How Your Car Dealership Can Take Advantage of Google My Business

If you’re looking for a way to get more foot traffic into your car dealership, look no further than Google My Business. Google My Business is a powerful tool that can help raise awareness, drive website visitors and ultimately increase foot traffic to your car dealership. The goal? To help you find new leads and increase sales.

What is Google My Business?

Not to be confused with Google+, Google My Business is one of several listing sites – and probably the internet’s most important. A listing site is a directory where your business can appear. When the listing is correctly set up and managed, the people who actively search for a car dealership near them will be able to quickly find your business. A proper set up in Google My Business makes it easier for potential buyers to discover you and:

  • call your car dealership
  • get directions
  • click through to your website to browse the inventory
  • or share your location with others.

Google My Business is often the first point of contact people have with your business. This makes the platform even more important than your website in some ways. Why? Because Google My Business can become an online hub for your business location. The platform will feature all of your pertinent business information, reviews, posts and updates, events, offers, products and photos.

Also, when you take advantage of all that Google My Business has to offer, Google will understand your car dealership more and be able to point even more qualified shoppers your way.

How Can Google My Business Help My Car Dealership?

No matter how established – or new! – your dealership and its online presence is, there is an opportunity to increase your visibility and the number of interactions potential customers take with your dealership.

Still unsure of how important it is to have your dealership listed on Google My Business? The eight key metrics we track will indicate improved awareness and increased interactions. The metrics we track will show numbers steadily increasing when your Google My Business listing is active and optimized. They are:

  • Total Views:Total number of times your Google My Business (GMB) listing is presented in a given month.
  • Total Actions:Total number of times people clicked through to call, map your dealership’s address, or visit your website from your GMB listing.
  • Action Rate:Total actions/total views. The action rate shows the percentage of people who acted on your business information to learn more about your dealership (for example, called your location).
  • Map Views: The number of times your local listing appeared in the Google maps results following a query.
  • Search Views:The number of times your local listing appeared in search results following a query.
  • Calls:The number of calls made to your dealership initiated from your local listing on desktop or mobile.
  • Directions:The number of times someone mapped your address from your local listing on desktop or mobile.
  • Website Visits:The number of times someone visited your website after clicking from your listing on desktop or mobile.

Of these eight, the two most important metrics we track for our clients are views and total actions. We recently worked with a local dealership with three locations (and therefore separate listings for all three). One of these was brand new, opening just before working with us. Take a look at the trend report below for those two metrics after working with us to optimize the listing at this location (i.e., manage information, reviews, and post to the listing twice weekly):

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This car dealership had impressive, business-changing results with all three locations, not just their newest one. For one of the dealerships, our service helped improve views and actions by 88% and 61%, respectively, after ten months of working with us. Results like these represent a lot of new leads – and car sales!

What Happens If A Car Dealership Doesn’t Optimize Their Google My Business Listing?

Every error in your dealership’s information across the internet reduces your chances of appearing in results when potential customers search online.

Without having an active and optimized Google My Business listing, each day you miss out on:

  • Increased awareness of your business (eyes on your listing)
  • Additional awareness by appearing in Google Maps
  • Phone calls to your dealership
  • Website visits
  • Easy directions to your dealership for potential customers right from their current location (key for attracting those who are spending an afternoon browsing dealerships)

In addition, Google My Business helps validate your business, which has an impact on SEO, and makes your dealership more ‘findable’ overall.

Remember the days when you needed a plumber, and you went right to the Yellow Pages Book under P for ‘Plumber’? No plumber in town would intentionally not have their business listed there, and Google My Business is today’s digital version of the Yellow Pages. You can’t afford not to appear there when people are searching for your business.

Not using or not optimizing your Google My Business listing is a missed opportunity.

What You Get For Your Car Dealership When You Work With 10|20 Marketing

When you work with us, you get more than just a quick review to ensure your listing is set-up correctly. We will:

  • Claim business listings online
  • Manage how locations appear across the internet
  • Fix errors in listings that are costing businesses sales
  • List locations on new engines, review sites, social networks and maps
  • Improve search engine optimization
  • Monitor customer reviews and ratings
  • Drive more customers to your client’s locations

If you have questions about how your car dealership can start taking advantage of a Google My Business listing right away, and start seeing more foot traffic on site, send us a message and let’s chat. Want more info on the process and results you can expect as a car dealership? Write us and we’ll happily send you our case study.

