by Mark Goren | Jul 10, 2019 | Blog, Listings Management
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.
by Mark Goren | Jul 4, 2019 | Blog, Listings Management
10|20 Marketing is proud to now offer three big additions to our Core 15 plan – Waze, Uber and Navmii. While existing clients will be migrated over to our new package, all new clients will benefit from these three tremendous additions to our lineup. With the availability of these three networks, we’re able to help you reach more people with the most important apps and directories. Because we’re committed to ensuring that your business location gets in front of as many people as possible.
With this in mind, let’s take a quick peek at each of these networks.
Why Waze Is So Important For Small Business Owners
Waze is a free turn-by-turn navigation tool that allows its users to contribute traffic reports and report on delays, speed traps, police presence, cams and more. It’s a GPS tool with user-generated input that has 110 million monthly users in 185 different countries. Waze users spend an average of 438 minutes (7.3 hours) per month in the app, turning to it for their commutes, grocery store runs and other daily chores. This is exactly the audience you want to be in front of every day. In addition, Waze is the second most popular navigation app, right after Google Maps. Adding Waze to your web presence is a powerful addition that increases your coverage on important navigation networks.
Why Uber Is So Important For Small Business Owners
There’s nothing worse than getting a ride and being taken to the wrong destination, particularly if you’re paying for that ride. It’s a problem we’ve helped clients solve over and over again. Being listed with Uber helps solve this problem and gives your customers confidence that they’ll get to you. Why is this service so essential to your business? Consider these numbers:
- 93 million people are actively using Uber
- There are 3.9 active Uber drivers
- An average of 17 million Uber trips are taken every day
- Uber service is available in 700 cities in 65 countries
- The service represents about 70% of all U.S. hailing business.
Uber is a key addition for our clients that we’re proud to offer.
What Is Navmii?
Navmii is a few things. For one, it’s a completely free, voice-guided, turn-by-turn offline navigation app. It leverages crowd-sourced data from over 850,000 contributors. It also is a decade-old mapping and navigation service that provides Google with unique data, primarily about location.
The system uses crowdsourcing and AI technology to build both traditional map data for navigation systems and HD map data for autonomous cars. Their website goes on to explain:
The focus of the company is the development of data and tools that enable companies to collect and create map data at a fraction of the cost of traditional mapping companies. Navmii is available in 197 countries and its eOSM map data is available in North America, Western Europe and other key countries. Navmii has already collected over 2 billion miles of data via crowdsourcing, which it uses to create its own map data set.
Getting listed with Navmii puts your business in front of more users, period.
How Our Clients Benefit
We’ve always considered our Core 15 package to include a “Big 5”: Google My Business, which puts your listing on Google Search and Google Maps, Facebook, Apple Maps, Bing and FourSquare. Today, with the addition of Waze and Uber, we can now confidently say we offer a Super Seven. Your location will gain more coverage on better directories and become even more findable online.
To learn more about our service and our Local Listings Management packages, book an appointment to speak with us today!
by Mark Goren | May 23, 2019 | Blog, Case Study, Listings Management, Online Reviews
One of our clients is a relatively new custom jewellery wholesaler with a family tradition of over 70 years behind it. They were referred to 10|20 Marketing by another one of our clients – they wanted help with organizing and optimizing their existing Google My Business listing and getting on other online directories. Though the reputation of the owners was well known in the community, the new business name and location were not.
The following is a Local Listing Case Study about a jewellery business that shows how adding posts and online reviews to your Google My Business listing can have a significant impact on the number of times Google presents your listing in search results. With more views comes more website visits and other purchase intent-based actions.
BACKGROUND
Maison Goldberg Bijouterie has worked with 10|20 Marketing since November 2018. When we first met, the client explained that their website was changing, notably with the addition of an e-commerce platform. Also, they were starting to establish a following on Instagram and Facebook, but relying solely on organic growth.
After meeting with us, the client decided to move forward with three of our services:
SERVICES DESCRIPTIONS
Our local listings management offer helps clients own, organize and optimize their listing on Google My Business and the web’s other most relevant directories, such as Facebook, Yelp, Bing, Foursquare and Apple Maps. We make sure that all the information in these listings is consistent from one directory to the next by monitoring them for changes from directory users. The more consistency you build across the web, the more Google rewards your business with views of your listing.
Review marketing helps clients monitor their online reviews and respond to them from a single platform. Also, our clients can send email or SMS invitations to their clients, asking them for Google reviews. The best reviews can then act as marketing content, sent automatically from our platform to the client’s Facebook or Twitter account as a post or tweet. Google appreciates these authentic reviews and will again reward businesses with more views as new reviews come in. Gaining new positive reviews also helps businesses solidify their credibility with people searching for what they offer.
To understand Google My Business posts, you’ll have to think of a Google My Business listing as a social media channel. As part of your listing, you’re able to add business updates or product descriptions with photos and links. Google My Business posts are powerful because they allow you to add more written content to your listing. The more content, the more terms you feed into Google to index for your listing. For Maison Goldberg Bijouterie, we post content at least twice a week.
