Your digital marketing agency had been asking you to claim your Google Business Profile. But why?

Google Business Profiles are a way for businesses to manage their online presence with Google. By creating and claiming a Business Profile, businesses can control how they appear in search results and on Google Maps. Businesses can also use their Business Profile to connect with customers through messaging, reviews, and posts. 

Why is it Important to Claim Your Google Business Profile?

There are many benefits to claiming your Business Profile. For example, by claiming and verifying your business, you can: 

  • Get insights into how customers find and interact with your business
  • Receive notifications when someone leaves a review or message for your business 
  • Update your business information quickly and easily 
  • Show customers that you’re responsive to their feedback

Advertise on Google maps by linking your profile with your Google Ads account

As a local business once you claim and complete your Google Business Profile, you

Get higher visibility in local searches: When customers search for businesses like yours on Google, your business name is more likely to appear if you’ve claimed and verified your Business Profile. For this reason your GBP plays a very important role in local SEO

Reach more customers: Customers can message you directly from your Business Profile to ask questions or get more information

Generate more leads: Customers can call you directly from your Business Profile with a single tap 

Creating a Google Business Profile

Creating a Business Profile is free and easy to do. Simply go to google.com/business and sign up with your business email address. Once you’ve created your account, you can start adding information about your business, such as your business name, website, contact information, hours of operation, products or services offered, and photos. You can also use your Business Profile to post updates about your business, such as special offers or events. Note: Post-creation options are only available once the business is verified by Google. 

Claiming an Already Existing Google Business Profile

If someone has already created a Business Profile for your business, you can claim it as your own. To claim your business: 

  • Go to google.com/business and click Sign In. 
  • Sign in with the Google account you’d like to use to manage your Business Profile. 
  • Enter your business name in the search bar and select it from the list of results.
  • Click Claim this business. 

Verifying Your Business with Google

In order to verify that you represent the business, Google will send you a postcard with a verification code to the business address. Once you’ve received the postcard, sign in to your Business Profile, enter the code and that will complete the process of verification. If you have multiple locations, you can claim each location separately in the same way. Now you can start managing your information and settings. 

Google My Business App

Once you’ve created and claimed your Business Profile, you can manage your information and settings in the Google My Business app. The app makes it easy to update your business information on the go. You can also use the app to respond to customers who leave reviews or messages for your business. 

Google Posts

The Google Business Profile Posts (Google Posts) are short posts that businesses can make about any offers, promotions, events, products, services etc. The posts contain mainly an image/video, text, and link. These posts typically appear under the business information on the Google Search Results page. People can click on the posts to view more details.

The posts previously used to be live for a shorter period of time (7 days) but now Google has considerably increased the duration these posts are live. 

Types of Google Posts

There are different types of Google Posts each with its own advantages. The type of post you make will depend on your business goals and what you want to achieve with your posts. 

Here are the different types of Google Posts: 

Offers: You can use this type of post to offer discounts, coupons, or promo codes to customers. 

Events: You can use this type of post to promote an event that you’re hosting such as a sale, grand opening, or meetup. 

What’s new: You can use this type of post to share news about your business such as a new product launch, expansion, or awards received. 

Products and services: You can use this type of post to showcase a new product or service that you’re offering. 

How SEO Service Providers Can Help

If you run a local business, it’s important to make sure that your Business Profile is claimed, verified, and up-to-date. SEO service providers can help you with this by optimizing your Business Profile for local search and making sure that your business information is accurate. SEO agencies can also help you generate more leads by optimizing your Business Profile for lead generation. 

For more information on SEO services, please contact us. We would be happy to discuss your specific needs and how we can help.