Best Practices for Google My Business To Lessen The Impact of COVID-19 Security Measures

These are not normal times for businesses across the world. With the COVID-19 pandemic spreading like wildfire, business owners are not just worried for their health, they’re worried what the impact of this new world will be on their business. Our view? It’s time to double down on your online infrastructure where possible. Prepare your business to be the first thing people see when they search for goods and services that you offer. The good news is that there are many things you can do for yourself, especially as it pertains to your online business listings. Follow these best practices for Google My Business.

Continue reading

It’s The Right Time To Be A Small Business With No Website

Small business owners will often confide in us that they don’t have a website. They’ll tell us that they have a Facebook page, but no website, and they may even feel embarrassed that they’re not properly set up with one. 

We’re here to say, it’s alright! In fact, there’s no better time than right now to not have a website if you’re a small business. 

Reasons Why Small Businesses Might Not Have A Website

In our discussions with small business owners, we’ve run across the following reasons for why they don’t have a proper website set up for their business. The list is wide-reaching:

  • No budget to build one.
  • Have signed a contract with a developer but don’t have time to create content and never got started.
  • Lack the skills to create a website and don’t trust outside suppliers.
  • Worried about maintaining the website after it goes live. 
  • Feel they’re doing just fine with Facebook or Instagram
  • They’re not an e-commerce business so they feel they don’t need a website. 
  • Think nobody would find them or visit their website. 
  • Believe they’re already so far behind the eight ball that there’s no point in having one now. 

These are backed up by statistics as well, as we’ve read that “Small businesses cite cost (26%), irrelevance to industry (27%), and social media (21%) as key reasons behind their decision not to have a website”. And while the same article states that at least a third of small businesses don’t have a website, we have reason to believe that even fewer Canadian small businesses have a website. 

Whatever the reason, these are all valid concerns for not having a website. But not having a website doesn’t mean these businesses shouldn’t be online. 

Let us explain further.

Google Is All-In On No-Click Search Results

What is a no-click (or zero-click) search result? Ever try to book a flight? A hotel? Make dinner reservations? Have you noticed that, now more than ever, you can get all of this done within the first page of Google’s search results? Welcome to the era of no-click search results. While you may never have heard how these results are described, we’re pretty sure you’re familiar with the concept.  

Just so we’re all on the same page,  a No-Click Search Result, as defined by BXB Media, are “when the search engine results pages (SERP) provide an answer to the user’s query within the search results, negating the need for a user to click through to the actual website.”

Here are some examples:

Search for the weather in your neighbourhood and you never need to click through to Environment Canada or The Weather Network. 

Search for “dry cleaners near me” and you get results from your neighbourhood and other related questions. 

The idea is to provide the user with all the information needed so they do not click away from the search engine results page. Essentially, Google wants you to stay on their property longer, so they’re attempting to ensure that the visitor has no reason to leave. ‘

For the local small business owner with no website, though, the no-click search can be an asset if they’re properly aligned with Google. 

How Can Small Businesses With No Website Set Up For No-Click Searches?

Without a website, the goal now becomes to own as much real estate on the search engine result page as possible. And what’s the biggest available spot on that page? The empty right hand side. Or, for the savvy business owner, their listing. And, more precisely, their Google My Business listing. 

Look how much space our client Maison Goldberg Bijouterie takes up on the first page of Google’s search results. 

The whole right side of the page is dedicated to their business, making it an unmistakable destination for those looking for the jeweller – or for a jewellery provider in Montreal. 

In addition, because they’re properly optimizing their listing, adding content, reviews, and questions and answers, the listing becomes a de facto website for the business. If all they needed were phone calls or visits to their location, you could argue that this would be everything they need to drive new leads and customers to their business. 

In addition, this client has been working on getting reviews for their listing. These reviews are a key component of getting new customers to believe in your business and choose to visit your location. The more positive your reviews, the more likely you are to close new business. 

All these elements combined make up the best, most useful parts of a website for many small businesses: contact information, testimonials, photos, social posts and FAQs. The more you update your listing, the more people you can attract to your listing and have call you or visit. 

