Google My Business, GMB to its friends, is an essential tool for boosting your local SEO. Created in June 2014, GMB allows you to centralize all the information relating to your business, with the tool replacing both Google Places and Google + Local. Google My Business is a kind of online local directory that takes its place to the right of the SERPs, it’s an excellent way of providing additional information to internet users searching for your business on Google.
Google My Business is also a particularly interesting tool for working on your company’s local SEO. GMB was created to help Internet users easily find businesses that are well listed in the geographical sector they are looking for, or the businesses that are geographically closest to them.
What is a Google My Business listing? Why is it useful for boosting your local SEO?
What is local search engine optimization?
Local SEO is a method of boosting your presence on local search engines. This SEO technique is unstoppable for shops or restaurants, for example. If someone in Nantes is looking for a painting company to paint the walls of their house, they will naturally type in “Nantes painters”. Google will then suggest the addresses (with a map) of several painting companies located in Nantes in the area where the user is geolocated. In the list of addresses, Google will also provide user reviews and a link to the website.
A website design agency will also help you set up your local SEO.
What is Google My Business?
In practical terms, Google My Business is the digital (and improved!) version of our good old directory. Each Google My Business listing contains a whole host of valuable information about a wide variety of businesses and areas of activity, including shops, public institutions, SEO agencies and even doctors.
On a Google My Business listing you’ll usually find (if the business has filled in all the fields correctly): the address, telephone number, Google My Map location, customer reviews, opening times, photos, products, questions/answers about the business, a description of the business’s activities and related searches.
Google My Business allows you to interact directly with the business through questions, photos and reviews.
Google My Business has the advantage of being accessible to all types of business. It’s a free tool, so it can be used by tradespeople, SMEs, large companies, medical professionals, etc.
Another advantage of GMB is that it can be accessed on computers, tablets and mobile phones.
Why can Google My Business improve your local listing?
Local referencing is one of the most important levers of visibility in natural referencing. It’s an excellent way of boosting website traffic and generating qualified traffic. By filling in your Google My Business listing, you’re taking advantage of two SEO strategies: you’re bringing more customers to the geographical region where your business is located, and you’re improving your visibility on search engines.
Using a natural referencing company can help you boost your local SEO
How do you fill in your Google My Business listing?
The Google My Business listing can be filled in easily and free of charge. All you need to do is create a Google Pro account and start by answering the questions that Google will ask you to find out more about your business. In particular, you’ll need to specify the name of your establishment, address, telephone number, website link, business category, opening hours and a presentation of your services. You can also add a photo of your business.
In particular, you’ll need to specify the name of your establishment, address, telephone number, website link, business category, opening hours and a presentation of your services. You can also add a photo of your premises or your logo.
Once you have completed your listing, Google needs to validate it before you can activate your service. This validation is done via a code sent either by SMS or by post. Once activated, you can optimize your Google My Business listing by filling in all the suggested fields. In the description section, don’t hesitate to write a relevant text that includes your target keyword. Ask your customers for their opinions and respond to them. Here again, you and your visitors will be using a semantic field that will help boost your search engine optimisation. Don’t hesitate to add categories and sub-categories too. Google My Business also lets you create articles in which, for example, you can talk about the latest news from your business (these are temporary posts).
Once you’ve put your Google My Business listing online, you can analyze the statistics, such as the number of times your listing has appeared in search results, the number of views of the listing, the number of clicks displaying an itinerary and the number of clicks to access your telephone number. The Google My Business dashboard will also allow you to analyze the keywords used by users to access your listing.
