Google My Business is a powerful tool when it comes to local search marketing, however most businesses do not grasp how powerful it can be and those who do can often struggle to get the maximum performance.

How do you get your Google My Business profile to the top of the pack for your local area? Well, depending on the competition you’ll need to sweat to do so, but getting there really is quite a powerful position.

In this article, we’re going to share six easy ways to give your profile that boost and doing them consistently will pay dividends in the long run.

Complete all the sections

This might be an obvious one, but completing as much information on your profile as possible not only shows Google that you’re serious about giving some love but is likely to help you rank above your local competition.

We recommend going through your profile in detail, ensuring it is correct and every relevant section is filled in. Use your keywords in the business description and remember to select the right primary category.

Reviews

Every business knows that reviews are important, however did you know that reviews can help boost your Google Business Profile above the competition?

When it comes to reviews, you can also beat a competitor who has more reviews than you with what the reviews contain. For example, if you’re a plumber in Maidstone and every review has the phrase ‘plumber in Maidstone’ in, you’ll be more likely to appear above a plumber that doesn’t.

Ok, so we know getting reviews can be a challenge, but it’s certainly worth pursuing. Do you have a system for collecting reviews?

Every business should be asking every customer to leave them a review… it only takes a few seconds and there are lots of tools available such as ‘tap to review’ cards that make the job even easier.

Photos and videos

Regularly adding high quality photos and videos to your profile shows Google that you’re active and care about how people perceive your business.

Doing so can help make a big difference, again, when it comes to where you appear. We recommend adding a few every week if you can, but definitely every month.

Show your address

The number of times we have clients ask for their address not to appear on their Google My Business profile is quite significant, but did you know that Google uses your address to pinpoint you for local search?

Yes, if you are a business based in Croydon for example and your address is Croydon where your competitor’s address is Orpington then you are more likely to show first. This is because Google pushes users towards local businesses.

Link your social media profiles

This is a new feature… did you know that you can link your social media profiles to your Google My Business profile?

Yup… it takes two minutes and is another great way for Google to know you care about your online look and fee.

Updates

The final piece of the jigsaw is to regularly share updates on your profile. A few times a week is ideal and we recommend embedding your address and keywords into the images.

Remember to also slot your keywords into your posts so Google can match you up when customers are searching.

We recommend that you go back through these tips and have a system to regularly keep on top of your profile. Not only will it help you show higher and generate more business, it will help you stand head and shoulders above the competition!