Jason Vaught

Founder of 805 SEO - Jason has over 20 years of experience in online and brick n mortar businesses. Now, he spends his time helping other companies with digital marketing and search engine optimization.

Google My business App

Want to improve your SEO and do it directly from your pocket? Then you need the Google My Business app. While Google has changed the name of this suite online to Google Business Profile, the app still has the My Business name we know it for. Whether the name changes, the benefits this app has for local SEO are off the charts.

Let’s be honest, most business owners don’t have a schedule or mental space that allows them to sit down and dedicate time to working on their business listing. They are too busy with things like doing-their-job. But most business owners keep our phones in our pockets and we can find a moment to make a minor change that can have a big impact on our local SEO rankings.

If you have not downloaded the GMB app from the Apple Store or Google Play, now is the time. You will want to take action on everything you learn from this article. Now, let’s look at all that you can do with your Google My Business App.

Request a Review

We know reviews are important for social proof and appearing “better” than the competition. But did you know that the reviews on your business page impacts your organic SEO, Google Map, and directory listings? Like organic listings, Google uses the terms and topics mentioned in a customer review as a part of their algorithm.

Having your clients be descriptive about their experience is a natural search engine optimization strategy to rank your services and build local intent. Whether you do it yourself or train office staff on how to request a google review with the app, it is a must do.

If those options don’t work, then hire a local SEO agency like us to manage those reviews for you. Reputation management is a necessary part of any local SEO strategy.

Reply to Reviews

As the business owner, you can leave a comment on any review left. While this may not increase your search rankings through keywords, managing your GMB listing from your pocket makes it easy to communicate with clients. It is easier to celebrate with those who enjoyed their visit or address anyone who had an issue with your service.

Did you know that 88% of customers admit that an online review influenced their buying decision? This is true both for positive and negative reviews. Replying to reviews can help magnify a positive review and mitigate the affects a negative one.

Create a post

GMB posts are an underutilized feature of local content marketing. Again, it is hard enough for a business owner to sit down and create an email newsletter to send to their clients. It is almost impossible to remember another office time commitment to making a GMB post. From your pocket, however, you can craft a 2-minute message about something you believe applies to customers searching for a local business.

A Google My Business Post lets you link back to your website, sending another signal to Google that this-page-matters. While this type of backlink may not directly help organic rankings, we can assume that they like it when you use Google Posts to link to your website.

Let’s look at some posts you can make.

Make an Offer

While making an offer sounds like giving away your hard earned money, it doesn’t have to be. You can offer extended services, complimentary products, or even have some fun with the “offer” like the picture you see here.

What’s New

The “what’s new” tab allows you to share any recent changes, improvements, or additions to your business or website. For example, this form of a Google Post can be a snippet of a recent blog article with a link that drives people to that page.

Events

Anything special going on at your business? It doesn’t have to be as big as a grand opening or black Friday sale. Maybe you have a guest coming in to guest speak? Or perhaps you are sampling out one of your products to anybody who shops that day?

You can even use your Google Events Post to broadcast an outside event that you will be attending.

“Come check out my booth at the Ventura County Fair and see our new artificial turf options.”

Product

Do you have a new product that everyone needs to know about? We do not reserve this post type for tangible goods, but can also include in-person or online services. It is a great way to promote any transaction related item you offer.

Update your Profile

Over time, all things change. For several reasons, your business may not have the same service offerings, products, business address & hours. Far too often you will find a business that has clearly not updated their Google My Business Listing. The result is the loss of a potential customer who finds errors and inconsistencies in your business.

With an on-demand business profile manager, you can fix those “oops” or add those “aha” moments quickly and easily.

Your 805 Local SEO Agency

Stop being the best kept secret and become a household name. At 805 SEO, we make you the local authority for the products & services you offer. We manage all things SEO, including your website, maps, and business listings, such as your Google My Business Page.