Have you ever wondered how businesses get that little snapshot to appear on the right hand side of a Google Search?
This is generated by their Google Business Page and it is a nifty little tool to get your basic business information across to customers quickly as well as increasing your rating within the search engines.
By having this page you can display:
- Contact details
- Opening times
- Map
- A link to your website
- A link to directions via Google Maps
- Photos
- And also allow people to write public reviews about your business.
But how is this relevant to my business as I already have a website and a Facebook page you might ask?
The core of Google is a search engine and that is what it does best; search.
Everyday, your potential customers are using Google to search for information and providers of your products.
In fact, 83% of your customers will connect with your business by way of Google – whether it be to find your contact details, website, trading hours or directions to your premises.
With the increased development in satellite technology on the world wide web, Google now pushes local listings to the top of their search results based on a mix of the shortest distance to travel from the current location or the location specified in the search and also the highest peer reviews. But where does Google generate these results from? – That’s right, your Google Business Page.
Whilst you may have a map or address on your website, unless it is submitted to Google’s map system, you could be missing out on appearing at the top of those searches.
Having a Google Business Page allows you to submit your business location and contact details right into the heart of Google’s database, which means that Google will scan that information straight away to determine whether your business is best suited for the current search someone has input.
As for reviews, you may have been trying to generate customer reviews on your website for months, or years perhaps with minimal success. A Google Business page provides an easy way for customers to submit a review which will appear publicly to gain more traction. It will also give your business a boost in terms of search engine ranking as it records a 5 star pointing system in it’s database and uses your average score to compare against other businesses in the same industry, it will then prioritise businesses with a higher score and recommend them to customers first.
Another added bonus of the Google Business Page is that you receive monthly performance reports which show you exactly how many people saw your business on Google, the number of people that used Google to find your phone number – and actually click the call button, and the number of people who used google to get directions to your business address.
A Google Business Page can show you the amount of clicks that are turning into actual points of contact much more accurately than your website statistics can – however, don’t get me wrong, your website statistics are still important in tracking your website data and you should use the 2 sources of information simultaneously to achieve optimum results. In fact, your Google Business Page will automatically determine whether you have Google Analytics activated on your website and will draw data from these results to determine elements of your monthly performance report.
So as you can see, there are so many benefits to having a Google Business Page – and the beauty of it all is that it is really easy to set up and doesn’t require a lot of maintenance – as long as your business details are kept relevant, Google will make sure you are found!