Unlocking Local SEO with a Google Business Account in 2023.

Google My Business (GMB) is an incredibly powerful tool for local businesses to drive growth and optimize their local SEO. With the right approach, GMB can be a highly effective tool for reaching local customers and growing your business. In this blog, we’ll look at what GMB is, why it’s important, how to set up and optimize your GMB account, and how to get the most out of GMB to grow your business. Let’s get started.

What is a Google Business Account?

Google My Business, or GMB, is a free tool from Google that allows businesses to manage their presence across the web. With GMB, businesses can create and optimize their Google listing, manage reviews, track analytics and insights, and more. It’s a great and affordable way to get your business brand out there and reach local customers.

Setting up a GMB account is easy and straightforward. All you need is a verified Google account and some basic information about your business. Once you’ve set up your account, you can access all of GMB’s features and manage your local presence.

Why having a Google Business Account is important for your business.

One of the most important reasons is as of January 2022; Google owns 91.9% market share of web traffic on the internet. 

If you’ve heard the saying, “All roads lead to Rome.” Well, when it comes to the internet, all roads (internet traffic) originate and are sent out from Google. So your GMB account will be the starting place for other directories and websites to link to your business. Doesn’t that sound like a place where you would want yourself and your business represented? 

So, having a GMB account is essential for any business looking to optimize their SEO and grow their web traffic. In addition, GMB offers various features and services designed to help local businesses reach local customers and grow their businesses.

GMB makes it easy for businesses to create and manage an optimized listing on Google and other search engines. This listing will show up when customers search for your business on Google, giving you more visibility and helping you reach more potential customers.

GMB also offers powerful insights and analytics, so you can track how your listing is performing and make changes to optimize it. You can also manage reviews and respond to customer feedback, helping you to engage with your customers and build relationships.

Finally, GMB allows you to create targeted campaigns and track their performance to see what’s working and what’s not. As a result, GMB can be an incredibly effective tool for driving local SEO growth with the right approach.

How to set up a Google Business Account

Setting up a GMB account is easy and straightforward. All you need is a verified Google account and some basic information about your business. Once you’ve set up your account, you can access all of GMB’s features and manage your local presence.

The first step is to create your business profile. To do this, you’ll need to provide basic information about your business, such as your name, address, phone number, and website. You’ll also need to upload a profile picture and cover photo.

Once your profile is set up, you can start creating content. For example, you can post updates, photos, and videos to your profile and create offers or promotions to help drive traffic to your business.

Tip: Regarding content for your GMB, the more information you can add about your business, the better. After all, Google’s primary function is the analyzing and sorting of words. So give them everything you have to work with, so they can drive more traffic to your website and business.

If you want a GMB account for your business but don’t have the time or know how to set it up, here at StoryWorks we’ve got you covered. The first step of our Local SEO services is to help you create your Google Business account and optimize it so your business will grow. 

To learn more about StoryWorks Local Seo just go to StoryWorks.Marketing/loca-seo-serivces

Optimizing your Google Business Account

Once you’ve set up your GMB account, it’s time to start optimizing it. Optimizing your account is essential for getting the most out of GMB and reaching more local customers.

Aside from having all your information entered into your account, one of the most important pieces of outranking your local competitors is choosing the right category to describe your business. 

You can have the best GMB account possible, but if you choose the wrong category, your business isn’t going to compete. 

TIP: The best way to determine your business category is to search Google for the product or service you provide. Then see what businesses rank as the highest for those keywords you searched. If you have a local competitor who has a GMB account and you KNOW they are taking business away from you. Do some spying, pull up their GMB listing, and see what category they’ve listed for their business. Because if it works for them, it will work for you too! 

Benefits of Google My Business for Local SEO

Google My Business offers a variety of benefits for local businesses looking to optimize their local SEO. Here are just a few of the benefits:

• Increased visibility: GMB makes it easy for businesses to create an optimized listing on Google and other search engines, helping you to reach more potential customers.
• Insights and analytics: GMB offers powerful insights into how your listing performs, so you can make changes and optimize your listing for better results.
• Engagement with customers: You can manage reviews and respond to customer feedback, helping you to engage with your customers and build relationships.
• Targeted campaigns: With GMB, you can create targeted campaigns and track their performance to see what’s working and what’s not.

Google My Business Services

Here at StoryWorks, we can help you to create, set up and optimize your Google My Business account for your business. 

We will: 

• Collect all of the information to create your GMB account.
• Create your account and help you to set it up.
• Research (spy on 😉 your competitors and see what works for them.
• Develop a Local Business strategy that puts a bullseye on your competitor and take the necessary steps for you to outrank them on Google.

For more information on our GMB services and Local SEO, go to StoryWorks.Marketing/Local-SEO-Services

Tips for Optimizing Local SEO with Google My Business

Optimizing your local SEO with GMB is essential for getting the most out of the platform and reaching more local customers. Here are a few tips for optimizing your local SEO with GMB:

• Keep your profile up to date: Make sure all your information is accurate, and your profile picture and cover photo are optimized.
• Choose the best category for your business to compete.
• Track your performance: Take advantage of GMB’s insights and analytics to track how your listing is performing and make changes to optimize it.
• Engage with customers: Make sure you’re responding to customer reviews and engaging with them on social media. Engaging with your customers is key to building relationships and driving local SEO growth.
• Utilize targeted campaigns: Create targeted campaigns and track their performance to see what’s working and what’s not.

Tracking and Analyzing Your Google My Business Performance

GMB offers powerful insights and analytics, so you can track how your listing is performing and make changes to optimize it. With the right approach, you can track and analyze your GMB performance to identify areas of improvement and make sure your listing is reaching the right customers.

GMB also allows you to track the performance of your targeted campaigns, so you can see what’s working and what’s not. This is a great way to optimize your campaigns to get better results and reach more local customers.

Here at StoryWorks, we provide you with a personal and customized Dashboard for the Local SEO for your business. With this Local Dashboard, you can see at a glance your:

• Ranking Analytics
• Local Search Grid (See exactly how you are performing on a map.) 
• GMB Analytics – See how many people have visited your listing and how many calls, requests for directions, and website visits you have received. 
• Reviews- One of the more helpful features of your dashboard is it pulls in all of your reviews across the internet and places them into one single and simple-to-use location. 

Conclusion

Google My Business is an incredibly powerful tool for local businesses to drive growth and optimize their local SEO. With the right approach, GMB can be a highly effective tool for reaching local customers and growing your business. If you want to get the most out of GMB for local SEO, set up your account, optimize it, utilize GMB services, and track and analyze your performance. To learn more, go to StoryWorks.Marketing/Local-SEO-Services or Schedule a Call with Tim Yates and let’s grow your business!