Eliminate these errors, and see how your Google listing goes
Google likes Google at the moment.... more than your website
Myself and some SEO people (people who sit at their desks and try to understand what the heck Google is up to) have a theory…..
Google is promoting GOOGLE, not you….
What we mean is that Google Assets (YouTube videos, Google Business Profiles, Featured snippets ON the search results page, Google Ads), are getting a lot more love than YOUR website as time progresses.
Makes sense right??
Google would rather keep you ON Google, where they can put ads in front of you, than send you OFF Google, to someone's website.
It's just a theory, but it's gaining momentum….
SO - if you want to stand a better chance at appearing as high as possible on Google Business Profile (your business listing), eliminate these errors ASAP and see how you go:
1️⃣ Not posting. The “post” feature is there for a good reason. Use it. I recommend using it at the very least weekly. Just 2 weeks ago I audited a Google Business Profile that hadn’t used the POST feature EVER - a few posts later and they were ranking inside their local top 3. It really was that easy!
2️⃣ Not using the “products” feature. It's there on the left hand side of your Google Business Profile Manager - if you have products you can sell online or even just feature on your listing, do it. The more you can teach and show people about your business, the better for your listing and lead flow.
3️⃣ Photos not being added. A picture tells a thousand words right? One of our very first tasks with a new Google client is to find all the images that exist online (e.g. on Facebook), and add those to the Google Business Profile. It's a key part of our recipe for Google Success.
4️⃣ Not ‘engaging’ with the listing. Reply to ALL reviews. Turn ON the messaging feature. Reply to people's questions if they come through. These are real people, who are interested in your business.
5️⃣ Ignoring the “services” tab. This is important, the services tab tells people all about your business, and further, Google will often change this part of your listing with no notice! SO, get in there often, and pay attention to the services tab. Don’t forget to describe each service as well. NOTE - for some of our clients, this is a weekly MUST as their services get altered so often.
6️⃣ The listing name. Is your listing name as accurate as it could be? This one is slightly controversial - the name of the listing can be slightly different to your registered business name, as long as you are not keyword stuffing. If you are a personal trainer for example, is your listing called “Corey Hinde” or “Corey Hinde | Personal Trainer”?
7️⃣ Get more reviews. Build a system to get reviews. Reply to your reviews. Talk to customers about their experience with you, and ask for reviews. Businesses need a system to harness reviews. Simple one? Just email every customer asking for feedback and areas of improvement, then drop in your Google Review link as well.
8️⃣ Service Areas not completed fully - ensure you have completed as many relevant suburbs and localities as you can. This step is often missed, and might stop you from appearing on Google Business Profile results in certain areas.
9️⃣ The “info” tab is often not completed fully. Don’t forget to complete this area using all the capacity that is in there. Open dates are often missed, as are basics like inserting a different “contact” URL.
Before you go - we have a FREE Course coming up. It’s called “Get on top of Google”, and will help your business rank higher on Google.
Entirely free - just do these 2 things:
👉 Join our Facebook Group HERE - this is where we’ll be hosting the course.
and
👉 Subscribe to our YouTube channel HERE - most of the video content will appear there.
We’ll see you in the course - should be loads of fun!
Corey Hinde