Updating Business Info In the Google Results with Google My Business

Why Google Created Google My Business

You’ve spent the last few hours walking around Times Square seeing the sites, you feel like a coffee so you just type ‘coffee near me’ into your phone and head to one of the top few results that is nearby and has good reviews. 

These days, we all do these kinds of local searches to find those bricks-and-mortar businesses that are such a vital part of our daily lives. Many of us take it for granted that when we type something into Google like that the business details we find in Google’s results will be accurate and up to date. 

Search engines like Google are able to find and offer the results from billions of websites that have been indexed, but this doesn’t mean that any key business information added or updated on your website will automatically be updated in your business Google profile.

Google’s good but not that good. In order for the information on your website to be updated by Google, the Google crawler, Googlebot must find and index this information from your website. Remember it’s not just your website that needs to be crawled, Googlebot has to crawl every single page in the Google results it usually only has time to crawl small business pages every few days. 

This means that key information posted on your website will take a while to appear in the Google results. When you need to make quick changes to opening hours or limited offers and promotions, this isn't quick enough and can lead to a lot of disappointed customers. This is why Google My Business was invented.

Claim Your GMB Profile To Update Business Info

Google My Business is a platform created by Google to gives businesses the ability to update key business information in the Google results themselves. Having a Google My Business account is the best way to make sure that your business information is displayed correctly in the Google results.

If you need to close your business early or want to ensure that your latest business information is up to date on Google quickly, setting up a Google My Business Profile will allow you to update these details as quickly as possible. Users of rankingCoach FREE can claim and manage their Google My Business account using the app

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Updating business info in the Google Search Results 

In many cases, this profile will be the first impression that customers get of a company, so it is really important that the information is correct and that it presents your company in the best possible light.

You have probably noticed that when you click on a company on Google Maps, a profile is displayed that shows important information about the company such as opening times and contact information as well photos of your business and its locations on a map. Setting up Google My Business will allow you to take greater control over all of these crucial representations of your business. 

Updating Your Business Info on The SERP and GMB

It’s important to remember that it’s not just enough to create a Google My Business profile for your business. You also need to keep the information on it up-to-date this is the best possible way for businesses to always ensure that your business’s information is correct in the Google search results. rankingCoach FREE allows you to set up a Google My Business profile and manage it using the App.

Set Up Google My Business Now

Messaging with Google My Business

A Google My Business account provides an extra space for your business to tell its story on Google: Google My Business has a messaging feature for posts from business owners that appear in the Google results on the knowledge graph to the right side of the desktop and smartphone searches on a business’s profile.

These messages can include video and photos; they represent a great way of making sure your company's listing stands out and comes to life. These posts allow you to present much more than just your basic contact information and opening hours. Business posts help you to spotlight new services and facilities and build a more personal connection with your customers.

These messages are very useful for enhancing SMB promotional activities.  For example, a restaurant launching a themed night to promote a new dish on their menu, EG Pie Night, cab create messages on GMB promoting it. These messages will then appear on the business's listing on the SERP

These messages can also be used to tell customers about special offers. This represents another valuable chance to communicate with your customer before they even click on your website. In the last year, this feature has also made it much easier for companies to communicate special changes to services brought about by emergencies and last-minute developments.

Google My Business for Local SEO

Google offers different results to users depending on their location. Creating a Google My Business business listing ensures that your business is listed in the correct location on Google Maps which is a crucial part of updating your business details in local searches. This is extremely important for attracting customers from local searches as Google uses this information as a key data source for populating local search results based on location.

So a hungry tourist looking around time square who types ‘Pizza Places near me’ into their phone will be shown a Google search results page (SERP) including a map with nearby restaurants. This means that claiming your GMB listing can literally put your business on the Google Map and ensure that your business shows up in local searches.

Protecting your Business Info on The SERP

More people should pay attention to what’s written below the business address and contact information on a business's GMB profile. Often you will see

Unless you have already claimed your Google My Business profile, anyone can click on this link and attempt to go through Google's validation process to try and claim your business. This process is designed to ensure pretenders do not claim other people's businesses; the best way, to make sure this doesn't happen, is to get there first and claim it yourself. If you have not claimed your Google My Business listing, then anyone can click on these two sections, meaning they also have the power to suggest new information for your business. This could mean that wrong information about your business could be shown in the Google results. 

It's important to remember that even if you don't have a Google My Business profile, it is very likely that a profile for your company already exists as Google often generates business profiles automatically. If  Google cannot find the information it needs to fill out the GMB profile, it sometimes asks the searcher to fill in this missing information; next to the profile, it will say: Add missing information. This includes both written details and photos.

It's very nice that these people are so willing to do a search engine's job for it, but from the perspective of the business owner, I think it's better if the person writing the company's profile doesn't need a search engine to find it. So, it seems only natural that you would want to set up a profile and use the shortcut on the rankingCoach dashboard to keep an eye on it. This is the best way to keep all your business's key information always up to date in the Google search results. 

Managing Google Reviews with Google My Business

You can find many businesses in Google search results, especially on Google maps who have a company profile, including reviews, both good and bad, that the company has not set up themselves. 

The unfortunate truth is that content about your business is there, whether you want it to be or not. If you own a business in the hospitality or beauty industry, it is almost certain that reviews have been posted about your business online. A Good reviews profile will bring customers to your business and bad reviews will scare them off.  Research shows two negative reviews on the first page of search results drive away 44% of potential customers.

People can post reviews on your Google Business profile without you having an account. Setting up a Google My Business profile allows you to monitor and respond to these reviews. This will provide your business with useful customer feedback. It will also help you to improve your business’s review profile and attract more customers. Studies from the Harvard Business Review have shown that businesses who respond constructively to their reviews, good and bad, are shown to improve their overall ratings. This is one of the best ways to attract more customers from the Google search results. 

We hope this article has given you useful insights into the world of Google My  If you aren't already using rankingCoach to manage your online review and directory profile, there has never been a better time to try it out. rankingCoach FREE allows you to set up and manages your Google My Business and Google Analytics profile in one app.

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