We all know and love Google’s business platform—best known as Google My Business (GMB) and now rebranded as Google Business Profile (GBP). This tool is a fan favorite in local search, and for good reason. It has a wide variety of features that can be used to our advantage as marketers when it comes to boosting local visibility. Optimizing Google Business ProfileSomething that I’m sure of—but that there doesn’t seem to be any real evidence of in the industry—is that GBP can be used to enhance keyword visibility for products and services. You can optimize a Business Profile to target certain keywords in the same way as you can a web page or an entire site. Optimizing GBP for specific keywords might seem a bit of a weird way to do things. However, when you think about how we encourage consistency in local search, and how we optimize our websites to perform in national search, why shouldn’t it work? You might have noticed when performing local searches—either as a user or to check rankings— that ‘mentions’ statements are often highlighted underneath a result. These ‘mentions’ appear to rationalize Google’s decision to display a particular profile as a good result for your query. We also often see what we call ‘justifications’, such as review justifications, post justifications, and menu highlights. These are essentially what we’re aiming to create within GBP by mentioning our target keywords in the best places—without overdoing it, of course. Here are some examples of where you might see keywords in justifications. Review Justifications: Menu Highlights: Consistency and relevancy are big things in the search space, but especially in local. So why not make your listings as consistent as possible if you have the opportunity? Here are some ways you can boost your keyword optimization within Google Business Profile. As an example, imagine I run a Mexican restaurant and one of my most popular dishes is tacos. I want to optimize my online presence for taco-related searches. Business CategoryOkay, so this one might seem obvious, but I can guarantee there are a lot of profiles out there that haven’t selected the right GBP category for their business. The categories available are ever-expanding, so there will likely be a category that matches the business perfectly. Choosing the most appropriate category will help to boost keyword visibility, so be sure to look for the best fit. Here’s an example. Category listed as ‘taco restaurant’: Business DescriptionSneaking keywords (but not stuffing them) into your business description is a great way to encourage consistency for those keywords. Descriptions should be friendly, informative, and, of course, descriptive. You’ll need to tell searchers who you are, what you sell, where you sell it, and why they should choose to buy it from you. It’s a good idea to make your descriptions short and sweet while ensuring that your keywords are included. The use of keywords in your business description reinforces what you’re claiming to Google, and to your customers, that you do. Sticking with my taco example, here are some businesses that do this particularly well: This description is short and sweet, but very effective. It clearly demonstrates the voice of the brand. This description mentions where the business is, what they serve, and answers questions on how to eat there. The friendly and colloquial tone fits this kind of restaurant well. It’s welcoming and explains what they serve as well as why you should eat there. Q&AWe’re going into an era of search where we treat Google much more like a person than we used to, and that includes within local search. You’ll remember from my Q&A guide that using questions for additional keyword optimization is a common GBP tactic, and doing so also helps to provide a great user experience. Here’s a great example: While these were lucky user-generated questions, answering questions like these can really enhance visibility for selected keywords. This is an ideal way to optimize your profile for food options where the menu isn’t available, such as for those using desktop devices rather than mobile. This is especially key if your business serves food and is within close range to office blocks. The people working at these businesses might be more likely to use Google on their work computers to search for lunch options, as opposed to using their mobile devices. MenusSimilarly to the above, if you have the option to add a menu, optimize your menu to clearly include the items you’re targeting as keywords. For example, ensuring you have a clear ‘tacos’ menu option—with details as to what is in the tacos and how much they cost—provides all the information the user (and Google) needs in one spot. Benito’s has put tacos on the menu, and the term ‘taco’ is used in the menu highlights within Maps: PostsIn a nod to old school SEO, as many mentions of tacos as possible—without overwhelming the profile with mentions—is likely to help with optimization. Posting frequently about tacos as a Mexican restaurant that sells tacos is going to have an impact. Posts also allow you to add offers, incentives, and other key information. Lone Star Taco Co. in Texas do a great job of creating simple but engaging posts that feature key offerings. As an example, the following post contains a call to action to encourage clicks, a fun comment, and a mention of the menu: ReviewsThere are few things more important in local search than reviews. Getting reviews that explicitly demonstrate your ability as a business to satisfy a need—in this case, serve good tacos—is ideal. Reviews will not only boost mentions of the product on your profile, which can encourage further visibility, but will also reinforce trust in the brand. So, if you want to be more visible when people are searching for tacos, then when you ask for reviews, encourage people to say what they ate and why they enjoyed it! Products & ServicesThis seems a little obvious, but using the products and services features is fantastic for earning more visibility. These two features aren’t available to everybody, but I’ve experienced direct improvements in service-led search visibility from utilizing