SMX East 2019 Insights on Optimizing Google My Business Profiles
As a speaker at the "Google My Business From A to Z" session during SMX East in New York, I had the opportunity to address several questions from attendees about optimizing profiles, managing reviews, and handling location challenges on Google My Business (GMB). Here are my insights and recommendations:
Ensuring Accurate Pin Locations
Managing accurate pin locations on GMB can be frustrating, especially when Google occasionally makes changes based on inaccurate crowdsourced edits. Regularly checking and manually adjusting the pin is important. Utilizing the Timeline feature, which shows visited locations and times, can help provide Google with concrete user information if employees frequently visit the location.
Tracking GMB Profile Optimizations
To measure the effectiveness of GMB profile optimizations, it’s essential to start with a hypothesis about the expected outcome. Whether the goal is to increase phone calls or improve local pack rankings, tracking these specific outcomes can provide valuable insights into the success of your efforts.
Approaching New GMB Features
When it comes to adopting new GMB features, caution is advised. Past experiences, such as with GMB chat, have shown that investing heavily in untested features can lead to unforeseen challenges. It’s wise to test new features on yourself before recommending them to clients.
Key Focus for Google Maps Ranking
To improve rankings on Google Maps, maintaining an authoritative and relevant website along with accumulating positive reviews is crucial.
Removing Ads from GMB Profiles
Currently, there is no way to remove ads, such as those from Groupon, from GMB profiles. This forms part of the service Google provides.
Consistency Across Multiple Locations
For businesses with numerous locations, using similar bios or descriptions with only the location name changed is not necessarily detrimental for GMB listings. However, for location pages on your website, ensuring uniqueness can positively impact SEO.
Requesting Customer Reviews
Actively requesting reviews is key. Employing a review management platform can streamline this process and ensure efficiency. Looking into platforms like GatherUp can offer practical tactics for requesting reviews effectively.
Link Building for GMB
The focus of link building should be directed towards the website page for the location rather than the GMB profile itself. Strengthening domain and location page links can be a significant competitive differentiator.
Managing Service Area Information
The service area is controlled via ZIP codes, which is an imperfect but currently the only method to delineate these areas on GMB.
The Value of BBB Links
From an SEO perspective, BBB links may not offer significant value. The resources spent on BBB verification might be better allocated towards impactful marketing efforts.
Effectiveness of Location Schema
While having local business markup on a landing page might not directly boost rankings, it can aid Google in understanding complex local relationships, which can be beneficial for specialized queries.
Implementing Review Processes
Creating an effective review system as part of business operations involves selecting an appropriate system and may require the expertise of a consultant for optimal results.
Local vs. General Links
The distinction between local and general links might not be significant. Prioritizing obtaining high-quality links is more beneficial. Developing a robust link-building program will put you ahead of many other SEO efforts.
GMB Short Names Impact
Introducing short names for GMB listings has reportedly impacted rankings negatively in some cases. It’s important to assess the intended benefit before implementation, as there has been speculation linking short names to account suspensions.
These insights should assist in navigating the complexities of managing and optimizing Google My Business profiles effectively.
