How to Optimize Your Google My Business Listing

GMB is an essential part of any business's online presence. It's often the first place potential customer look for up-to-date information about your property management company. Check out the following tips for your GMB Listing.

Benefits

Your GMB listing has many benefits including a search user’s first impression of your business, it helps you get found via the Google Maps integration, increases your credibility by displaying online reviews, and helps increase your local SEO ranking. 

Check out the following tips to optimize your Google My Business Listing:

1. Claim Your Business Listing

   • If you don’t already have a GMB, conduct a Google search to see if one has already been created for you. If your business already has a GMB, claim it! 
   • To create an account, head to Google.com/business and sign in with your business Gmail.

2. Complete Every Section

   Completing every section of your GMB is not only helpful to rank you higher on the local search results, but it also increases the number of actions customers take when they find your profile.
   • Complete these sections right away
     • Name
     • Address
     • Phone
     • Website
     • Hours
   • Tackle these sections next 
     • Category and Attributes 
     • Products and Services 
     • From the Business 
     • Questions and Answers (Owner-generated queries)
   • On-going Sections 
     • Posts 
     • Reviews 
     • Questions and Answers (Consumer-generated)

3. Be Specific With Your Contact Information

   • Make sure your business name is identical to the one you use for your business. Adding location name (unless in your brand name) or keywords is considered spam by Google and you could be penalized. 
   • Ensure your business name and address match your other listings across the web. This includes “St” vs “Street” or “co” vs “company” consistently. Google’s algorithm takes these inconsistencies into account when assessing your credibility. 
   • Add your regular and holiday hours. This helps owners & tenants know when you are open and helps avoid a negative review left by someone who took the trip out to your office only to find it was closed.
   • Use all 750 characters, with key info in the first 250. • Repurpose content for your “About Us” page

4. Write Your Business Description

   The first section under your business name, you have no control over. This is the editorial summary that Google writes to ensure consistency across the platform. They do a pretty good job at it. You do have control over the “from the business” description, which often appears under the reviews section.
   
   Optimize the “from the business’ section of your Google Business Profile: •
   
   • Use all 750 characters, with key info in the first 250. • Repurpose content for your “About Us” page
   • Repurpose content for your “About Us” page
   • Use keywords your audience uses to find businesses like yours
   • Don’t repeat any information already visible in the other sections of your profile. Use this space to talk about what sets you apart from competitors and what customers like most about your business.
   • Don’t include links or HTML

5. Choose A Category

   • Choosing the category, Property Management Company is a must, and here's why:
     
   • Get found in discovery searches
     • 84% of Business Profile views on Google originate from discovery searches vs 16% coming from direct searches. This is especially true for businesses whose name doesn’t indicate their service.
   • Highlight category-specific features
     • After choosing Property Management Company as your category, Google will make category-specific features available. For example, you can include a section for potential owners to schedule an appointment.

6.  Add Photos 

   • Be sure to add quality photos on a regular basis. This shows Google you are an active user, your profile is up to date, which positively impacts your ranking. Do not include stock photos! Google wants you to represent your business as it appears in the real world. 
   • Geo-tag your photos to further indicate to Google your prominence in your area.

7. Get Google Reviews 

   • If you were to get a list of businesses in search results like the one below, which one would you be most likely to choose? The one with four attractive yellow stars or one of the others with no reviews at all? 
   • Google knows that reviews are the #1 influence on potential customers, so this is a key ranking factor in their algorithm. For most searches performed on Google, the first three local results that appear (in what is known as the “Local 3-Pack”) are the ones with multiple reviews and solid star ratings. 
   • In addition, Google may also display a Business Profile in search results if it has reviews that contain those keywords.
     * Interested in Reputation Management? Check out our integration with Reputation.com here!

8. Post To Your Google Business Profile

   • Just like your social media platforms, you can post to your Google Business profile about announcements, offers, events, and services. Posts are created in your GMB dashboard and show up on the “Updates section toward the bottom of your business profile.

9. Ask And Answer Questions

   • Anyone can ask a question on a business Google profile, but anyone can answer. This can lead to inaccurate information. Set up alerts so you can stay on top of questions and answers posted to your profile.
   • Make a list of frequently asked questions your business gets. Then ask, answer and upvote your answer on your own profile. This does not go against Google’s terms and conditions. In fact, Google encourages it.

10. Add Your Services

    • Adding products and services is especially helpful if your offerings are not made clear in your business name. Populating this section also adds content to your profile that can help it to rank for even more relevant searches.

11. Maintain Your Business Profile 

    • GMB is not a one-and-done marketing task. It’s a local marketing tool that requires ongoing action in order to increase your online presence and maximize your benefits. This includes:
      • Publishing Posts
      • Updating Photos
      • Consistently Getting Reviews
      • Monitoring and Responding to Reviews
      • Staying on Top of New Features