both. Using the products and services features are yet another way to optimize your profile further for your target keywords. Unfortunately, restaurants aren’t usually able to use these options. Here’s two examples of businesses using products and services to capture their critical keywords. The term carpet is being used in both individual products and for product categories: Mentioning ‘Freight Forwarding’ as a service helps to encourage visibility for ‘freight company near me’ searches: Making an ImpactUsing all of these features—when appropriate—can be incredibly impactful. Doing so can help a business to regularly remind searchers what they’re offering and why it’s a great choice. By using these GBP features alongside a well-optimized website, you’ll be onto a local winner. This will allow you to earn additional keyword visibility without touching your website. via BrightLocal https://ift.tt/9pbNTK1 Check out more SEO posts onhttps://seouk41.blogspot.com/
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Today, as we watch the events in Ukraine unfold at a terrifying pace, all of our thoughts and wishes at BrightLocal are with our Ukrainian team members. Many of our team have been part of the BrightLocal family for many years and have been integral to the growth and success that we’ve been so lucky to achieve. We stand together, united with our Ukrainian brothers and sisters, against this unprovoked and unjust attack by Russian forces. We will do everything we can to support and protect them, their families, and their loved ones through the uncertain times ahead. Kyiv: A Peace-loving, Prosperous, and European CityWe have been working with Ukrainian software engineers for almost as long as BrightLocal has existed. In that time we have had contributions from over 80 different Ukrainian team members, almost all of whom I’ve had the good fortune to spend time and socialize with, even meeting their wonderful families on occasion. Through all these experiences I’ve learnt more and more about the proud culture of Ukraine. I’ve had the pleasure of visiting Kyiv over a dozen times over the past ten years and have watched it emerge from its Soviet-era shackles and evolve into a vibrant, fun, and diverse city, full of passionate and peace-loving people. It has an abundance of cafes, bars, and restaurants offering cuisine from around the world. It has a buoyant commercial center, full of thriving businesses, both Ukrainian-owned and international. It has busy shopping centers, where global brands and local retailers vie for hard-earned hryvnias from its growing community of skilled and determined young professionals. All in all, it is much like any other exciting, prosperous, and democratic capital in Europe—which makes the scenes that we are witnessing today all the more shocking and terrifying. How are we Supporting Our TeamThe safety of our team members is our number one concern. Over the past few weeks we have been looking at various options to help them relocate so they can live and work safely should the worst happen. Well, the worst has happened and we’re accelerating these options and looking for more permanent solutions as far away from the conflict zones as possible. Here’s where our energies have been focused:
To Our Loyal CustomersWhile the events in Ukraine are troubling and distracting for my team and I, I want to reassure you that we remain totally committed to delivering the best possible service and experience to you. My message to our wider team is that the best way we can help our team members in Ukraine is to stay focused on our tasks and priorities, and keep delivering on our commitments to our customers. We have software engineers and technical support team members stationed across multiple countries and locations outside of Ukraine. They are doubling the efforts during this period of uncertainty to ensure that we continue to give our customers a great experience. Raising Money to Support UkraineI would like to ask everyone who reads this blog post to join us in raising money to support Ukraine’s fight against Russian invasion and aggression. We have chosen to support and donate funds to three charities: via BrightLocal https://ift.tt/m9wtb4p Check out more SEO posts onhttps://seouk41.blogspot.com/ Ask any local SEO or marketer what their biggest challenge is, and the chances are they’re going to say it’s a ‘lack of time’. From ranking changes and review scores to Google My Business performance and citation quality, there are just so many metrics to keep on top of. That’s time-consuming enough for a single location, but if you multiply that across dozens of clients, each with dozens of locations, you’re faced with a near-impossible juggling act. You don’t have time to interrogate every piece of data every single day. You need to know what deserves your attention today–and because you’re always on the clock, you need to figure that out quickly. That’s where Locations Overview comes in: a brand-new, customizable bird’s-eye view of location performance from across your BrightLocal reports, accessible from what was formerly the ‘Clients & Locations’ section. Your New Homepage for Monitoring Local SEO Performance“What needs to be my top priority today?” That’s the question many local SEOs will ask themselves each morning. Figuring out the answer can eat up precious time that could be better spent focusing on improving results. That’s why we’ve made Locations Overview the first thing you’ll see when you log into BrightLocal. Right away, you’ll be able to see key metrics across all your Locations, and how those metrics have changed so you can quickly figure out where you need to spend your time today. With Locations Overview, you can prioritize your day-to-day local marketing work efficiently for the locations that need the most attention. Your Own Personalized Performance DashboardThe first time you use Locations Overview, you’ll see that we’ve auto-populated your dashboard key metrics: Rankings Up, Rankings Down, Key Citation Score, and Average Star Rating. It’s a great starting point for anyone looking to understand local SEO performance, but there’s