Introduction
You may not know it but as a business owner you possess one of the best ways to gain new customers in the palm of your hand. According to Google 88% of consumers who search for a local business on their phone visit or call within 24 hours.
How can you capitalize on this? By understanding how to increase google business profile traffic of course. This article will teach you why profile optimization matters, and provide you advanced actionable steps you can take to unlock the power of your profile.
Why Google Business Profile Optimization Matters
If the statistic we covered about about 88% of consumers starting their search with Google was not a enough for you
Also according to Google “Near me” searches are increasing across almost every category, with people combining locally sensitive searches with other intent signals. In fact “Where to buy” + “near me” mobile queries have grown by over 200%.
The power of growing your google business profile audience and getting it seen by the right people at the right time is critical to improving your online presence and increasing the number of potential customers you bring in from online channels.
And while a business listing is only one part of a comprehensive marketing campaign its use can’t be stated enough.
A well optimized profile can also provide you the ability to perform better in local search results, promote your products or services and simply give your local customers to find your business easier.
A Note Before We Get Started
The strategies we cover here will be highly actionable going beyond the basic information most articles give you. All of the methods we laid out above can be done on your own at your own pace and have been tested and proven to work to generate organic visits for your google business profile.
Some of these methods will be more advanced than others. We encourage you to try all of them to see what works best for you and if you or team wants us to handle these marketing tactics for you, reach out to a member of the Cindtoro team.
1. Perfect Your Core Information (Beyond Just Hours)
Your core profile information is the most important part of your profile listing. It should present up to date accurate information, display your address and phone number and other attributes such as accessibility info for those that are disabled.
Optimize your Business Categories
Perfecting your information is about more than just having an accurate phone number and address. Google news to know how to categorize your business. Adding a category is a major factor for their understanding of the types of customers you can serve.
On the Google Business Profile (GBP) there are two different types of categories, primary and secondary ones. The primary category is where you should place what your business mainly does whereas the secondary categories can be used to help Google understand any other sub industries you help.
Include Other Information Such As An Opening Date Or Accessibility Information.
Providing as much core profile information as you can will help Google help pair you with the right types of clients.
So In addition to having your business name and address filled out you should also add hours of operation, the types of people you service and any relevant accessibility information for disabled users.
2. Use Local Keywords in Smart Places
Using keywords can be your best friend but there is a fine-line. If you use too many you will be penalized. If you use too few then you will struggle in the rankings and won’t be found by your ideal customers.
If you want to get it right you need to know how to use them properly as well as how many keywords to use.
Relevant keywords allow your business to be found for relevant searches. Without them you will have almost no chance to get your business location to the top of the Google Map Pack.
Where should you add Keywords Your Profile?
- Business Description
- To Your Products / Services
- On Google Post
The placement of keywords matters a great deal. The more you have in strategic places the better you will perform.
First and foremost keywords should be added to your business description. This will help you increase your relevance for local searches and improve your listings presence.
Other places you can look to add keywords are your products or services and throughout your post that you make.
The keywords you use in these places should be related to your business and the core products / services that you offer as a company.
Keywords Research Tools To Use
There are a number of keywords research tools you can use to prove your business. Google Trends is a good tool because it helps to uncover which keywords are “trending” during a specific point of time. This helps you identify the relevant terms your customers use to find your business.
Alternatively you can also use paid tools such as SEMRush or Ahrefs. Although we should warn you that these tools can be complicated to use and have a bit of a learning curve.
3. Upload SEO-Optimized Photos & Videos
Google lets you upload two different types of media photos and videos. Using both instead of one or the other will give you the most advantage. Although most just utilize imagery as it is easier to create.
Uploading SEO optimized photos and videos can take some work but the payoff is well worth it. An image or video considered SEO optimized when it is named descriptively, contains alt text keywords and geotagged for location specific EXIF data.
Here is an example of an SEO optimized file name:
my-new-black-kitten.jpg is better than IMG00023.JPG
The practice of geotagging images for Google My Business is a hotly debated topic in the SEO community but in our experience it has benefits.
Google’s systems are destined to surface content based on location and proximity so adding additional tags to your images will help to further enforce the presence of your profile.
There are a number of GEO tagging tools you can use to add location data to your photos a popular one that the Cindtoro team likes to use is called GeoImgr it can be found here.
Optomial Google Business Profile Photo Sizes
If you decide to forgo geotagging your photos and do not want to take any additional steps to add alt text keywords ( we advise against that ) you need to at the very least ensure that your SEO optimized images are the correct size for both your Google Business Profile and Google post so they display correctly.
Photo Guidelines
Here are Googles exact guidelines to have the best looking photos
- Format: JPG or PNG.
