Google My Business (GMB) is one of the best and easiest ways to start if you want to rank high on search engine result pages (SERP). But people are making these big mistakes and often lose potential clients from the Internet.

If you own a business with a website, you need to make sure that your Google My Business (GMB) page is search engine optimized (SEO) so that people can find you on SERP and your website can be found locally.

Because your customers are always looking for services close to them, you need to make sure that your business shows up on SERP.

What Is Google My Business?

Google My Business is a simple service that helps companies take care of their online profile on Google Search and Google Maps. It’s easier for buyers to find and get in touch with a business when the owner can change and add information about it. There are many great things about GMB, but the best thing is that it’s free!

How Does GMB Help Local Businesses?

A Search Engine Results Page (SERP) that lists the locations associated with your query is called the Google Local Pack. It also has a lot of other useful information that any possible customer might want to see.

Customers can find information about the business, like where it is on a map, how to call in case they have more questions or want to make a quick reservation, the store’s hours, and even its star rate. This trait is helpful for both the company and the customers.

There are powerful features in Google My Business that give you information about important areas that can help you make plans and choices. You can get data and information from this tool that can help you figure out where your audience is coming from.

Visitors or people can also provide positive reviews about your company, which will help you increase your search visibility to potential customers.

7 Big GMB Mistakes Local Businesses Are Doing?

We want to help your business reach its full online potential, which is why we’re here to help you fix some of the most common mistakes you might be making with Google My Business.

Leaving Your Business Profile Unclaimed

It’s unclear how you will handle your GMB listing if you don’t claim it. Your address, phone number, website URL, and hours will be open for changes. Images can be uploaded, but they will come from a customer, not the business owner.

You won’t be able to respond to customer reviews, and the Google My Business team won’t be able to help you with your problems as long as the page isn’t verified. You also won’t be able to use or make Google Posts.

Someone could edit your listing to say that it doesn’t exist if you don’t claim it and it sits there for a long time. Google will probably accept that edit and delete the listing.

If you don’t claim your entry, another business could come along and either claim it or change your information to include their phone number, website, and other details.

If you don’t claim your page, Google won’t be able to tell you that the information has been changed, which could hurt your business.

For most people, the Knowledge Panel is the best place to claim their GMB account. Click on “Own This Business” and make sure you do what it says.

Not Fully Optimize the GMB Profile

Claiming your Google My Business profile is a good way to boost the trustworthiness and reach of your business, but you should also make sure that the profile is filled out and optimized. 

There are a few sections that you should make sure you fill out fully and correctly. Here are our best suggestions for making sure you don’t make any mistakes when optimizing your profile. In the end, full accounts are 2.7 times more likely to be trusted.

Picking The Right Category

The “Categories” part of your profile is one that you should really fill out completely and quickly. People will be able to tell what kinds of services you offer by these groups.

There is a full list of groups, so you can look through them all to find the ones that are most useful for your business. You want to include only the categories that correctly describe your brand and leave out the ones that are only true of people in your ideal market.

A hotel with a pool, for instance, ought to be categorized as a “Hotel” or “Motel,” not as a “Swimming Pool.” Putting yourself into too many groups could make people think you are not dependable.

Putting Inappropriate Images

In the “Photos” part of your profile, you also don’t want to make a mistake. You can now add a logo, a cover photo, and other photos, such as action shots of you “at work.”

You should use these groups to your advantage and add pictures that look good and do a good job of representing your business. Put the pictures that look the best at the top of the list so that they are the first thing that potential buyers see. 

Left Missing Information Unfilled

There is a small chance that your GMB page is missing important information if you set it up and haven’t looked at it in a while.

Most of the time, hours, website URLs, and phone numbers are the most important pieces of information that are missing. If this information is missing, it will be hard for your buyers to find out when you are open and how to get in touch with you.

If potential customers can’t get in touch with you, they will go to your competitor. No business wants to lose potential customers to its competitors.

Check your GMB account to make sure that all of your information is right.

Map Pins

Frequently disregarded and frequently placed incorrectly are map pins. Map pins have been discovered in the midst of a parking lot, on the street, and at the end of shopping centers; these locations are not helpful to potential shoppers. 

Many more people are using GPS programs, and they wish to be guided to the correct location. They might just think your business is closed and go somewhere else if they can’t discover your location.

Unattended Reviews

One place where company owners err most is in reviews. First off, some of them never respond to feedback, good or bad.

Companies that are involved with their clients attract customers. Potential clients will look elsewhere if you don’t respond to their comments and suggestions. React to reviews, good and bad, in the same way.

It is really difficult and unpleasant to respond to bad evaluations. Regretfully, some company owners criticize critics and react angrily.

Though you could want to advise the clients to keep their unfavorable remarks to themselves, you must remember that future clients will see your responses and form opinions of you based on how you respond to reviews.

That implies that your response will also determine your future sales. 

Not Using The Q&A Feature

Being a relatively new function, Q&A is often disregarded by companies. Many inquiries from possible clients can result in new sales.

Should you not respond, they will be left unanswered or addressed by someone else, and the response that is given may not be accurate.

Posting the “frequently asked questions” you get is advised because Google allows business owners to submit their own inquiries.

You may spend more time with the customer in front of you if they can obtain the information from your listing rather than having to phone you.

Not Providing Updates

Potential customers will see your business as far less trustworthy if you build your Google My Business profile but then never update the details about your hours, website, or other information as needed.

Just as vital as upgrading your website, you should be regularly updating the information about your company.

Especially around holidays, you should always have your hours updated and links updated as appropriate. Older material gives your business an antiquated and unprofessional appearance. People will not probably trust you to manage their services if they cannot trust your information to be accurate.

You should thus constantly ensure that you are updating your Google My Business profile in the same manner that you update your website. Both need to fairly advertise your company. 

Final Thought

Right now, Google My Business is one of the best tools for local SEO. But, it will only help your business if you fix any mistakes and make your page work as well as it can. Every error we have listed above is easy to correct and will improve the web performance and profile rank of your business.