273: How To Start Optimising Your Google Business Profile

The Digital Tourism Show

17-03-2022 • 2 mins

Google Business Profile (GBP), formerly Google My Business, is the platform that gives your business the opportunity to show up on local or brand searches. But it is still under-utilised by most businesses I come across.

It is a platform that every local business owner should be aware of and use, given that the information you submit to your listing can appear in a number of different ways on the search engine, including the knowledge panel and maps.

Google Business Profile brings with it a whole host of benefits for local businesses, including helping them reach new customers, increase their overall visibility, and ensure that their customers can find information as easily and as quickly as possible.

Just remember: local searches go beyond the simple discovery of new businesses. Often, people are searching for directions, contact information, the busyness of locations, reviews, and more.

A Google Business Profile is effectively like having a free ad for your brand on Google. If someone searches your brand or keywords closely related to it, your listing takes up a 3rd of the screen’s real estate on desktop and sits between ads and organic search results on mobile. If you are old enough to remember, this is like the old premium listings in the Yellow Pages — but you don’t need to pay for this one! The amount of information you can display in your listing is incredible.

With this 5-minute workshop, I want you to set yourself a task by updating one aspect of your Business Profile each day. Once optimised, set yourself just 5-minutes per week to keep this updated with photos, videos and news. By doing so, you will increase your chances of your brand being found and increase your chances of gaining new customers.