- Size: Between 10 KB and 5 MB.
- Recommended resolution: 720 px tall, 720 px wide.
- Minimum resolution: 250 px tall, 250 px wide.
- Quality: The photo should be in focus and well lit, and have no significant alterations or excessive use of filters.
Video guidelines
Your videos should meet the following requirements:
- Duration: Up to 30 seconds long
- File size: Up to 75 MB
- Resolution: 720p or higher
4. Leverage Google Posts Strategically
Many business owners don’t know but you can post on your Google Profile. Post can be used in a number of different ways.
Think of them like mini social media updates for your business except the “social media” platform is Google.
A post can also be used to promote events, temporary offers, products / services, and encourage your clients to leave Google reviews.
Google Business posts at one point of time would expire after 7 days but an update was made to allow them to last for 6 months.
This means that if you are consistent with your posting you will receive better compound effects and enhanced SEO.
How to Track The Effectiveness of Post With UTMs
If you want to improve your google business profile engagement then you will need to know how to track it. Performance tracking ( depending on the post style) can be done with UTM links.
Here is what a UTM code looks like:
UTM links allow you to add specific parameters to your URLs that pass specific data from a link that was clicked into Google Analytics. This allows you to see which post drives traffic and which does not.
Google Business Post image sizes
Google Business Post have their own recommended image sizes different from regular photos or videos we covered above.
Google will fit any size or aspect ratio you upload. However to achieve a high quality photo look it is recommended to upload photos or videos with a 4:3 aspect ratio.
If you don’t want to do that then keep your main subject centred. This will keep cropping to a minimum.
Uploading photos larger than 1200px wide is not recommended as Google compresses them, resulting in fuzzy images. This may change with future algorithm updates.
- Image format: JPG or PNG
- Aspect ratio: 4:3
- Photo size: 1200px x 900px recommended (480px x 270px minimum), up to 5mb each
- Video specs: 720p resolution minimum, up to 30 seconds long and 75mb per video
5. Review and Respond To Review Requests Thoughtfully
Did you know that responding to Google reviews can help increase Google Business Profile traffic and enhance your local SEO?
We have an entire article on the importance of Google review and the impact that responses can have on your overall traffic linked above.
There are a number of fancy tools you can use but in our experience these things are not necessary. They add unnecessary cost to your business especially for something that is free.
6. Optimize the Q&A Section
A well known secret of the SEO community and anyone who cares about their Google Business Profile Optimization knows about this trick.
We are going to assume that you do not. To enhance your profile you can ask AND answer common questions about your products, services, or business as a whole.
This method is openly accepted at Google and in fact encouraged by them because nobody will know your business and the questions that customers ask better than you the owner.
To make this strategy work pre-load your most common questions with keyword optimized answers. You should also monitor for new questions and respond as fast a possible to show responsiveness.
A best practice here is to sprinkle in keywords throughout your Q&A section as best you can. Don’t worry about doing this intentionally, just make a semi conscious effort and they will come naturally. This will help you generate additional organic visits for google business profile.
7. Monitor Insights and Make Data-Driven Changes
increasing google business profile traffic is easy if you know how to use the data to your advantage. This can be done by monitoring your insights and making strategic updates as needed. Profile performance can be found by going to your profile on Google and clicking on the performance tab
From here you will be able to see your profile views, number of calls, direction request and what keywords trigger your profile to show up on Google Search.
Once you have this information specifically the keywords and phone call information you can then create posts that contain the keywords that will help enhance your traffic.
If you would like to get more phone calls you can then create Google posts that prompt users to call your business.
Another thing you should get in the habit of is creating a monthly optimization routine. This will help you continuously uncover new insightS and data you can use to drive your GBP profile forward and increase your audience engagement.
8. Link to Your GBP in Key Places
linking your GBP will help to improve your traffic and increase your online presence. This will also provide your current and potential clients a way to find your physical location easier.
Linking your profile does not have to take a long time and can be done by adding it to company email footers, social media bios, your website and directly listing.
9. Keep Your Profile Fresh
To continue to attract more visitors to your google business profile update it as often as possible. Regularly updating your information will allow you to keep your edge in the Google Map Pack and maintain your visibility.
Google rewards profiles that are active over those that are not. Here are some Ideas to keep your profile fresh and active: regular posting, adding new high quality images, seasonal info or temporary business hours.
Conclusion
Attracting More Visitors To Your Google Business Profile (GBP) can be done but only if you know the best ways to do it. Using Cindtoro’s professional marketing experience you can take your profile from no traffic to a flood of new potential clients in no time. Don’t have the time or If you need help promoting your company to the next level with local SEO reach out to a member of the Cindtoro marketing team today!