poro movie owners treat their Google business cards, websites, fanpage and other places on the web as something you need to do to get out of your head and wait for the effects. Unfortunately, this is not how it looks. Maybe it used to be enough, but today you have to keep up with the needs of your audience and provide new content for customers, as well as Google search algorithms.
To maintain our position in Google search and maps, we cannot be dinosaurs that the world has forgotten. Sometimes small changes and updates are enough to show the online world that we care.
Sometimes it also happens that customers visiting our company will change its address, location or opening hours. It may even happen that a poorly set location will lead to the fact that our company will be reported as permanently closed.
How to get 1# place in Google search in 15 minutes
In this post I will show how in a few steps we can do audyt our Google business card and increase its value. Of course, this is not a guide “How to get 1# place in Google search in 15 minutes”, but if we repeat the steps described in this entry, we will get a little closer to this goal.
Everything I describe here, you can do using the Internet browser, or the My Company application, which is available in the App Store and Play Store. So you can do it even while standing in line at the post office.
Recommended actions by Google
You can get some tips right after logging into your account. This is your plan, which you will see on the right. These are quick tips from Google on things you should take care of first on your business card.
Basic data
So let’s start with the basic data, whether they have not changed by chance, or we have not left some error there. You can access them on the left in the administration panel on the website or at the bottom in the My Company application under the Profile tab.
- Location of the company (address) – In the “Information” tab under the name of the company we will find our current address. Let’s check if everything is correct, if we moved our premises, customers may not come to us.
It may even happen that by changing the location of a company with good opinions, a place of our competition will be created there. Where we will direct our clients, because it will coincide with our subject matter.
If you do not have a location such as a store or office – Google recommends leaving this place empty. Next we will be able to determine the area of action.
- Pin on the map – by editing the address you can also check the pin that appears on the map. Here will be the directed people from Google Maps after entering your address. It is worth checking whether it leads straight to the entrance to your premises or indicates its exact location. It does not always match the address of the premises, which leads to confusion.
On New Year’s Eve we lost more than 30 minutes looking for a place that was located between the pavilions of clubs, pubs and restaurants, and the pin was set 500 meters away, which only confused us.
- Served areas – here we mark the area of our services on the map, we can enter specific cities, provinces, countries. There is nothing to exaggerate, because even if we mark the whole of Poland, as a local company from Warsaw, we will never be higher in organic search results, e.g. in Wrocław. Unless someone is looking for us by the name of the company.
- Hours (opening) – If they have changed recently, it is worth updating them, because a lot of people already use Google Maps in search of a company open at given hours. It is worth remembering to update the data in every place where we have given it, so as not to introduce confusion.
Custom working hours – it’s a good idea to add opening hours on holidays and other days when you plan to change and control this information to keep it up to date. We can do it some time in advance, and if we go on vacation, add a post with information that you can not find us at the company’s headquarters.
Phone – depending on the industry, an up-to-date phone number is essential. Just imagine a pizzeria that has an error in its phone number – a disaster!
At this point, it is worth noting that if you have such a possibility, it is worth providing a landline number, if you have one. The company then looks more reliable. If you care about a landline number, but you do not have the opportunity to bring a phone line, you can take advantage of the orange offer and get a landline number on a SIM card. (works in an area of several hundred meters from the given location)
- Short profile name – this is a short name of the profile, which we can determine ourselves. By default, the address of our business card is a conglomeration of letters and numbers. Here we can do the so-called. an alias of our website, after which it is easier to find us.
- Website address – it is worth checking whether the link to the website works and is active. Sometimes you can adds:// to http if you have purchased an SSL certificate (it’s worth it). You can direct customers to the website on your server or other sources, i.e. like a Facebook fanpage.
If in Google My Business you used the “Website” option, which creates a simple landing page for your company, check if you have not redirected traffic there. You could then confirm it as it shows below.
Here we can create a simple business card. Useful if you do not have a website yet.
If you have your own website or fanpage, it is better not to mark it.
Additional elements important in building a brand on the Internet
In the photos tab you can add your photos and videos and see what your customers have added.
Logo – check if it is up-to-date and of good quality. It is important that it is added in the appropriate place for this. This is your hallmark.
Cover – this is a photo that is highlighted in the search results on your business card. It is strongly exposed, so it is worth making sure that it best presents what your company presents.
On the right, a blue button with a plus for adding photos. Remember to select the appropriate category.
Photos & Videos – In the business card we can add several categories of photos and videos. It is worth making sure to add them to the appropriate bookmarks. These are:
- An overview of all photos, including the logo and cover. The rest is by default arranged by dates.
- From the owner – photos added by you.
- Photos from customers – photos that your customers have added.
- 360 – panoramas of you and your customers and a virtual walk that you can create for your company.
- Video – your films, in which you can talk about your services and products, videos while working or recordings of your clients.
- Interior – here you can add photos of your premises in the form of ordinary photos.
- From the outside – a photo of your premises from the outside. It is worth adding here, first of all, a current photo of the entrance to your premises from near and far, to make it easier for visitors to find it.
- At work , these are photos that show how you work when creating products or providing your services.
- Team – Your photos and your employees so that the customer can get to know you better.
- Identity – here you will find the logo and cover, which I wrote about. You can only add one cover and logo. If you have changed them before, they will appear here.
Respond to customer feedback
I will not write here about the importance of opinions on the Google business card, but I assure you that it is worth remembering about them. It is thanks to the reviews that we can establish contact with the customer. Not only the one who left positive reviews, but also to show visitors that we are not indifferent to negative reviews and solve the problems of our customers.
You can find them in the Reviews tab on the left.
Negative and positive customer feedback – all are good
It is worth replying to every opinion, regardless of whether it is positive or negative. You can thank for the good ones, and refer to the bad ones or solve the case.
We will not remove the opinions ourselves, and everyone sees them, so it is worth facing them. But by solving the customer’s problem, we can convince him that we did not deserve one star.
If you install the application on your phone, the matter is simple, you can reply to it almost as easily as to the sms. It is worth having notifications about them enabled, because a quick response makes a positive impression on everyone.
Google listing posts
Just like on Facebook or our blog, we can post entries in the business card. We can provide you with news about our company, offer and events that we organize. During the Covid-19 pandemic, a special type of entry has appeared here, which can inform customers about new opening hours or the way the company operates.
It’s a good idea to add them on average once a week, because after that time they disappear unless you specify a different date range.
If you already run a blog, fanpage on Facebook or other social media, you do not have to think too much about what to add on your business card. You can take a few extra seconds and add these entries here as well, now that you’re all set.
Offers and products on the business card
If you have more time , you also have the option of adding your offer and service. You can find them in the tab on the left – Services. If you run an online store, there is no point in listing 1000 products here, but if you provide services, it is worth adding here only a few of the most important ones, which are most often searched for by your customers. You can add only the services themselves, and at the next opportunity add their description and prices. Set yourself a reminder.
Some things are worth doing regularly and setting e.g. a reminder on your phone as often as you think. You can do it once a week or once a month. You can also divide these works into smaller stages and use 5 minutes every day, e.g. instead of browsing Facebook and Instagram.
It is worth remembering about opening hours during holidays, your holidays or exceptional situations, i.e. during the Covid-19 pandemic, when Google gave special tools for this, which I describe here . Because it is not worth losing customers by bouncing off the door, because we forgot to inform them that we are closed or we are closing earlier.