A Final Word on Websites

Now, don’t get us wrong, we’re not saying that you shouldn’t have a website. There are obvious reasons why this is important. If you do have one, this makes your listings even more powerful as you can link to your website from the listing, giving people a destination when they discover your business. However, if a small business doesn’t have a website, then they absolutely should claim and optimize their local listings, particularly on Google, because this is the best way to be discovered – website or not. 

The key, though, is to start thinking about being ready for those no-click searches, which means you should be giving web users the chance to know as much as possible about your business on the first page of Google’s results.  

To learn more about how we help small businesses optimize their business locations and be set up for the no-click search, check out our pricing page and let’s set up a discussion.

Do You Have Your Google My Business Attributes In Order?

google-listing-attributes

We write a lot about the power of your Google My Business listing. What most business owners need to realize, though, is that the power of your listing is often made up of the combination of many small things. Reviews, Google Posts, address consistency, proper business description and other key elements help you optimize your listing. Google Attributes is another. Making sure that you have all of these in order is an excellent way to get more views, calls, map clicks and website visits from your listing. We’ve collected some tips for optimizing your Google Attributes here; check out our other Google My Business posts and our case study section for even more benefits of some simple optimizations. 

Defining Google My Business Attributes

An Attribute is exactly what it sounds like: the ability to attach unique characteristics (or, attributes) about your location to your Google My Business listing. Of course, these Attributes will impact search results that could lead people to your business. 

For example, a hotel can list that their rooms have air conditioning, free breakfast and wifi. A restaurant can indicate that its location is wheelchair accessible, offers take out and serves alcohol. A hair salon can state that they specialize in hair colouring, serves coffee and is dog-friendly. You get the picture.

Adding Attributes To Your Google My Business Listing

There are two ways for Attributes to be added to your listing: 

Add them yourself
You have full control to visit the backend of your Google My Business profile and add Attributes yourself. Click on “Info” in the left-hand navigation menu and look for this tag symbol:

Once there, you’ll be presented with a list of Attributes that are relevant to your type of business. Select the ones that apply and they’ll be added to your listing.

Crowdsourcing
Google users are often presented with the opportunity to add Attributes to your listing, as Google will present them with an opportunity to “Answer Quick Questions” directly in the listing. If clicked, Google will then ask simple questions such as, “Is there wheelchair-accessible parking?” and other questions until it is satisfied.

Our suggestion is to add Attributes to your listing yourself so that your business isn’t misrepresented by your customers. After all, nobody knows your business better than you.

Benefits of Google My Business Attributes

So you’re probably wondering what the point of adding Attributes to your listing really is. Well, it’s simple: Adding Attributes helps Google to index your listing for more specific searches. Think of the criteria you use when looking for a hotel, as an example. You may want to make sure that your room will be outfitted with wifi, a fridge, a safe and iron. As a result, you’ll create a very specific search to help you determine where you should book a room. Adding Attributes to your listing will help your business appear as a result of a very specific search. Or maybe someone just searches for hotels in a specific area and uses the Attributes in your listing to make a final decision. Either way, ensuring that you meet the searcher’s criteria is key to getting that booking. So if a competitor has the desired Attributes listed and you don’t, it’s quite possible that the sale will be lost. 

Resources

Are you using attributes in your listing? Tell us about the impact you believe they’ve had on your business!

Three pillars of a customer review marketing strategy

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%.

These are just a few of the many statistics available about reviews. We encourage you to read others right from our source. 

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

These are just some ideas, and we’re able to help with any online review marketing strategies as well, even the more involved processes. 

Go beyond Google if need be!

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.

How to write a description for your Google My Business listing

One of the best weapons within your Google My Business listing is the business description Google allows you to write. Your business description is a secret path directly into Google’s credibility book, as they use your business description to ensure that your business is a real business run by real people. This being said, it’s an excellent opportunity to provide those who land on your listing with authentic content explaining what you do. 

That’s why we encourage our clients to take advantage of their business description – right up to the last character allowed. Whether you’ve worked on your business description recently or it’s been years (see what a difference a year makes, by the way), here are some suggestions to help make it even better.