plenty more under the hood. Turn on ‘Edit Display Metrics’ and you’ll see a host of data sources to choose from so you can populate Locations Overview with the metric that matters most to you. Want to bring in data from another BrightLocal report? Simply drag the metric from the selection at the top into the Metrics Display Toolbar. Want to switch up the order they appear in? Just drag the boxes in the Metrics Display Toolbar left and right until you’re happy. You’ll see the order change in the table below right before your eyes! Want access to a data point but don’t have a report set up? No problem: drag the metric into the Toolbar and you’ll be prompted to set up a new report or connect to a platform to bring in this data. A Game-changer for Your WorkflowWith Locations Overview at your disposal, your route to highlighting winners and losers is faster than ever before, so you can waste no time getting to work on the stuff that really makes a difference. Identify Underperforming LocationsClick a column heading to sort locations by performance in that metric. Highlight top performers or pinpoint struggling Locations that require additional tactics or strategies. Find Problem Areas that Deserve InvestigationFound a Location that’s underperforming? Just hover over the metric that’s suffering and click the “link” icon to head straight to the relevant BrightLocal report and start your investigation. React Quicker to ChangesSeeing multiple performance metrics side-by-side allows you to spot issues with the entire marketing funnel, from rankings to calls through GMB—shortening the time it takes to decide what needs to improve. Connect the Dots EasierWith an overview of key metrics in one place, you can see which ones are driving performance. Rankings going up? How’s that affecting web sessions and calls through GBP? If it’s not, time to look into how those things can be improved. Discover Data Blind SpotsIf you haven’t got every angle of local SEO performance covered, you’ll see directly in the report where there’s an opportunity to set up a new BrightLocal report or to connect a platform to gather more valuable data. Understand Performance Across All Location GroupsJust a tab away from Locations Overview is the ‘Clients’ page, where you can group similar Locations together for ease of viewing. Whether you’re a multi-location business looking to group together performance by city or state, or an agency with dozens of clients that each require a separate view, the combined power of Location Groups and Locations Overview gives you an instant insight into which Locations need attention. Instead of combing through dozens of irrelevant Locations to get to what matters, you can now use ‘Filter by Client’ and easily see and compare performance for the Locations that matter to you. If you have specific team members focusing on certain clients or areas, this will seriously improve their efficiency, as it makes it far easier to diagnose issues across Location Groups. Which metrics are available in Locations Overview at launch?Here’s a rundown of the metrics you can select from, for inclusion in your Locations Overview right now: Rankings
Citation Tracker
Reputation Manager
Google My Business
Google Analytics
Want more metrics?We’re keen to find out what BrightLocal report metrics you’d love to see added to Locations Overview. Have one in mind? Contact support or use our Feature Request form to let us know! We hope you enjoy using the new Locations Overview—let us know what you think in the comments below! Help and Support from BrightLocal’s Help Center
via BrightLocal https://ift.tt/AKXiONt Check out more SEO posts onhttps://seouk41.blogspot.com/ If you’re a service-oriented B2C business and you’re not on Yelp, then you’re leaving money on the table. Yelp is a treasure trove of user-generated content—the holy grail of content marketing. With Yelp, your customers can post reviews of your business that potential customers can see when looking for services like yours, and this is just one of many reasons to use Yelp. Who is Yelp for?There’s a lot of money to be made in the service industry, with Americans typically spending upwards of $300 a month on eating out. To that end, Yelp can be especially helpful for restaurants, clubs, entertainment venues, bars, and shopping centers, and also for contractors, such as plumbers and electricians. If you’re opening your own service-based company, you’ll want to look into Yelp right after you start an LLC. But you’re not just going to toss your business listing up on the site and start reaping the rewards. There’s a lot more to it than that. You’ll first need to add or claim your business on Yelp and begin earning reviews. It also helps to utilize paid advertising and other notable features that Yelp has added within the last few years. In this article, we’re going to teach you how to do all of that and more. Read on to learn how you can propel yourself into the world of user-generated content to get the most out of Yelp for your business. Claiming Your Business on YelpThe first step to succeeding at Yelp is to get your business listed on the website. Before you go ahead and add your business, you should check if it’s already there. There’s a number of reasons why your business might already be listed on Yelp, so don’t neglect this step. You can easily check this by searching for your business on the ‘Manage my free listing’ page. Once you’ve determined if your business listing already exists, then you’re ready to get rolling on Yelp. We recently published a full guide on how to add or claim a Yelp listing, so we’re not going to go into a lot of detail here. But the gist of it is:
For a full step-by-step breakdown with visual aids, check out our in-depth guide. To ensure you don’t miss anything, jot down each step in the process and create a workflow that you can follow. How to Optimize Your Yelp Business PageMuch like your website, your Yelp business page is going to need some serious optimization if you want to maximize results. The first step of Yelp optimization is to make sure that you have all your information filled out. This includes your business name, address, phone number, email address, etc. If you leave any information out, you’re presenting an incomplete profile to the masses, and no one wants that. Believe it or not, Yelp is actually a search engine, and it works a lot like Google when it comes to optimization. To appease the Yelp algorithm, you have to give it as much information as possible. Use Relevant KeywordsFor best results, you’ll want to enhance your Yelp content with relevant keywords. These keywords will be the terms and phrases that you’d like to rank for. For example, if you’re a Chinese restaurant, you’ll obviously want to rank for the search term ‘Chinese food’ in your area. Or, if you’re a plumber who operates 24-hours a day, you can shoot for ’24-hour plumber’. Generate BacklinksIn keeping with the SEO-side of things, you’re also going to want to generate backlinks to your Yelp page. Yelp has a ‘check-in’ feature that allows people to mark that they visited a business—and you should encourage customers to use it. That’s a backlink every time someone clicks. Add PhotosIt’s important to add photos of your business to Yelp because people enjoy visual aids. This also helps to showcase your products or services, which can encourage people to visit your business. Source: Business 2 Community Did you know the human brain processes images 60,000 times faster than text. In addition to that, a whopping 90% of the information transmitted to our brains is visual in nature. Video content also works wonders. Just make sure that you have stellar editing software so that you can create professional-looking clips. Assess Your StrategyFinally, the best way to truly optimize your Yelp page is to constantly revisit this task. That means regularly examining your results and changing your strategy accordingly. Assess what’s working for you and what’s not going so well. If you think you’re not getting enough traffic, then it’s a good idea to update your categories periodically. You can experiment with this to see which category brings the most customers to your listing. By giving your attention to all of these actions, you can turn your Yelp business page into a hotspot of online activity, and one that’ll continue to produce valuable user-generated content. Ask Customers to Review Your Business (Without Asking Them)The best way to get customers to review your business on Yelp would logically be to ask them to do so. There’s only one problem with that. Yelp doesn’t want you to specifically solicit reviews from your customers, and it actually goes against the Yelp guidelines. Yelp extensively covers this policy in a 2017 blog post: “Asking for reviews at all, even if the business breaks norms and attempts to ask more than just their happy customers, can create a bias away from organically motivated reviews. “When some businesses ask for reviews and others don’t, it becomes difficult for users to compare reviews across businesses. Not only does solicitation lead to bias, it’s a bad experience for customers, too.” So, how can you encourage Yelp reviews without actually asking people? Your Business Website and Marketing ChannelsYou can mention that you’re on Yelp without directly asking anyone to leave a review. Include links on your website that simply say, ‘Check us out on Yelp.’ Experiment with different call-to-actions (CTA) on these links, and see what yields the best results. You can also include these CTA links in social media posts, such as on Facebook and Twitter. Instagram is a fantastic place to promote your business, but it doesn’t allow clickable links in posts. You can get around this by making a post with a graphic that reads, ‘Check us out on Yelp. Link in bio’. Then include a link to Yelp in your Instagram bio—there are many bio link tools to help you with that. Also, all Instagram users now have the option to add links to Stories, so this is definitely a great tactic to employ. Additionally, if you’re running any lead generation campaigns, such as through email marketing, then you can add the Yelp page links in the emails. Responding to ReviewsYou should always be responding to the reviews you receive, both positive and negative. When you get a negative review, your response says a lot about your business. If you’re defensive or quick to anger, it’s going to make you and your business look bad. But apologizing for whatever caused the bad experience—and publicly attempting to make it right—can go a long way in the eyes of your reviewers. If people see that you’re happy to respond to reviews, they’re more likely to leave them. Advertise on YelpAnother way to promote your Yelp listing is to use paid advertising on the platform. By paying Yelp directly, you’re able to push your business page out in front of your target audience. This is all done through pay-per-click (PPC) advertising, similar to Google Ads. Basically, you’re targeting specific people and paying every time they click on your ad. You can set your own budget when advertising on Yelp, with a minimum spend of $5 per day. Businesses will typically spend anywhere from $300 to $1,000 per month on Yelp ads. If you don’t know much about advertising, then you can hire a freelance marketer on a contract basis to do the work for you. When you work with freelancers, it’s a good idea to specify your requirements in a contract using built-in contract templates. This helps everyone to stay on the same page regarding expectations, targets, and deadlines. Latest Notable Yelp FeaturesIf you want to keep Yelp as a viable profit generator for years to come, you’re going to have to stay on top of updates to the system. Technology is rapidly changing, and if you don’t keep your ear to the ground, you’re not going to be able to keep up with your competitors. The following are notable features Yelp has added within the last few years. Get familiar with these features and use them to your advantage in 2022. Request a QuoteWhile this feature has been around since 2016, it’s something that really helps small quote-based businesses and, therefore, still deserves some recognition. Yelp’s ‘Request a Quote’ function was launched as an update to its already successful