RESULTS
Maison Goldberg Bijouterie’s goal is to build awareness of their business, establish credibility and build online sales. After accessing data from the Google My Business platform, we have a year’s worth of data from before the client started working with us and five months of data since being placed on our Local Listings Management and Review Marketing platforms.
Here are the monthly averages for views and action clicks, as well as the total number of reviews before subscribing to our service and after:
|
Before
|
After |
Difference |
% Increase |
| GMB Views Per Month |
871
|
1,917
|
+1,047
|
+120%
|
| GMB Actions Per Month |
26
|
65
|
+39
|
+150%
|
| GMB Reviews |
2 |
17 |
+15 |
+750%
|
While these numbers are impressive to us, our client is even happier.
“We’re thrilled with the way we’ve been able to increase the visibility of our business with the help of 10|20 Marketing,” says Keely Goldberg, owner of Maison Goldberg Bijouterie. “More specifically, though, we’ve listened to their advice on how to approach building a deeper bank of reviews on our Google listing and we’ve received authentic reviews from our clients about their experience working with us – all in a very short time. This helps us establish immediate credibility with people who are looking for our services and helps us create more business.”
The proof is in the charts as well. Have a look at the 18 months of data we’ve collected.
We believe that this is the beginning of the first new plateau, as we discussed in our optometry case study. Also, by helping the client generate reviews, they’ve been able to maintain a stellar 4.9 average rating on Google. This is a reflection of their excellent personalized service and their ability to drive the right reviewers to their profile. While we can’t help with the former, we do help with the latter!
MOVING FORWARD
We monitor metrics on an ongoing basis to help our clients understand the impact of our optimizations on their Google My Business listing. In the coming months, we will continue to collect and trend the client’s metrics, digging out insights and suggestions to continue to improve their results. Of course, we’ll work with the client to generate more reviews, post new content to their Google My Business listing and continue to build consistency with their listings.
We’ll leave the last word to our client. “10|20 Marketing has helped us understand and utilize all the tools that Google has to offer,” says Keely. “Our business wouldn’t be where it is today without their help.”
Thank you, Keely! We’ll update this case study in the fall to see where these metrics stand.
10|20 Marketing Case Studies
We invite you to read our other case studies to learn how our services have brought tangible value to other clients in different industries.
Get educated on local!
Take advantage of our advice, tips and handy how-to content to help your business get noticed online. Visit our blog today to see what’s new!
by Mark Goren | May 16, 2019 | Blog, Case Study, Listings Management
One of our clients is a very well rated pizza restaurant located in mid-town Montreal. Reviewers have often cited that their pizza is the best in town, with one reviewer even claiming that it’s the best pizza in Canada. Like every restaurant owner, though, our client is always looking for ways to increase the number of orders that come in. They want their phone to ring more, online orders to increase and they can never have enough walk-in clients.
The following is a Local Listing Case Study about a pizza restaurant that showcases how getting your local listings organized, consistent and error-free can help increase your sales through Google My Business.
BACKGROUND
10|20 Marketing has been working with Pizza Prima since May 2018. When we first met the owners, they explained how they really see an increase in orders when they send out flyers. We shared the benefits of optimizing their Google My Business listing and, for $100 per month, they decided to try our service.
For the 12 months prior to working with us, their Google My Business account delivered monthly averages of:
- 160 calls;
- 138 clicks for directions;
- 264 website visits.
We set out to increase those numbers. And we have – big time!
OPTIMIZING GOOGLE MY BUSINESS
When a client chooses to work with us, we collect all of their pertinent business information, including their address, phone number, business hours, business description, photos, links to their online properties and more. We then syndicate this information across the 15 to 35 most important online directories. This extends their web presence and creates consistency across the web that’s difficult and time-consuming to maintain manually.
The best part? Google rewards this consistency and, as a result, places more value on the information you’ve given to them. While we have clients who opt-in for services to further optimize their listing, Pizza Prima does not. They wanted to see how our starter package would impact their sales.
RESULTS
Fast forward 12 months and we now have a full year’s worth of data to evaluate. We can definitively say that there’s been a real increase in the number of action clicks on the restaurant’s listing. What’s an action click? That’s the total when adding up all the clicks on the call, directions and website buttons from within a Google My Business listing.
Here are the monthly averages on these action clicks before subscribing to our service and after:
|
Before
|
After |
Difference |
% Increase |
| Calls per month |
160
|
235
|
+75
|
+47%
|
| Directions per month |
138
|
207
|
+69
|
+50%
|
|
Website clicks per month
|
264 |
330 |
+66 |
+25%
|
CALCULATING RETURN ON INVESTMENT
Now here’s where the increase in action clicks becomes really interesting. When Pizza Prima assigns a value to these improved metrics, it’s easier to understand what they’re getting for their $100 monthly fee. This means answering two questions:
- How does each of these different actions convert to an order?
- What is the average value of a sale?
