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Why is Google Maps (formerly Google My Business) Important for Your Business?

Jon Jo Krupski
Jon Jo Krupski

Published: October 15, 2021

Last updated: April 27, 2022

Table of Contents

Last updated Tuesday 26th April 2022 by Jon Krupski

On April 5 2022, Google announced that they are replacing the Google My Business app with Google Maps. Google Maps business profile, now merged with Google My Business otherwise known as “GMB” and formerly known as Google Places for Business, offers companies and businesses alike an easy and great opportunity to appear in Google search results, but the best thing about creating a Google My Business listing is that it’s completely free of charge.

Turn people who find you on Google Search and Maps into new customers with a free Business Profile for your storefront or service area. Personalize your profile with photos, offers, posts, and more.

What is a Google Maps Business page and who needs it?

Google Maps Business listing provides you with the ability to list your business or company listing (and optional location) on Google Maps and local search results. 

You can display important information about your business including your contact details, the opening/closing times, a phone number, directions to your business address and a link to your website with a simple click from google search engines. More recently Google has also released a new feature allowing you to post a link to articles or up and coming events as well as special offers or promotions that you may be running. We’ll talk more on this later in the article.

The listing is free and a necessity for all businesses that want to allow their customers to find or contact with them as long as they have an internet connection. If your business is an online business and you don’t have a physical store then you should still consider having a Google Maps listing (Google My Business page) – you can toggle the address off in the settings however this will limit certain features such as embedding your google reviews on your website should you so wish to.

Optimising Your Google Maps business page

After you’ve set up and claimed a Google Maps Listing (Google My Business page) for your business (You can do this here – you will need to verify your address by postcard regardless of whether you want your address to appear or not to ensure that you are a real person, business or company), the next step is to make sure it’s optimised to the max and that you have filled in all of the important information. You should aim to include as much information as possible on your Google Maps (GMB) listing as you possibly can to stand out among the rest and get ranked better.

If people search for something relevant to your business and find your business in the search results, their next step will be to click on your business profile to find out more information, such as contact details, website, phone or directions if you’ve listed them.

The way people search changes often and information needs to be accessible as soon as possible to gain their attention. If you haven’t set an accurate business address then it won’t be easy for potential customers to physically find you. If your business has a location or shop that it sells from and isn’t easy to find, then people will simply go somewhere which can be found.

This is the online environment most businesses must now compete in, so make sure your business is taking advantage of the way people are searching online (predominantly google) and don’t lose out on potential sales or the opportunity to attract new long term customers.

Improve Your Businesses Local Search Visibility

Setting up your Google Maps Business listing is one of the simplest, most effective ways of setting your business up to be found online – you can even set up a free website with a click of a button via google maps business if you don’t have one. Search terms are becoming more geographically specific over time and Google’s algorithms have been developed to consider user intent to the best of its ability and it’s getting a lot more clever.

You’ve probably done a Google search at some point such as, ‘coffee shop near me’ or ‘hairdresser near me’, if so then you’ll notice that Google returns a list of four locations on a desktop or three locations on a mobile device where you can visit based on your current location. The three businesses that have shown as a result of your (mobile phone) search query have a GMB page and are one step closer to attracting you as a local customer.

If these places did not have a Google Maps listing (formerly Google My Business page) then they would not have shown up and you probably wouldn’t have found them if you didn’t know the area. Think about this when writing content about your business along with whatever product or service you may be selling. How can local searches benefit your business and what might you be missing out on without one?

As Google makes regular updates to its algorithms, code and search technology, if you want to get found in local search terms via google you need to have a Google Maps Business listing and update it on a regular basis when you make any changes or are offering any seasonal services. 

Writing your GMB Description

Take the time to write an accurate description to add to your GMB listing and try make it as local as possible (if relevant to your business) wherever you can so it’s more relevant to the user looking for it. Your business description is used as an overview about what your business does and keywords related to your business can be used here – try to write something short but descriptive so that your customers can read what makes your business the right one and what makes it different to your rivals. Your GMB description can be up 750 characters but you should try to make the first few sentences as relevant to your business whilst adding keywords at the same time (We recommend 3 to 4).

Add Posts to your Google Maps Business

above shows how to create an offer on GMB.

You can now share your business content to your GMB profile as well as promote events, special offers, products and services. Your chosen content will show in Google search results and map results as and when your GMB profile shows in a relevant search.

To add a new post all you have to do is go to your GMB account and select ‘create a new post’. We recommend for you to upload an image as people tend to buy pictures and you can write up to 300 words of text or publish an event, which should include the start and end date.

