google business reviews?
Optimizing your Google Business Profile with more reviews can be challenging since you have to rely on others to leave reviews. So, to grow your collection of Google Business Profile reviews, you must turn to your customers.
Instead of waiting around and hoping your customers will leave great reviews on your page, you should be asking your customers to leave reviews. Your loyal and happy customers will likely be more than pleased to help your small business by leaving a review.
So, how can you ask your customers for reviews? Here are five ways to ask customers to leave a Google review on your Google Business Profile!
1. Verbally Ask
If you have a great rapport with your customers and want to get straight to the point, feel free to verbally ask for a review, whether in person or over the phone. A simple way to incorporate this question is after a great conversation with a customer when you’re confident that they are delighted with the service you provided them. Or, after a customer offers positive feedback during a conversation, you could encourage them to share their feedback in a review to help other customers. Make the request for a Google review natural and conversational.
2. Email/Text Request
Another way to request a review is via email or text message, which you can send out to your contact list, or a request sent after a customer completes a transaction with your business. Also, it’s important to note that text requests have a higher conversion – so consider sending the request via text.
3. QR Code
Link the option to review with a QR code! Doing so will make it simple for customers to leave a review. This QR code could be displayed at your onsite location or at a special event. Be sure to point it out to customers, so they know it’s there!
4. Link in Email Signature
If you want to ask for Google Business Profile reviews without asking, you can link the option to review in your email signature. Then, when you send out an email to your customers, they’ll get a subtle CTA to review your business. For example, your CTA to review could look something like this: “Have we helped you? Help others discover us by leaving a review on Google!”
Quick note! Make sure that you’re responding to customer reviews as well. Responding to reviews lets your customers know you appreciate their feedback and value their responses. It could also encourage more customers to leave reviews!
5. Review Management Software
If you want to avoid manually asking for reviews, you can automate review requests with review management software.
With review management software, you can automatically send review requests, whether it’s after a transaction, an in-person visit, or via a targeted campaign. Incorporating review management software into your Google Business Profile strategy also automates monitoring for new reviews, responding to and showcasing the best reviews on your website or social media.
Want to get started earning more reviews? 10|20 Marketing can provide you with review management software to make managing your entire Google Business Profile much simpler. Contact us today for a free consultation, and we’ll get you started with this helpful software!
Interested in this topic? Read more of our posts related to review marketing:
Social proof is a powerful digital marketing tool you can use to attract and convert shoppers. Social influence can hugely impact our everyday lives, so why would it be any different online? Think of it this way – when you’re trying to decide which outfit you should wear to someone’s wedding, you’ll likely turn to a friend, family member, or partner for suggestions or reassurance. The same goes for when we’re searching for something online.
If someone is visiting a new town and looking for somewhere to eat or searching for good plumbing service in their area, they’ll likely look to others for an answer. While this could be the people in their everyday life, an even better source of social confirmation can be the internet. Social proof, such as Google reviews for a business, could make or break a decision for a consumer.
If you want to attract more consumers to your business, it’s crucial that you have a good wall of social proof.
What does it mean to get social proof for your business?
Getting social proof for your business creates a positive reputation for your business online. Social proof can come from online reviews, internet influencer suggestions or user-generated content that supports a business.
These forms of social proof are essential “word of mouth” suggestions via the internet. Having positive social proof can significantly benefit your business.
How does “social proof” help build conversions?
So how exactly does this social proof help convert shoppers? Well, just as someone would likely consider the suggestions from their peers about what colour to wear to the wedding, they’ll also consider the opinions of others when choosing where to do business.
If your business has no social proof, there is nothing to convince consumers that they should choose your company over another. A good review from a customer could make all the difference in converting someone to your business. As humans, we are social creatures and often need validation or reassurance from others to convince us that we’re making the right decision. We usually trust what others have to say, and we consider their social suggestions. So when it comes to choosing a business online, most people will look for that social reassurance from other customers that they’re making the right decision.
Building this wall of social proof will help assure potential customers that they are making the right decision.
Getting Social Proof for your business
One of the most effective ways to get a solid wall of social proof is to have positive online reviews from your customers. For example, 98% of customers read reviews for local businesses. So if you don’t have a wall of online reviews, you could miss out on many potential customers.
And the best way to get online reviews is via your Google My Business Listing. If you don’t already have a Google My Business listing, check out our step-by-step guide on how to set one up here.