messaging feature. Listings under event planning, automotive, home services, financial services, professional services, and local services categories, will have a ‘Request a Quote’ button attached to them. You can see these boxes highlighted in the image below, along with information on how long the business usually takes to respond: In the example above, customers can see that the first plumber listed typically replies in ten minutes, while the second usually takes 20 minutes. ‘Request a Quote’ has been a huge success, prompting a 250% increase in message response rates from business owners. Thanks to this service, you’re likely to get more quote requests and more opportunities to interact directly with potential customers. Custom Search FiltersYelp launched custom search filters in 2021, and this feature has already changed the way that consumers search for businesses. Search queries now have new filters that can be applied, such as businesses that give virtual consultations, or even the fastest-responding businesses. This is ideal for service industry businesses, as it can showcase your exceptional response times and the additional benefits of choosing you. Covid-19 UpdatesThe coronavirus pandemic has negatively impacted countless businesses across the planet. With pandemic-related issues shifting on a near constant basis, it can be difficult to communicate recent changes to your customers. Yelp is a huge help with this thanks to its ‘Covid-19 Updates’ feature. Businesses are able to instantly list any changes to their hours. What’s more, they can ease worried customers’ minds by sharing Covid-19 policies through customizable banner alerts. Source: Yelp Custom Location TargetingThis advertising feature allows businesses to choose the specific geographic area where they want their ads to run. Before the rollout of custom location targeting, businesses were only able to choose a target radius that surrounded the business location. However, you’re now able to choose the specific geographic location where you want your ads to run, regardless of your physical location. Customizable Calls-to-ActionIn 2021, Yelp started allowing businesses to customize the CTAs that appear on their posts with whatever text they wanted to use. According to Yelp, this feature prompted a 40% increase in post engagement after only one month. Ad Text GuidanceBusinesses have always been able to customize the text that appears on their Yelp ads. However, business owners who don’t have copywriting expertise are now getting a helping hand in the form of ad text guidance. Yelp provides example text that will help business owners create the best ad copy possible and level the playing field for all. Source: Yelp Minority-Owned Business FinderIf you’re a business owner who belongs to a minority group, Yelp allows you to list this information directly on your listing. This helps those who are looking to support minority-owned businesses to find you more easily. In the wake of this change, review mentions for Black-owned businesses were up 165% in 2021. Yelp took this a step further during February 2022, when it highlighted standout Black-owned businesses as part of Black History Month. An Incredible Marketing ToolThe bottom line is that Yelp can be an incredible marketing tool for your business or a colossal waste of your time. It all depends on how you use it. Much like a hammer can either be used to hang a painting or put a hole in a wall, Yelp can be a huge asset if you know what you’re doing and you put the time in. Yelp provides excellent exposure, offers a platform for user-generated content, and it’s totally free to join. However, when you do use Yelp, you’re also naturally inviting the possibility of negative reviews, and the cost of Yelp advertising can add up to a big expense. Ultimately, it’s up to you to decide if you’ll use Yelp to support your marketing efforts and boost your business! via BrightLocal https://ift.tt/u0jY97R Check out more SEO posts onhttps://seouk41.blogspot.com/ We’ve all been there… a dreaded ‘your listing is suspended’ email, rejected Google posts, ‘not approved’ products, verification issues, or a weird glitch in the business profile—a ghost in the machine. Who you gonna call? Not Google My Business support, as they retired phone help in 2021. But don’t fret—there are a plethora of other places (both official and unofficial) to turn to for Google My Business (GMB) help. In November 2021, Google rebranded Google My Business (GMB) to Google Business Profile (GBP). The advice in this guide references the GMB name but is still relevant to GBP. Whose job is it to solve issues?A business listing that disappears from Google Maps… fake listings that push your one down in results… a run of negative reviews that you suspect aren’t real—any of these things can result in lost enquiries, bookings and revenue. And while it’s understandable for these things to cause frustration (and even anger), we need to keep in mind that Google My Business is currently a free product. As such, Google Business support staff are thin on the ground, and Google Product Experts that support GMB via the Google Business Profile Help Community do so for free. So if you’re experiencing an issue, the first step is to be proactive in finding a solution for yourself. Start with guidance available from the Google Business support team and the GBP community. After that, it’s time to turn detective—below we’ll run through a range of alternative Google My Business support channels, outline what they’re best for solving, and look at how to get the best out of each of them. And remember! Karma reigns supreme—be straightforward, polite, and help others if you can. And always say thank you Google My Business Help CenterSupport from the actual GMB support team is limited and has been so for a number of years. In the gelp center you can browse information and guidelines around Google My Business organized by topic areas: I’d suggest becoming familiar with these pages and checking back if and when you have an issue. The GMB landscape is far from static and Google will change their documentation as needed. It’s particularly important to understand if you’re doing something that contravenes Google’s Terms of Service, for example:
You should always check Google’s official guidelines first—please don’t waste others’ time by asking questions you could have answered yourself. Google Business Profile CommunityYou can make a search describing your issue, and Google will return results for both help center documentation and community forum posts. Items marked with (1) are help articles, and items marked with (2) are community forum posts. Look out for ‘recommended answers’ as these have often been supplied by Google Product Experts or active and experienced community members. If you can’t find an answer to your question, then Google suggests adding a new community forum post: However, before you do this, I recommend first checking out the below potential avenues for solutions. Also, don’t be tempted to tack your own issues onto an existing post. If you need to post (once you’ve exhausted the resources below) then you should create your own post with your own unique information. Browse Local SEO Peeps on TwitterYou’re probably already following a bunch of Local SEO people on Twitter—if not then be sure to check out BrightLocal’s list of local SEO experts. If there’s a GMB bug going around, you’ll probably hear about it there. You could ask a Google business profile expert for help on Twitter, but honestly, I’d go to the GMB community first. I don’t envy Joy Hawkins (or indeed any of the helpful local SEO community) for the number of tweets she gets asking for help, so do the nice thing and ask for help in the right place! Check the Local SEO Content ArchivesI’ve written in the past about the hubs of excellent content that are being produced around problems and issues in GMB and how you can tackle these. For example:
Once you’re familiar with primary sources of great information, you can search within those sites using an advanced search operator: site:brightlocal.com OR site:sterlingsky.ca “GMB” OR “GBP” suspension This asks Google to give me results from the BrightLocal or Sterling Sky websites, for pages containing either “GMB” or “GBP” keywords, plus content related to suspensions. You can use my custom local SEO search engine to search within my own carefully-curated list of trusted sites, or create your own search operator as needed. Google Business Profile YouTube ChannelGoogle Business Support does have a reasonably active channel with some useful videos. I recommend taking a look to see if there’s a solution to your problem, for example:
Google Business Profile Social ChannelsIn the olden days you could tweet or Facebook message Google My Business support and expect a reply. Sadly social support is now very limited, and you’re unlikely to get a reply from the social teams. Google Business Profile FormsGoogle have a number of task-specific forms that you can complete without having to contact support:
Google Business Profile ‘Contact Us’Your next step – if you can’t find a solution via any of the sources above is to contact the Google Business Profile team to ask for their direct support: https://support.google.com/business/gethelp Alternatively, you can log into your GBP dashboard and select “Support” from the left-hand side menu. You’ll be asked to select the business you need help with and to describe the issue. Google will then give you a list of articles and community posts that it thinks might be helpful. Click “Next step” to continue with the process. Google will present you with one or more contact options, that—for me—currently only includes ‘email’: You’ll then need to fill in a form with the following details:
Be sure to keep a copy of your requests, as there’s no way to access this information after you submit the form to Google. Once you’ve submitted the form you’ll usually be given a case ID—make a note of this somewhere so that you have a record. You’ll also receive an email from Google to confirm their receipt of your support inquiry. Read to the bottom of this email… don’t just file it away thinking they’ll get back in touch with you: That’s right, you’re going to need to actively contact them again! If you’ve already written up your notes into a Google document then you can use this to shape your email reply and (hopefully) get the help you need. Ask the Google My Business Help CommunityIf you haven’t found a useful answer or potential solution, then now is the time for you to make your own community forum post. Note that if you go to the community without following the ‘support’ steps above, they will send you there first. Don’t be tempted to tack your own issues onto an existing post. If you need to post be sure to create your own post with your own unique information. You’ll need to be logged in for this, and in order to get the best help possible I’d suggest using the following points to compose your post:
Run through the final steps (make sure there isn’t already an answer on the forum, specify which platform the problem is occurring on) and then you can go ahead and post. See this example of a forum post that was quickly and expertly answered by a Gold Product Expert. You’ll be able to see all of the questions you’ve previously asked in your profile’s ‘Post history’ area: Wrapping UpThere are a lot of options for getting help with your Google My Business listing… some via official Google help channels and some outside of them. And it’s up to you to fully investigate a solution before you contact official support—in this way you’ll help protect limited resources so that they can deal with bugs and help everyone enjoy a better future experience. Go forth and prosper! via BrightLocal https://ift.tt/BtoFPcm Check out more SEO posts onhttps://seouk41.blogspot.com/ Everyone knows there’s no size fits all when it comes to local SEO strategy, and each client has to have a carefully tailored strategy to meet their needs and goals. So how do you craft the best-fit strategy for each client? On the next BrightLocal Webinar, Colan Nielsen (VP, Sterling Sky) and Elizabeth Linder (SEO Strategist, Kick Point) will share their tips on creating a knockout strategy for every client.
