If you run a brick and mortar and business I’m sure you’ve heard of Google My Business (GMB). It is an excellent (and free!) way to gain exposure for your business.

This article is going to show you how you can drastically improve your results.

In fact, my business partner and friend Yoli Dick (you can find her under yoli.dick on Instagram) has been able to generate these results using these same methods I’m going to share with you today!

With that said, let’s get started!

Fill out your profile completely

One of the biggest mistakes I frequently see business owners make is they don’t bother to fill out their profile in its entirety. 

Why is this a problem?

Your profile contains keywords that help Google know when your profile is relevant to show in search results.

If your profile does not contain many keywords, you’ve essentially lost out on the opportunity to turn up in a variety of search results that may potentially contain ready to buy customers looking for what you’re selling.

So how do we fix this?

I like to start by listing out relevant keywords that your customers are likely searching for when it comes to your products and/or services. For example, a plumbing company should be using intuitive keywords like plumbing, plumber, toilet repair, water heater, etc.

Once you have your list of keywords, write out a clear and concise description that contains as many of your most important keywords as possible. Remember that you don’t earn brownie points for using the same keyword twice.

Add high quality photos of the interior and exterior

This step is often skipped when it comes to many GMB profiles. You want to show people the exterior of your business and surrounding areas to help people gauge where you are located. Additionally, you want to showcase the inside of your business in a way that highlights the customer experience, cleanliness, and friendliness of your location.

In order to boost the quality of your photos, make sure you take them in natural lighting and avoid taking outdoor photos in direct sunlight. If you aren’t confident in your ability to take high quality photos, consider investing in a photographer. 

Post different offers 3 times per week

GMB gives you the option to create posts. This is (in my opinion) where most, if not all businesses fall short.

If you want results like the ones below, please take this step seriously.

You can post about a variety of different things, I suggest you post about

• Offers
• Events
• Promotions
• Benefits
• Products
• Services
• Important updates

Luckily, you can automate this in a software called [INSERT SOFTWARE]. 

Keep in mind, it’s important to be consistent with this. Measure your results based on a quarterly basis. You will not see results overnight and you certainly won’t see them if you aren’t able to be consistent with it long term.

Encourage positive reviews and respond promptly

Another mistake many business owners make is they don’t implement a strategy to generate positive reviews. Satisfied customers should be asked for a review in-office to help increase the number of positive reviews being posted.

Additionally, you should take reasonable measures to ensure the customers who are walking in your doors are getting a positive experience that they want to talk about. A lot of this comes down to providing excellent customer service.

Remember that Google takes the number of reviews you have into consideration when it comes to determining the ranking and unfortunately negative reviews can compromise this.

While you can’t directly control whether or not someone leaves you a negative review, you can ensure that satisfied customers are being encouraged to leave positive reviews which can help protect you and your business.

Use backlinks to rank high in Google

For those of you who don’t know, backlinks are simply links to other websites that boost your own credibility.

For example, in another article, I linked back to Facebook’s definition of reach. This is because Facebook is a highly credible website and Google will look positively on this.

Another strategy is to include internal links. These are links that link to other articles on your website. This can be a smart strategy to get people to visit your services pages or keep them on your website by referring them to other potentially helpful articles that are related to the topic they might be looking for.

Danielle recommends having at least one backlink and one internal link.

Include tags

Tags can be used to not only help your readers find relevant articles to the topics they’re interested in, but tags can also give you an SEO boost too!

If there are well-known public figures mentioned in your articles, make sure you include tags of their name. This increases the chances of your blog showing up for users who are also searching for them!

Google favors consistency

So how often should you post? For optimal results, you need to show up consistently. It’s important to keep a balanced schedule however because you don’t want to burnout.

For example, I wrote 52 blog posts in 2022 so that I wouldn’t need to worry about them in 2023. This allowed me to pre-plan my digital marketing strategy without feeling overwhelmed. 

You might be more disciplined than I am and able to come up with weekly or monthly blog posts. But whatever schedule you decide, make sure it’s consistent!

In Summary

If you want to rank high on Google, make sure you implement a strategy and remember that starting a successful blog doesn’t need to be that difficult - you just need to consistently work at it!

Interested in growing your business’ online presence? Join my free IG Growth Accelerator training and learn how you can grow your business on social media for free!