Elements of an excellent business description for Google My Business

  • Make every character count. You have 750 characters to work with—use as many of them as you can. The more relevant the terms you use within your description are, the more chances people have to identify their needs in your listing. 
  • Think keywords… If you offer unique services, state them. If you sell specific brands, name them. If you use special techniques to do what you do, list them. If your restaurant specializes in certain dishes, bake those terms in. 
  • …But be natural. Like anything you write and put anywhere online, be natural and don’t come across as if you’re a robot repeating the same words over and over. This is a big red flag to Google that may lead to your listing being taken down. 
  • Do not repeat your NAP information. Your Google My Business listing has a function to direct people to your business. Your Name, Address and Phone Number (NAP) and other contact information are readily available. Even if your address has recently changed, do not waste characters repeating this information in your business description – besides, there are other ways to update your address. 
  • No links, no URLs. Links will not be clickable, so don’t waste characters on them. Remember, your URL is up in the “Website” button at the top of your listing and you can plant links in Google Posts as well. No need to put them here. 
  • Not the place to pitch. No special offers, promotions or pitches. Period. This goes against Google’s policies and will likely result in your description not being approved. 

What guidelines does Google recommend?

Google does an excellent job of describing some dos and don’ts of their own. Rather than repeat them here, we’ll share a screen capture of their guidelines. 

Need help with your business description?

Our clients often ask for help with their business descriptions. When you sign up for one of our plans, we’re happy to review your business description and help you dial it in. It’s a vital part of your listing and we want to help you get it right. If you’re unsure that it represents your business, we’re happy to work with you until it does. No questions asked. 

Looking for some more suggestions for how to make your Google My Business listing even better? Check out our post highlighting some more ideas. 

So, how does your business description look? Are you happy with how it describes your business? What are some of the challenges you’ve had in crafting your business description? We’d love to hear from you in the comments below!

Where was your Google My Business listing a year or two ago?

We recently received an email from a client after her dashboard was updated with August data. It turns out that there were some dips in the business’s month over month data. And this created concern and some questions. 

Her email:

It seems that both “Actions” and “Calls” were down almost 50% from the previous month on the Google dashboard – is that simply that people were on vacation? Is it something that should spur action on our part? Just trying to understand it all.

When we received this email, I immediately looked at the data and realized that for clients with seasonal schedules, the month-over-month metric may not tell the right story. The answer to our client’s email was in the year-over-year data. As a result, we pulled this chart:

August 2019

Total Actions

 Calls Directions

Website Visits
vs 2017

+158.35%

 +175.00% +138.41%

+164.71%
vs 2018

+18.41%

 +3.13% +9.76%

+21.88%

Here you can see that though August is a quiet month for the client, we’ve been able to achieve significant growth when compared to the two previous Augusts. 

How did we get here with this particular client? The recipe has been a good one for them and other clients as well. First, we syndicated their business information to 15 of the most important business directories online, including Google, Bing, Facebook, Waze, Uber, FourSquare, and TomTom. This creates a wider web presence for their business and builds consistency across the web for their information. Right away, this helps generate more listing views and actions on Google My Business. 

We follow this up with regular Google Posts. New content on their listing helps plant keywords into Google’s engines and shows that the client is active with their listing. Again, this helps the client build interest in their listing. Reviews, which they also solicit, have been positive and affect their listing in a positive way too. 

Of course, we’ve applied this recipe for other clients and we see similar results. Our case study section highlights some of these successes and shows that for different clients in different industries, the results can be effective and fast. 

To learn more about our services, please head to our solutions section. The case studies on our blog also show how we can impact business in a big way for a very small price. 

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT GOOGLE MY BUSINESS

We’re often asked about Google My Business and why it’s so important to claim — or own — your local business listing on Google. In this post, we’re going to answer some of the fundamental questions about Google My Business, its importance for local search and break down the what, why and how of this vital business building tool. 

What is Google My Business
(also known as GMB)?

Google My Business is one of Google’s most powerful tools for business owners looking to get found online. It’s free to claim your listing (or profile), which will give you control over how your business is presented across Google’s platform, including Google Search and Google Maps. Whether you’re just getting started with your local business or have been around for decades, claiming your listing should be at the top of your to-do list if you care at all about local search optimization (for the uninitiated: if you have a local business, you care about local search optimization!).

In the last year, Google has introduced new features that allow business owners to post content to their listing. As a result, you can now think of your Google My Business listing as part directory, part social network. 

The directory aspect allows you to publish your most basic business information, such as your name, address and phone number – also known as your NAP. In addition, you can also include business hours, a business description, links to your other online properties and more. As a quasi-social network, Google My Business gives you the ability to post content, such as product posts, social updates, and photos. Together, the combination of the directory and social networking features allows you to attract more views of your Google My Business listing, which leads to more phone calls, website visits and map clicks.