Not only that, but we’ll hold a dedicated Q&A session so you can have your questions answered by the experts. via BrightLocal https://ift.tt/52UzOci Check out more SEO posts onhttps://seouk41.blogspot.com/ All local marketing and SEO professionals need to understand the value of optimizing for Google Core Web Vitals (CWV). These are key elements of website optimization and can fundamentally transform local search outcomes for the better. This guide introduces you to the topic of Google CWV and explains how they influence local search results, so read on! Google Core Web VitalsGoogle Core Web Vitals are just that—vital. These factors impact on your position in Google results and so determine how visible your business is to local searchers. That’s why it’s essential to know what CWV entail and how they affect the day-to-day work of website managers and marketers. Google CWV are made up of three standardized metrics that describe a user’s experience of a web page. These metrics are: Largest Contentful Paint (LCP)This metric is about page load speed. Google measures how fast the largest content element loads on the page without a user scrolling. The result, in seconds, is the LCP. Whether your largest content element consists of text, video, or photos, your LCP must be less than 2.5 seconds to meet Google’s standards. Anything slower will impact your page rankings. First Input Delay (FID)FID is a measurement of the time between a user’s first interaction with a site and the site execution of the user command. This could mean a click, keystroke, or other input. For best results, aim for a FID score of under 100 milliseconds. This is Google’s sweet spot for site interactivity. Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS)CLS represents the stability of your site as it loads. Ever go to click on something during load only to have the page shift around on you? This is CLS, and it’s measured as a composite of each individual shift that occurs as the site loads. Web managers should reduce CLS down to 0.1 to meet Google standards. This means building a frustration-free site that doesn’t move links and buttons while the content populates. Standards for User ExperienceGoogle developed these three measures so that it can judge the user-friendliness of online content. Better CWV scores indicate that pages are accessible and easy to navigate, and so will be treated more favourably in SERPs. Google-proofing your page experience isn’t the easiest job in the world, but the results are well worth it! Third-Party ToolsIt’s important to know that third-party tools—such as location page plugin providers or even entire content management systems—will impact your Core Web Vitals metrics. Often, these tools were built before Google CWV came about and therefore were not designed with compatibility in mind. For example, there’s a problem that some WordPress users have reportedly been experiencing. Embedding a tweet on the platform, for instance, can impact CLS, resulting in a ranking penalty from Google. Meanwhile, even the third-party web developers that manage location pages for multi-location brands can impact Core Web Vitals. This makes it crucial for marketers to evaluate their digital ecosystems, and make decisions that balance website functionality with improved brand visibility. How Mobile Search Affects Local MarketersRecent innovations have fundamentally changed mobile and local search. Local marketers must adjust by using CWV metrics to win the surge in traffic that is available through smart devices. Between 2014 and 2019, local search query volume on mobile devices in the US jumped from 66.5 to 141.9 billion. And the pandemic has led to several local search trends that are likely to have a lasting impact:
These large-scale trends can mean higher conversion rates for local marketers utilizing the right approach. Core Web Vitals and SEO StrategyLocal marketers must be prepared to account for CWV in any local SEO strategy. This means optimizing business websites for search algorithms, and for mobile uers—whose patience, attention span, and ability to navigate a website aren’t the same. These are some of the steps you can take to improve your local mobile marketing:
You’ll also need to measure the impact and success of these actions. Analytics ToolsLocal marketing strategies are only as good as the tools you use to measure their impact—the successes, the failures, and the avenues for improvement. Analytics technologies, dashboards, and software make it easier to collect and evaluate data for insight into marketing improvements. As you build a better approach to local SEO, these systems will represent your understanding of the market. Here’s what you should know about popular analytics tools regarding local search and Google Core Web Vitals: Google AnalyticsGoogle Analytics is your baseline tool for evaluating digital marketing results. For local results, you can even link this platform to your Google Business Profile through UTM codes. This gives you greater insight into where traffic comes from, and can help you separate and analyze multiple campaigns. Then you can use Google Search Console to access Page Experience and Core Web Vitals reports. These provide much-needed insight into how ‘user-friendly’ your website is to engage with. SemrushSemrush is a popular analytics tool that marketers can use to measure their local outreach. With features like position tracking for local businesses, you can observe your visibility and online interactivity in comparison to your competitors. Semrush can also help streamline CWV optimization through audit reporting. The platform assesses site performance and gives you a clear results report, making it easier to identify and make necessary changes. MozIf you prefer Moz for conducting data analysis, this platform also offers local marketing assessments. From ongoing listing syncs to profile