Learn how to optimize your Google My Business profile for success.
Watch the full course for free: https://bit.ly/2Zgtu2P

0:13 Google My Business (GMB) or Google Places
0:36 Where your business information can be found
2:00 Your GMB profile is your new homepage
2:23 How to claim or reclaim your location
5:16 Upload videos
5:39 Get familiar with your GMB Dashboard
5:51 How to track your performance using GMB Insights

✹ ✹ ✹ ✹ ✹ ✹ ✹ ✹ ✹ ✹ ✹ ✹ ✹ ✹ ✹ ✹ ✹ ✹ ✹ ✹ ✹ ✹ ✹ ✹ ✹
You might find it useful:
Apply your newly acquired knowledge by practicing with SEMrush and build up your real-world skills.
Go to Listing Management:
➠ https://bit.ly/3bJZQpi

Learn how to improve your website's visibility locally, globally, and on mobile searches in our free course:
➠ https://bit.ly/2WJBxDF
✹ ✹ ✹ ✹ ✹ ✹ ✹ ✹ ✹ ✹ ✹ ✹ ✹ ✹ ✹ ✹ ✹ ✹ ✹ ✹ ✹ ✹ ✹ ✹ ✹

Your Google My Business – or GMB - profile is your business listing on Google, where you're able to tell Google specific information about your business. It's a direct interface with Google's entity information about your business.

The information is displayed to users in several locations. The most common location is the knowledge panel box that appears to the right side of search results when someone searches for your business name. Your GMB info also appears if you show up in the map pack, or as a result in the local finder page, which shows up when you click “more places” at the bottom of the map pack. Your GMB info is also displayed whenever someone searches for your business in Google Maps.

But like I said, the most common spot your Google My Business info appears is in the GMB profile, which is the info box that appears to the right of search results when someone searches for your business.

And I've got a crazy concept to share with you today…

Your Google My Business profile is your new home page.

For years, we've all been told that the home page of our website was of vital importance, since that was typically the first impression we'd make with potential customers. But that's no longer the case.

If someone needs your phone number to call you, it's listed right there at the top of your profile. No need to click through to your site.

If someone needs your address to get directions, it's right there at the top of the profile too. So they're not going to your site either.

Your profile lists your hours of operation, and your customer reviews, and shows photos of your business… all the things that customers used to visit your website to see.

So now, your GMB profile is your new home page. It's the first impression you make with potential customers, and, for many local businesses, the only impression you'll make.

You've got to have an awesome profile to attract more customers. An awesome profile also helps you show up more often in local searches.

Before you do anything else, you need to be sure you've claimed your location. Most of you will already have this knocked out, but if you're not sure, just head over to google.com/business and log in. If you've claimed your location, it will be listed here. If not, you'll need to go claim it. Simply click the “claim this location” link on your GMB profile.

If there's no link there, then the location has already been claimed. Check with your staff members (possibly even past staff members) to see if anyone claimed it on their own Google IDs.

If you need help reclaiming your profile, it's usually easiest to contact Google My Business support on Twitter. Just tweet to @googlemybiz and they'll help you get access to your listing.

Once it's claimed, it shows up in your GMB dashboard. To optimize your profile, fill out everything you can.

List your actual business name – don't try to stuff in extra keywords. Your listing will get suspended if you get caught stuffing keywords. Make sure it's the same business name you use on your website and your citations.

Make sure your address is listed correctly, and that your map pin is in the right location. Like I mentioned in the citations video, suite names don't matter to Google, but they're important to humans. If you're really in a suite, make sure you list it so that customers can find you.

If customers come to your location to do business, that's all you need to worry about. If you're a service-based business that visits customers at their location (like a plumber or an electrician), then you're what's called a “service area business”. You should leave your address blank and instead fill out the “service area” field. You should only fill this out if your business visits customers at their location, or you deliver to a customer's location. If you're a business where customers come to your location AND you deliver (like a restaurant that delivers food), you should enter your address AND fill out the service area field.

#LocalSEO #SEOcourse #RankingFactors #GMB #GoogleMyBusiness #SEMrushAcademy