What is the fundamental benefit of being listed on Google My Business?

The key benefit of being listed on Google is to build awareness of your business on the world’s most powerful local search engine. The more information you feed directly into Google about your business, the more times your business will be discovered because Google will present it to search users in organic search results and within Google Maps.

What do you have to do ensure that your business is properly represented on Google My Business?

You need to claim your listing, which means you’ll own it. If your location goes unclaimed, Google may take it upon themselves to create a listing for your business by piecing together information about your location that they find on other websites, directories and social networks. If they don’t do that, then your business simply will not exist within Google’s search and map ecosystems. Given the benefits of being listed – and the power of Google – this could be the biggest missed opportunity your business can experience. 

What happens after you claim your listing?

After claiming your location on Google My Business, your business will need to be verified. This means that Google will want to know that your business is at the location where you say it is. They’ll (snail) mail you a postcard that contains a unique PIN. Once received, you’ll need to login to Google My Business and enter the PIN. Once you do, your business will be verified. 

How To Assess And Optimize Your Google My Business Listing

If your business is listed on Google, you’ve claimed your listing and can see it in search results and on Google Maps, how do you know if it’s working for you? How do you know if you’ve provided Google with the best information? What more can you do to optimize your Google My Business listing?

In this section, we’ll explore some ideas to help you assess and optimize your Google My Business listing. To start, search for the name of your business and bring up your listing within Google’s search engine. Have a good look at it. Have you gone beyond providing Google with the basics, such as your NAP (name, address, phone) information? It’s important to provide Google with a deeper bank of information to help your business become indexed and turn up in more search results.

Here are some questions you can ask yourself and some easy ideas to help you get the most out of your Google My Business directory listing. 

Are you posting social media content to your Google My Business listing?

At the beginning of this article, we explained how GMB is part directory, part social network. A big feature within the social networking component is the ability to add social content to your profile. Posting through Google My Business lets you publish your events, products and services directly to Google Search and Maps. Posts allow you to place timely content in front of customers when they find your business listing on Google. Add pictures, videos, coupons, events or any update you think of. You have 1,500 characters to work with, so make sure you’re as descriptive as possible when creating this content so Google has more terms to index. In addition, make sure to add the call-to-action button. You have several options here, but the important thing is that you drive people to visit or call with the goal of generating business.   

Have you provided Google with a full business description?

Google allows you to upload a description of up to 750 characters. Use every last one to provide a detailed description of your business. Describe your services, products you carry and emphasize brands if you can. Think about what people are searching for and be sure to include it in your business description if it applies to your business. 

Is your logo up to date?

Login to the backend of your Google My Business portal and go to the photos section on the left-hand side. You’ll then want to click on “By owner”. In this section, you’ll see a place to upload a logo and cover photo, much like you can on LinkedIn, Twitter or Facebook. It will look like this:

Simply hit the edit icon (the pencil) and upload the latest versions of your company images to update your profile. Try to name your images with the name of your business and the content of your image. For example, name your logo business-name-logo. 

Do you have a good number of reviews associated to your listing?

Having a good number of authentic customer reviews is a very important element of your Google My Business listing. Google loves it when your customers leave reviews. The content of those reviews helps you index for keywords searchers are looking for, while the ratings help your listing rank higher on the search engine results page (hint: you want to be as high up as possible!). Ask your best customers for reviews and have them trickle in steadily. Having a steady flow of reviews signals to Google that people show continued interest in your business. This interest translates into more views of your listing. Reviews also offer your business credibility, as people appreciate and value the opinions of others. So don’t be afraid to ask your best customers to leave a review for you. 

Are you taking advantage of the Questions and Answers feature on Google My Business?

Google loves content and likes it when customers or potential customers provide it for you. Encourage the use of the Q&A feature on GMB. Monitor it for questions left for you to answer and then make sure that you answer them with detailed information. If nobody is leaving questions for you, ask yourself some questions. There is no restriction on planting questions and answering them yourself. Think of this section as a FAQ, just like on so many websites you’ve viewed. Ask questions, answer them. Google is always looking for fresh content, especially within its directory. 

Have you updated your listing with photos of the inside and outside of your location?