You will then have an option to add a call-to-action link with a selection of button choices including ‘Learn more’, ‘Reserve’, ‘Sign up’, ‘Buy’ and ‘Get offer’.

The post option is a great tool with powerful features allowing you to promote offers, what’s new, events, products or services. The post/offer/what’s new/Event/Product options are at the top of the post editor as you can see in the image in the left and will last for 30 days as standard. You can optionally select the start date and end date that you wish to run it for before it expires and you will need to replace it with a new post. Google will send you an email notification to remind you to do this – we recommend that you run these regularly for optimum results.

The screenshots of Elite’s GMB page on the right here shows (above) how we used the post feature to push a discount code for one month. When you scroll further down you will see additional options which allow you to show a discount code or even a discount link. You can add up to 10 images but one typically suffices for special offers as well as a clear title. And the image below shows the final result which you can preview before publishing.

If you have set up Google My Business, but haven’t yet used the posts feature then we hope you now know enough to give it a go. Elite gains a lot of success from this

final result with promo code after publishing.

Remember to keep your posts up to date as Google loves fresh content.

Add Up to 10 Photos or Videos to GMB posts 

As of February 2020, you can now add up to 10 photos or videos to Google posts. This means you can do much more to push your posts, products and reviews to stand out from the competition. Images and videos can help tell a story and the ability to add multiple images will definitely benefit e-commerce businesses as it will help you add multiple images of products. As you can see below, the Elite team tend to post up customer reviews and and products which gain a healthy number of views almost instantaneously.

Above shows a small segment of our logo, cover photo and examples of images we share on a regular basis.

Adding Images on GMB on a Regular Basis will help.

You may have added your main images such as the exterior/interior of your business, your logo, cover image and your team pictures, but you shouldn’t stop there. Post images as often as you can on social media as well as GMB at the same time. You can even post directly on GMB and optionally share the link anywhere! This will show Google you’re both active and more trustworthy/reliable and it will favour you when it comes to showing you higher in map or local search results. 

Collect Reviews

Image shows 5 star rating from reviews under call to action buttons.

If you want to rank higher in search and map results then collect as many reviews as possible. Reviews will show customer and potential customers what people actually think about a business and are a key factor when it comes to ranking in local search. These days google reviews are arguably the highest form of social proof to your potential customers and help them make their decision on whether to do business with you or not. The best way to collect reviews is to ask your customers for them. Speak to your customers about the service that they have received and if they are happy then send them a link to your google reviews. You can retrieve the gmb reviews share link by doing the following:

  1. On your computer, sign in to Google My Business.
    • If you have multiple locations, open the location you want to manage.
  2. In the left menu, click Home.
  3. In the “Get more reviews” card, you can copy your short URL to share with customers.

Mobile

  1. On your mobile device, open the Google My Business app My Business. Updated (Google Maps App)
    • If you have multiple locations, open the location you want to manage.
  2. Tap Customers and then Reviews.
  3. In the top right, tap Share Share.
  4. Copy your short URL to share with customers.

When customers click your link, they can rate your business and leave a review.

Respond to Reviews

You should always respond to your customer reviews. This, again shows google that you are an active business and that you are proactive with your profile. It may even work in your favour if you’ve become a victim of fake reviews and help when applying to remove them.

Whether bad or good responding to reviews to either say thank you or sorry for the bad experience will set you aside from rival businesses as people will read them and often look at bad reviews first.

Once you have enough reviews you can begin to promote and boast this on review pages on your website. You can embed your google reviews with links to your review page like this – please note, if you don’t list your address then you will not be able to embed your reviews on your website. This is an issue and something we have reported many times.

Sign Up and Reap Benefits of Google My Business

Make sure that your business has an accurately detailed Google My Business page. By not taking the time to create and optimise your own GMB page you’re missing out on arguably the best free ways of appearing in Google search results and Google Maps results. This guide should provide you with enough knowledge to optimise your page, so make sure you do it as a matter of urgency and like everything, with practice and consistency you will be updating and posting on your listing with your eyes closed and could potentially see the benefits instantly.

Here is a step by step guide to setting up a GMB Page to get you started.

If you would like to know more about local SEO for your website then why not speak to a member of our team from any country or location 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. We’re always happy to help.

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Jon Jo Krupski
Jon Jo Krupski
Jon aka JJ joined the Elite team in 2015 and helped build our product line until 2019. With a keen understanding of all aspects of marketing, from SEO to email, Jon now writes for the Elite blog. Previously, he worked in advertising and journalism, writing for local newspapers in the UK before pursuing his career in digital marketing. Jon is a huge fan of the MCU and is a keen advocate of the future of the web world.

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