Once you have a business listing on Google, you can start creating social proof with your customers. To generate more online reviews among customers, staying up to date with your Google My Business listing is essential. Please keep track of your Google reviews, and be sure to respond to all of them. Responding to online reviews makes your customers feel appreciated and lets people know that you pay attention. In addition, if you thank each customer that leaves a review, you’ll likely start receiving more.
A great way to generate new online reviews with Google My Business is by providing customers with a link to leave a Google Review. You can send a follow-up email to customers after they visit you. You can also have the link on your website or social media pages so that customers that visit you online and love your business can quickly leave a review!
Check out this blog for a more in-depth look at creating a word-of-mouth effect with Google Reviews.
Creating the Wall of Social Proof
Now that you have all these online reviews, how should you use them? Start by taking screen captures of your positive reviews and save the images in a folder. Doing so will give you content to share online. You can then create posts for social media – think Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, TikTok. You get the idea.
Sharing visuals of these online reviews are an easy way to spread positive news about your business, moving them from one network to another. Doing so increases exposure and builds momentum for the positivity generated about your business. It’s a win-win situation for you, potential customers and your business!
Need help creating getting online reviews?
Social proof is an excellent (and inexpensive) way to promote your business online. Though we understand that when running a small business, it may be difficult to keep up with promoting your online reviews That’s why we’re here if you need us!
10|20 Marketing is a dedicated team of experienced digital marketing specialists. We’re experts in digital marketing for both small and big businesses! And we can help you build a strong wall of social proof so that you can convert more customers.
Stewing over a negative review that a customer left online? Read on for the solution.
In 2019, 90% of people searched the internet when looking for a local business, and 33% of them did so every day. While consumers search for restaurants, bars, and shops, they also search for accountants, physiotherapists, doctors, car dealerships and garages, pet services, and salons – to name a few. No matter what industry you’re in, ensuring you have social proof should be a crucial part of your marketing strategy.
“Social Proof” in the form of reviews, ratings, testimonials, and recommendations is a critical factor in most consumers’ decision-making processes. 85% of people trust an online review as much as a personal recommendation. Reviews can:
Increase consumer trust in you,
Convince consumers to spend more money with you (up to 31% more), and
There’s also evidence that 57% of customers won’t use a business with fewer than four stars – so what about negative reviews? How do they affect your business, and what can you do about them? We’ve broken down the impact of negative reviews and how you can handle them as business owners or managers.
You Got a Negative Review – Is it That Bad?
Aside from the blow to your ego, a negative review (yes, even just one) can hurt your business: it causes people to think twice about working with you. Studies show that one bad review can cost you about 22% of customers, and three negative reviews can drive away almost 60%.
What Can You do to Mitigate a Negative Review?
While you want to respond to the review, having your Google My Business account set up properly comes in handy. You’ll get a notification when someone leaves an online review, which will help you create a timely response as the business owner – but you don’t want to rush into it.
First things first: figure out what happened.
Take a look at the customer’s purchase history and try to determine if this is a long-time or new customer. Find out from your staff what happened and gather any information you can. Ideally, this allows you to see what went wrong and when. Not only is this helpful for the current situation, but it can hopefully prevent the same thing from happening in the future.
Second, you’ll want to come up with a way to make it up to them.
In today’s customer-first world, how you handle unhappy customers says as much about your business (if not more) than if a mistake had never happened. Now is your chance to go above and beyond, make it up to them, and win them back.
Be sure to respond quickly (but not until you’ve discovered what went wrong, as we mentioned), and apologize – yes,even if it wasn’t your fault. Tell the reviewer how you plan to fix the issue and follow through.
The majority of people are understanding and realize that mistakes happen. Once everything is resolved and everyone happy, make a polite request to update the review with the outcome. Keep the old review available, though, as you’ll want to appear transparent!
It’s not all bad news
While a negative review can drive consumers away, it’s also an opportunity to demonstrate how you handle these situations publicly. When a potential customer has faith that you’ll quickly solve a problem, they’ll be more likely to purchase from you despite the odd bad review.
Don’t forget that your overall star rating is critical, and is an average of all of your reviews. Make collecting online reviews part of your marketing strategy by adding a link in your email signature, on your website, social media feeds, and even by reaching out to your top customers to ask them to leave you a review. Requesting a review will help tip the balance in favour of your business and bump you back up over the 4-star crest.
