Google My Business is a great business accelerator. However, it is by no means just a platform for listing your business. Instead, this platform dynamically connects you with customers, and it provides a channel for site traffic.
Establishing a stable foothold on Google My Business is one of the best strategies for bringing your company in front of new and old audiences. Everyone before holidays, especially this pandemic, is shifting to online shopping than traditional in-store shopping. By this, your eCommerce SEO should be in place.
When establishing a new online presence, one of the primary objectives is finding a way to put your business at the forefront. Once you’ve acquired visibility on Google My Business, there is no turning back.
GMB almost always guarantees success as it offers a plethora of possibilities, like adding updated business information (including service and product updates), rapid CTA options, and the ability to respond to consumer comments, reviews, and sentiments.
The holidays are mere months away – is your Google My Business listing ready for the best season for businesses?
If you haven’t considered the professional management of your GMB profile, check out these statistics:
- Photo-enhanced listings are 2x more likely to be trusted and receive 35% more clicks.
- 49% of GMB-listed businesses receive on average 1000 more clicks.
- An estimated 90% of the global population only looks at the first page of SERPs.
- Profile recency (80%), legitimacy (81%), consumer sentiments (79%), consumer reviews (78%), and business images (64%) are the most significant factors that influence users who view GMB listings.
- 90% of all customers read reviews before making any buying-related decisions. Therefore, high-quality reviews of your business should reflect in the platform for the best results.
- 20% of customers who write reviews on platforms like GMB expect a response within one business day.
- Every month, an average business receives 59 actions from their Google My Business listing.
- Between Monday and Friday, businesses receive 94% of their calls from the platform.
- The best time to expect a call from GMB is between 10 AM-12 PM.
Preparing Your GMB for the Holiday Season This 2021
- Remember the Fundamentals
No matter how GMB evolves, the fundamental best practices will continue to work. People visit GMB listings for they can find correct information, foremost. So, make sure that the person you hired to manage your GMB listing knows the basics of search engine optimization.
Yes – SEO rules still apply to GMB listings, even if Google technically develops the platform. For example, if you have holiday merchandise, optimize the descriptions of these products.
Also, think of how you can optimize for long-tail voice searches and text-based searches. Usually, text-based searches are “near me” searches. All the complex data show that people always start their search online, even if eventually, they buy from a brick-and-mortar store. The internet guides consumers every step of the buying process.
Next, take a good look at the essential business details on your GMB listing. Remember to audit your store hours and business days open. GMB has a unique listing function that allows businesses to set special hours.
If your business is open late to accommodate holiday shoppers, make sure these special hours are set well ahead of the heaviest weeks of holiday shopping. Also, it wouldn’t hurt to check if your physical address is correct (ditto for details like parking availability) and, of course, your phone numbers. Imagine losing sales because you forgot to update your primary phone number.
And finally, let’s not forget the content you’re posting on GMB. If you exert plenty of effort on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram, don’t let your GMB profile lag behind these networks. GMB listings appear before potential customers click through; the listings are literally in front of potential customers even before they see your Facebook profile. Keep your content fresh and relevant, and you’re going to reap the benefits.
- Add Those Offer Posts
Business owners often forget that GMB has an offer post feature. What better way to put those holiday deals in front of potential customers than making offer posts on GMB? Unlike standard update posts on the platform, offer posts will live longer than a week. Don’t forget to add campaign parameters to the offer post URLs, so you can monitor how they perform on Google Analytics.
On top of promoting holiday deals, offer posts can also be used for value-added services like free gift-wrapping and consultations. Around 52% of shoppers believe that getting special offers is the best experience than getting the lowest price. And to make those offer posts even more unique, don’t forget to add animation whenever possible!
- Prepare for the Holiday Spike In Inquiries
A lot of businesses complain that people aren’t generally in the mood to interact with companies online.
However, the opposite is valid during the holiday season. People flock to online stores and other digital marketing spaces to look for things to order, and they come bearing a lot of questions. Therefore, you have to plan to be more responsive. The following steps can help you accomplish this.
- Be on high alert for customers posting feedback and reviews. Whether they’re happy, unhappy, or something in between, you have to be aware of what people are saying. It’s best to sort out unhappy or negative reviews as quickly as possible – and whenever you can, request people to change their thoughts of your business once you’ve addressed their complaints.
- Write and publish a holiday FAQ. Since it’s the holiday season, it’s a good idea to answer common customer questions. Use your experience and expertise to create a helpful FAQ to help customers find what they need and answer questions that may discourage them from writing. Include detailed sections tackling holiday returns in your FAQ if you have extended business hours on Christmas Eve and your entire shipping process.
- Activate and assign staff to GMB Messaging. However, if you will active GMB Message on your listing, make sure you have staff to answer inquiries. If Google is already surfacing your GMB listing, there will be an influx of inquiries and letters during the holiday season. Also, check if your GMB listing looks good on mobile, too.