Photos are an excellent way to attract attention to your listing. Post photos of the outside of your location to provide valuable visual cues for when people want to come by. Photos of the inside of your location can help people feel more comfortable with your business before they visit. Think of it as giving people the chance to connect with the vibe of your location before they ever step foot inside. You can also post pictures of new inventory, your team, and other amenities at your location. 

How Do You Know If Google My Business Is Working For You

After going through all of these optimizations, how do you know if they’ve made a difference? It’s all in the metrics, which Google provides through the admin portal. The metrics you have access to include the number of views of your listing, along with the clicks, calls and website visits generated from your listing, whether on desktop or mobile search. These are just some of the metrics we surface for clients in our monthly dashboards. As you feed fresh content into your listing, it should have an impact on the awareness you can build for your business as Google will be more likely to present your listing in search. Trend these metrics and you can determine a tangible impact and, potentially, an ROI. 

Comb through our case studies and you’ll see how optimizing Google My Business can impact your business too.  

Get our expert opinion

Whether you have claimed your Google My Business listing or not, it’s wise to assess how well you’ve optimized it. If you have any questions for us, we’d be happy to answer them! Get in touch any time.

Introducing New 10|20 Marketing Client Dashboards

10|20 Marketing’s clients now have Google My Business metrics at their fingertips. Every month, we’re pulling location specific statistics straight from Google and making them available to you via Google Data Studio. Each dashboard is designed to help you see how your metrics are progressing every month, with comparisons to the previous month and trended for the most recent 12-month period.

The dashboards will also show an important comparison: your metrics before and after you subscribed to our services. And that’s what really gets us going! Because with these metrics, we’ll be able to show you the impact of owning, organizing and optimizing your Google My Business presence.

See an interactive sample of the new dashboard right now!

The Metrics You Will See

What will you learn when accessing your dashboard? We’ve mapped out the following:

  • Total Views: Total number of times your Google My Business (GMB) listing has been viewed.
  • Total Actions: Total number of times people clicked through to call, map your address or visit your website from your GMB listing.
  • Action Rate: Total actions/total views. This shows the percentage of people who acted on your business information to learn more about your business.
  • Map Views: The number of times your local listing appeared in the Google maps results following a query.
  • Search Views: The number of times your local listing appeared in search results following a query.
  • Calls: The number of calls initiated from your local listing on desktop or mobile.
  • Directions: The number of times someone mapped your address from your local listing on desktop or mobile.
  • Website Visits: The number of times someone visited your website after clicking from your listing on desktop or mobile.

Plus, for each metric, you’ll have two boxes below where you can review your monthly averages from before and after subscribing with us. This calculation has already helped us turn out some pretty impressive case studies, as the before/after snapshot shows us the impact we’ve had on our small business clients.

How To Read Your Dashboard

Reading the first page of your dashboard is key to understanding the impact we’ve had on your business. Here’s how to get the most out of your board.

10|20 Marketing Dashboard Example

  1. Use the navigation on the top left to change pages.
  2. Use the date filter to choose the month you’d like to review. New data is updated on the 12th of the following month.  
  3. This is the date that you started working with 10|20 Marketing.
  4. The big number is the total for the selected time period. A comparison to the previous month is below and indicates whether the total has increased or decreased month over month.
  5. Each metric has a comparison of your business’s averages. The lighter blue box is your average prior to working with 10|20 Marketing and the darker blue box shows your average after working with us.
    • Note: If there are no metrics for your Google My Business listing before you joined us, these comparison boxes will only show the average since joining 10|20 Marketing.
  6. The charts trend your total Google My Business views and actions. Hover your mouse over the bars to see your breakdown for each data point and your total for each respective month.

Optimizing Your Local Business Listings

Remember, there are several things you can do on your own to help your views, calls, website clicks and in-store visits improve. Here are some quick pointers on how to optimize your Google My Business listing and your presence on the other directories we’ve claimed for you.

  1. Always maintain consistency with all of your listings. If you have changes to make, please let us know so we can apply the same change to all of the listings in your package.
  2. Keep on top of your online reviews. Thank your customers for their positive reviews and help solve the issues related to negative reviews. Show your clients – and everyone who reads your reviews – that you’re responsive and care.
  3. Update your Google My Business listing with social posts. The content associated with your posts will be indexed by Google and help you increase the number of views your listing attracts.
  4. Post pictures to your listing and name these images with the terms that best describe what is in the image, along with your business name.
  5. Answer any questions that may be posted to your listing. You’ll receive an alert for these. Answering these questions help your customers learn more about your business.
  6. Update your business description for Google. You have 750 characters to use for your description, so fill this space with the keywords that best describe the services or products that you offer. This description helps your listing index with Google as well.