What do you think? Do negative reviews typically turn you away from a business? Let us know in the comments – we’re always interested in hearing your perspectives!
One of the best secret weapons small business owners have when it comes to building confidence in their business is good online customer reviews. Customer reviews are not only essential, but they’re also a proven business strategy for building your location-based business. But don’t take our word for it, either. Read some of these examples of why online customer reviews are so vital.
Today, we’re going to focus on the three key pillars of developing a solid customer review marketing strategy. First, though, let’s look at why having customer testimonials appear on your business listings is so important. And, to do so, let’s look at some statistics:
If you have less than a 4-star rating, over half of consumers won’t use your business.
It takes less than 10 reviews for 90% of people to form an opinion about your business.
WHOA! 72% percent of people won’t take action before consulting online reviews.
15% of customers will not trust a business if they don’t have reviews to consult.
Consumers will spend up to 31% more on a business that has great reviews associated with it.
WHOA! Google accounts for 57.5% of all reviews available in the world.
WHOA! 63.6% of consumers visit Google to check for reviews of a business.
73% of consumers consider written reviews to be more important than star and number ratings.
LOCAL ALERT! Positive reviews encourage 68% of consumers to use a local business.
Have more than four negative reviews about your business? That may decrease sales by 70%.
So now that you understand the importance of your business’s reviews, it’s time to learn the three pillars of a customer review marketing strategy.
Pillar #1: Make sure that you’ve claimed your Google My Business listing (and other directories)
While we’ve written a comprehensive post that details everything you need to know about Google My Business, it’s important to reiterate that a sound review marketing strategy starts with owning your listings. Why is this so important? There are several reasons.
Owning (claiming) your listing gives you full control over what business information is placed there. Yes, this refers to all the key elements you would think of, including your business name, address, phone number, business description and more. What this also does is allow you to 1) get alerts whenever someone leaves you a review and 2) respond to reviews and have those responses appear as being from you, the business owner (more on that soon).
Owning your listing is the first step to having a successful online review marketing strategy.
Pillar #2: Respond to your reviews
Use the alerts mentioned above (see, told you it would be soon) to stay on top of the feedback you’re getting – and help guide your response. When reviews are positive, get in there and thank your customers, share your positive experiences with them and validate their visit and the reasons why they gave you that positive review in the first place. When reviews are negative, think of them as an opportunity to learn about your business, rebuild consumer trust and turn the negative into a positive. Most people will be shocked that you’re paying attention and care. This is a good thing. Take advantage and get them back on your side.
Another very important factor was validated by Google earlier this year. The company confirmed that responding to reviews is an important factor in getting your local business ranked in a “local pack”. In fact, in the Google My Business help section, they explicitly state that responding to reviews is a vital element to improve your local ranking on Google:
Manage and respond to reviews
Interact with customers by responding to reviews that they leave about your business. Responding to reviews shows that you value your customers and the feedback that they leave about your business. High-quality, positive reviews from your customers will improve your business’s visibility and increase the likelihood that a potential customer will visit your location. Encourage customers to leave feedback by creating a link they can click to write reviews.
Pillar #3: Ask for reviews
At the tail end of Google’s note about how to manage and respond to reviews, you may have noticed the following note to “Encourage customers to leave feedback by creating a link they can click to write reviews.”
So Google is encouraging you to encourage people to leave reviews. Excellent! When you consider how competitive it is to get into the Local Pack and rank well organically, coupled with the fact that the average local business has 39 Google reviews associated to their listing (same sources as our previous statistics), you can see why it becomes important to solicit reviews from your best customers.
There are many ways you can go about this, some easier to implement than others. Here are some ideas:
Personally email your best customers asking them to support your business with an online review.
Plant a link to your listing in your email signature.
Add a URL to your receipts
Embark on a drip email campaign with requests and links
Use a specialized tool to monitor reviews, send out requests or embark on a campaign
While we’ve talked a lot about Google here for its obvious power via its market share alone, it’s important to consider other search engines, directories, social networks and mapping technologies too. So if you’re established on Facebook, point reviewers there. If you’re reliant on Yelp, ask for reviews there and continually monitor that network. But remember where most people search, and that’s on Google. It’s likely that for most businesses, Google will have the greatest impact on traffic to your store and to your website.
What are some of your strategies to generate reviews? How do you go about monitoring for them? Do you respond? Let us know in the comments below.
