Use Your Google Business Profile to Boost Your SEO

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is necessary to ensure that your website gets found by customers looking for your specific products and services. There are many effective strategies that we can employ on your website to help search engine algorithms boost your website’s ranking, like updating the content with fresh information, focusing content on keywords that reflect your business, optimizing pictures to ensure faster loading times for the site, and installing redirecting URLs that trigger 404 errors to ensure visitors make it to the right page on your website. However, you can also help boost your SEO by updating and maintaining your Google Business Profile. In today’s post, we will look at some strategies you can use supplement your website’s SEO with your Google Business Profile.

Give Your Customers a Summary of Your Business

Your Google Business Profile is a sort of extension of your business, and it can be an effective tool for promoting your business. It acts similarly to yellow pages ads in old phone books, showing the phone number and address, but it also shows your hours of operation, a link to your website, and even a map through which people can get directions to your business. You can also provide a summary of your business, giving potential clients a brief overview of what you do. By keeping this summary as detailed as possible, not only will you increase the odds of clients visiting your website, but the Google Algorithm will notice the amount of content, giving your business priority in search engine rankings. You can also add photos that represent your business, adding a visual component that will catch the eyes of potential customers.

Engage with Customers who Leave Reviews of Your Business

Your Google Business Profile also allows customers to leave reviews. These reviews also give potential customers an idea of the quality of service you provide. The Google algorithm will recognize your reviews to boost your ranking, but you can take proactive steps to boost it even further by responding to the reviews you receive, whether positive or negative. Here are some guidelines to responding to these reviews.

• Show Appreciation for Positive Reviews – Not only does this help reinforce your positive relationships with your customers, but it also shows the algorithm that you are actively engaged with your customer.
• Be Professional with Negative Reviews – Nearly every business receives negative reviews at some point, and some of them can be nasty. Don’t take the bait. Be honest and respectful about your interactions with the clients (even when they are not), including details about the issues and ways in which you are willing to solve them. This shows good faith not only to the reviewer, but it also shows potential clients that you are accountable and willing to make things right with a dissatisfied customer.
• Identify Fake Reviews – Businesses are also subject to fake reviews, whether it’s a competitor trying to make you look bad or just someone writing fake reviews for something to do. In these cases, be candid and straightforward. Write something to the effect that you don’t know this person and/or have never done business with them and that you believe the review is fake. Google may or may not take down the review, but again, this shows that you are proactively involved with your business.

Your Google Business Profile is a significant asset in promoting your business, and you should take the time to make sure it is properly maintained. Blue Fire Media can help with your Google Business Profile and other aspects of your SEO needs to help boost and maintain your ranking in online searches. To find out how Blue Fire Media can provide you with effective web design and search engine optimization services for your business in Kalamazoo or the surrounding areas, contact us for more information.