First, let’s look at how each of these actions converts to a sale:
| Metric |
Increase
|
Conversation Rate
|
New Sales Created
|
| Calls |
+75
|
90%
|
67.5
|
| Directions |
+69
|
90%
|
62.1
|
| Website clicks |
+66
|
20%
|
13.2
|
|
|
TOTAL
|
142.8
|
Adding up the “Sales Created” totals, we see that Pizza Prima is getting about 143 new orders a month. That’s almost 5 more orders a day than they were getting before working with 10|20 Marketing.
While our client told us what his average sale is, we’re not at liberty to disclose it. A quick Google search suggests that a fair industry average is $20 per order. The results are tangible:
143 new orders per month * $20 average value of an order = $2,860
From the optimization of their Google My Business listings, Pizza Prima has generated approximately $3K in new business a month. Put another way, that’s about $36,000 a year.
For a small business with one location, that is a significant difference.
MOVING FORWARD
Pizza Prima has nowhere to go but up. What can they do next to further optimize their Google My Business listing? So many things:
If they choose to move forward with any of these ideas, with or without the help of 10|20 Marketing, they’ll bring more attention to their Google My Business listing. And with the increase in views will come an increase in the total number of actions generated. So, more phone calls, website visits and map clicks. The math is easy from there.
CONCLUSION
10|20 Marketing was able to help Pizza Prima increase their sales by about $3,000 per month. Without any further optimizations, building consistency and cleaning up errors in their most basic business information across the web has increased Google’s trust in the restaurant’s Google My Business listing. As a result, Google has presented this listing in search more often, which helps Pizza Prima get more calls, clicks and walk-in visits.
Today, we continue to monitor this client’s listings through our local listings management platform, and we provide monthly reporting to the client so the impact is transparent. This ensures that the consistency they’ve built across 15 directories is maintained, which in turn helps Google continue to trust the information we’ve provided to them. We expect that new plateaus will be hit in the coming months, furthering the benefit for our client.
10|20 Marketing Case Studies
We invite you to read our other case studies to learn how our services have brought tangible value to other clients in different industries.
Get educated on local!
Take advantage of our advice, tips and handy how-to content to help your business get noticed online. Visit our blog today to see what’s new!
by Mark Goren | Sep 27, 2018 | Blog, Case Study, Listings Management
One of our first clients is a well-known optometrist in downtown Montreal. While on our platform, we’ve helped them grow the effectiveness of their business listing on Google My Business (GMB) in a significant way. The following is a Local Listing Case Study for Optometrists that shows how giving your Google My Business listing some love can help increase awareness of your location and drive actions from your listing.
Background
When our client first came to us, they were averaging under 15K monthly views of their listing on Google My Business. Their business was well established in one of the city’s best-known areas, and we knew that their listing was underperforming. Shortly after signing up, the client was planning a move to a new location. We advised them to get their listings in order before the move and have us make changes once we claimed their location.
Level 1 Google My Business Optimization
Our platform works by automating the process of updating listings across 15 to 35 Tier One Online Directories and mapping technologies. Google My Business appreciates this because it uses other directories to verify and corroborate the information it has for your business. By pushing all the same information to these directories, ensuring that all the littlest details remain consistent across the web, Google places a higher value on the information you’ve provided to them.
Even if you do nothing else to optimize your listing on Google My Business, creating this consistency across the web offers significant potential benefits.
Results
In the six months immediately after joining our platform, our optometry client saw an immediate increase to an average of 24K+ views of their listing on Google My Business. These views represented an immediate improvement of 69%.
Over the next six months, however, we saw tremendous growth, as the client settled in with a new average of over 45K listing views. This represented a 217% increase in views when compared to their metrics before joining our platform.
The Plateau Effect
Using raw numbers, you can see what we call “The Plateau Effect” taking form.
Without any further optimizations, such as employing a review building strategy or adding Google Posts to their listing, our client established two new plateaus for listing views. The difference between the two levels is what’s so stunning, as their average increased by over 21K views per month when comparing the second increase to their first.
For those who are skeptical, we have seen the same effect for clients across several sectors, including other professional services business and medical clinics.
Benefit
The main reason for wanting to increase views of your listing is to increase actions from those views. You’ll note that people who view your Google My Business listing have options to call you, visit your website or look up directions to your location right from your listing.
For our optometry client, we’ve been able to increase action clicks by 20% overall. This increase means that they are enjoying more calls, walk-ins and website visits from their Google listing.
This chart clearly shows that their action clicks have enjoyed the same Plateau Effect as views have.
It is normal for actions to increase at a slower pace than views, as these two metrics don’t scale. Views increase awareness of your location and actions increase location visits. Both are important.
Conclusion
10|20 Marketing was able to help its optometry client increase views of their Google My Business listing by 217% and action clicks by 20%. After optimizing their listing, we were also able to change their address on 15 Tier One Online Directories quickly and easily with consistency.
Today, we continue to monitor their listings through our platform, which uses an automated process to ensure that their listings stay consistent across the board, maintaining their advantage with Google’s crawlers. Doing so helps businesses reach new plateaus over time.
