Google+ Places for business is essentially Google’s version of the yellow pages (also called Google+ Local). Seeing as 97% of people will search for small business services on Google this isn’t something to forget about – having a Google+ Places for Business listing will make your business far more visible!
What is a Google+ Places for Business listing?
When most people search for a small business service they search for the service they want in the area they are; for example Plumber, Southampton.
You’ll probably have noticed yourself that when you do this kind of search that Google displays a map of the relevant businesses in that area, with the names and contact details of the top results displayed underneath. If you’ve ever asked yourself how you get your business to display in the same way – the answer is setting up you Google+ Places for business listing.
How to add your business to Google+ Places
The great news that not only is adding your business listing easy, it’s also free!
The basic steps to set-up:
- Set up a Google account https://accounts.google.com/NewAccount
- Go to www.google.com/places/ and login
- Fill in your business details
- Verify your Google Places account by phone, text or postcard (this is to check you are the business owner, or an authorized representative)
How to get your listing ranking highly: 3 optimisation tips
The more relevant and valuable you can prove your listing to be, the better your rank in the list will be.
Keep active
Add as much information as you can. There is a whole host of content which you can link up and post to your profile and the more relevant content you can post the better this will be for Google, and for your user.
- Add photos
- Add videos
- Add coupons
- Link to your website and/or social media
The more complete your account is the better Google will see you, so it’s a very good thing to add as much information and content as you can. Photos and videos are also great for making your listing stand out from your competitors from a user’s point of view by increasing your credibility.
Sign up for customer reviews
Customer reviews are a win-win situation. Google loves user reviews as they verify your business, and customers love them too – it’s the best way for them to see if you are worth calling. Google will crawl the web for your reviews from a number of directories, so consider using them. Tripadvisor and Trustpilot are particularly good ones to use as they automatically integrate with Google Places, displaying your star rating from your reviews next to your listing.
Keep updated
If your information gets outdated it will be less than useless. Make sure that your address and phone number (and other information) is always up-to-date and that this information is consistent all over the internet.
Keep track of the benefits
Your Google+ Places dashboard works very similarly to Google Analytics – it shows you a number of statistics and allows you to keep track of how your listing is performing. If you’re finding that your listing is getting lots of impressions but not many actions then that is a key sign that you need to add more content and information to your profile, to encourage people to click through and get in touch with you.
Need some more advice?
If you’re not sure how to make your Google+ Places for Business listing rank higher, or even if you’d just like someone to talk you through setting up your account then give us a call. We’re always happy to help.
If you found this article useful, you might like our Beginner’s Guide to Google Analytics too.
