Google My Business is an essential tool that every business, even B2B businesses, should be using in 2020. Having an up-to-date Google My Business profile ensures that your customers can find you, get ahold of you, read reviews from other customers and more. With Google My Business (GMB), customers search for the average business over 1,000 times each month, with only 16% direct searches and the remaining 84% from discovery searches, according to a survey done by Bright Local.

Seven ways to optimize your Google My Business profile this year:

#1: Ensure that your business information on GMB is accurate

Check to make sure that all of your information on Google My Business is accurate. This includes name, phone number, website, address, hours and more. If you have multiple locations for your business, it’s also important to make sure that your information is consistent across all of your various Google My Business profiles.

#2: Set your primary and secondary business categories

There are thousands of potential categories available in Google My Business, so make sure to be specific here. Be sure to choose the category (or categories) that most accurately describe your business, but don’t overdo it. You’ll have the opportunity to add products and attributes as well, which can help your business rank for relevant searches.

Curious about other ways you can audit and assess your brand’s online presence? Download our Digital Visibility Audit.

#3: Claim your short name (and short URL!)

A short name and URL on Google My Business makes it much easier for customers to find you. When you create your short name, people can find your business profile by searching “g.page/[shortname]”. You have up to 32 characters to create your short name. If your business has multiple locations, keep the short name consistent across locations such as “g.page/panboston” and “g.page/panorlando”

#4: Encourage your customers to leave reviews

Encourage your customers to leave reviews on your Google My Business page, and make sure to monitor and respond to these reviews. A simple automated email campaign should be enough to generate reviews of your business, or even follow-up text messages or phone calls.

Want to learn more about encouraging customer advocacy across your organization? Read our guide, “Managing the Empowered Customer: How to Build a Voice of the Customer Program that Fits Into Your Marketing Formula.”

#5: Post consistently

Similar to social media, this is a way that you can engage with your customers for free. Posts stay live on Google My Business for seven days before becoming hidden, so it can be helpful to post time-sensitive content such as:

• Limited-time sales and promotions
• New product announcements or business news
• Events that your business may be hosting

#6: Write a solid description for your listing

It’s essential to write a clear, concise and engaging description for your Google My Business profile. This is a free way that you can help potential customers learn more about you and your business. You have up to 750 characters (although, only 250 display until your customer has to click the “more” button), so keep it short and sweet while also giving people a reason to learn more about you by visiting your social media profiles or website.

#7: Review Insights and Optimize

Similarly to Google Analytics, Google My Business provides data on how your Google My Business profile is performing. Regularly reviewing these insights can help you learn more about how your customers are searching. The platform details how many impressions you received over a time period, how many people viewed your listing on search and maps, how many people called you as a result of this search, etc. These are important metrics to keep an eye on to better understand your customers, how they are searching for you, and the types of actions that they take on your profile.

Optimizing beyond Google My Business

As your brand looks to recover from the turmoil that the pandemic has caused, taking advantage of free tools like Google My Business to amplify your business’ searchability and customer reach is important. These seven simple things can make your business much more accessible to your customers, driving better website traffic and engagement.

Once you’ve completed these steps and optimized your profile, consider revamping other aspects of your marketing program. Small adjustments to your executive thought leadership, content marketing and media relations efforts can make a worlds difference in your brand’s awareness and revenue. Learn more from our Recovery Strategy Resource Center.