We’re happy to answer your questions or arrange to help you with these optimizations as an addition to your service contract with us. We’ve helped many businesses just like yours increase the views of their listing and the total number of calls, website visits and clicks on directions — all to increase sales.

Alerts Coming Your Way

When you sign up with 10|20 Marketing, we’ll be sure to send you an introduction with a link to your dashboard. You can bookmark it or wait for your reminder to arrive in your inbox every month. You’ll be pointed to your metrics directly from the email.

If you have any questions, feel free to reach out. We’re happy to walk you through the metrics and help you understand how to optimize further!

How to Change Your Address on Google My Business

10|20 Marketing recently moved. While we couldn’t be more excited to get settled into our new office, there was definitely some work to be done to get move-in ready for Google. Ready for Google, you ask? Of course! It’s probably just as important to optimize your new address for Google as it is to tell your bank, your suppliers and just about anyone who would send you a package. Simply put: because Google wants to send you customers and they can’t do that if they don’t know where your business is located.


Be Proactive And Tell Google You’ve Moved

It’s easy to get caught up in your move. After all, there is a lot to get done. But before you pack up your computer, head on over to Google My Business and change your address in the backend interface. You’ll find it in the “Info” menu. Just hit the pencil icon to the right of your current address and enter in your new address.

You may want to do this prior to the move as well. In some cases, changing your address will prompt a verification process that could take up to 12 business days. If you want to hit the ground running on the first day in your new location, let Google know ahead of time so the postcard with your PIN will arrive before you do. Once you have the PIN, you’ll be able to verify your new location within Google My Business.


Change The Information On Your Website

Remember to give your website some attention too. It’s not uncommon for businesses to have their address and phone number in several places on their website, such as within the footer and on the contact page. If you can’t handle the change yourself, make sure your webmaster knows about your move and the deadline for making the change.

It’s important to format your address the same way you did on Google My Business, as Google craves accuracy and consistency and rewards businesses that format their business address the same way across the web – right down to the comma or pound sign.


Add Pictures Of Your New Location To Google

Google loves your images. So why not give them some? This helps them understand the exact location of your business – try a few exterior shots – and helps visitors contextualize your location. Upload some pictures from the street or parking lot, take some photos of your reception or lobby. Even throw in some new pictures of your people. If you’re a store, show off your new merchandising approach. If you’re a restaurant, show the layout and size of your place. There are many different photos you can provide, don’t be shy!


Get Some More Reviews

While you’re in your listing, take a moment to check out your reviews. Have you had any new ones recently? Reach out to some of your bigger advocates by email, or create a handy shortlink to post in your store that points them to your Google My Business place ID. Take a look at our post here for some help getting this done.


Are You Listed On Other Local Directories?

Even though Google has the biggest share of the search market, it’s worthwhile claiming your business listing on other search engines too. If you’re listed on other directories, such as Bing, Yelp, FourSquare, Yellow Pages, and Facebook, or on mapping technologies such as Apple Maps or Here.com, you’ll want to provide each of these services with the same information you’ve placed on Google My Business and your website. This will entail digging out your passwords, logging into each of these platforms and manually editing your various listings.

Doing so can be tedious and may lead to inconsistencies or errors in your listing. One alternative is to opt-in to a service such as ours to syndicate your business information across multiple directories with one single push of a button. You provide all your business information, and it’ll be set up once and pushed out across the web. Your listing will be error-free and 100% consistent. An additional benefit? Google loves this consistency and will trust the business information you’ve provided to them even more when they see that it’s the same across the web.

This will lead to more views of your Google My Business listing. Which leads to more calls, clicks and business.


Change Your Address With Google Early

To recap, it’s important to be proactive when moving. Not just with the timing of the move itself, but also with the timing of the changes you need to make online. Get ahead of the timeline by providing your new business address and phone numbers to Google. Make those same changes to your website. Add pictures of your new location to your listing. And syndicate those changes across the web, maybe even with a little help from your friends at 10|20 Marketing.