optimization, you can apply this analytical tool to measure your local success. For Google Vore Web Vitals, Moz recently launched its Performance Metrics suite. This toolset is designed to automatically draw CWV performance insights and relay them to the marketer for action. Maximize Your PotentialWith the help of analytical tools, optimizing for Google’s Core Web Vitals is easier than ever. However, you and your team will need more than just the right tools to reach your potential. The impact of CWV alone illustrates the importance of ongoing analytics training for web development professionals. SEO analysis skillsets change all the time, so your team needs to stay up-to-date to remain visible within your local market. Key TakeawaysWith the tools, training, and market knowledge on your side, winning local search and Core Web Vitals just became simpler. Here are some key takeways to help shape your CWV approach:
Explore what these areas mean for your local marketing endeavors, and set your business on the right path to success. via BrightLocal https://ift.tt/6azdLRV Check out more SEO posts onhttps://seouk41.blogspot.com/ Google UTMs again Claire—seriously? I’ve written and spoken quite a bit on Google UTM tracking. This is largely because marketers and business owners are better able to judge the value of a Google Business Profile (GBP) when they use UTM tags. For more information on this, you can read my UTM Tagging for GBP guide or watch my Moz Whiteboard Friday. This guide is different. Here, I’ll focus on the what and why of UTM tracking from a multi-location business perspective. I’ll cover and tackle the issues and opportunities experienced by those managing GBPs for multi-location businesses. If this is you, then you’re in the right place—let’s dive right in! What is a UTM tag?UTM means ‘Urchin Tracking Module’. The ‘Urchin’ part is left over from when Google acquired Urchin in 2005 and formed what we now know as Google Analytics. This isn’t relevant to this guide, but by knowing it you’ll feel clever, and maybe it’ll come up as a question in a pub quiz one day. Think of UTM Google Analytics tags as tracking modules that we add to the end of our external links—which are links from other websites that point to our own. We don’t add UTM tags to our internal links because that would mess up our data big time. DON’T do it. Why should I add UTM tracking to Google Business Profile?Google Business Profile Insights can tell us about the actions that customers and potential customers take on our GBPs, such as making a phone call, requesting driving directions, or sending a message. GBP Insights also provides a metric called ‘Visit your website’: You know what? The ‘Visit your website’ metric only includes clicks on the ‘primary website’ link in your profile. What GBP Insights doesn’t tell us is the number of people who click through from the different links in your Business Profile, or what they do on your website once they get there. Without UTM tags, traffic from your GBP will show in Google Analytics (GA) as either ‘direct’ or ‘organic’. Unfortunately, this isn’t helpful if you’re trying to separate out web traffic into people that click through from the regular organic results, and those who arrive from one of the links in GBP. Another bonus is that when you add UTM tagging, you can separate out your Business Profile links, clicks, and impressions from your regular organic results in Google Search Console (GSC). This means you can see the search phrases people used that triggered those local organic results. Yay! More on this later. Where can I add UTM tracking in Google Business Profile?GBP and the pieces that populate it are in a constant state of flux as Google tests new features, monetizes previously free features, and so on. For the most part, the links available to you will depend on your primary category, this may include:
Let’s take a look at how you might use each of these options: Primary WebsiteFor a single-location business—or perhaps a business with only a handful of locations—you’d generally link to the homepage of the business website. Multi-location businesses will want to link from here to their specific location landing pages, which will have been brilliantly optimized, of course. AppointmentsThe appointments URL should link to the page on your website that allows users to book an appointment, usually via a booking form. If you don’t have a dedicated page for booking appointments, then you might link to your ‘contact us’ page instead. If you do this, then make sure it’s clear that people can contact you to make an appointment. MenuThe menu link should link through to…you guessed it…the relevant menu landing page for that location. Naturally, this link will only be available to those in the food and beverage industries! Place an OrderThis needs to link to a page on your website that allows a customer to place an order, or explains the details of how to do so. Find a TableThis link should point to your table scheduling page, if you have one. Similarly to the menu option, it will only be available to hospitality businesses. COVID-19 InformationCOVID-19 information should sit on a separate page on your site. It’s wise to keep this updated with how your business is responding to the current situation, especially since government guidelines are often subject to change. Your COVID-19 information should include details of how the pandemic is affecting the delivery of products and services, if relevant. Virtual CareIf you’re a healthcare organization offering virtual care, then you can link to the page that details how this works. This is only available in the US and the link will only show on mobile. Google ProductsIf your business uses Google Products, then you’ll want to link through to those product pages. Google PostsIf your business uses Google Posts, then you can link through to a relevant page. Remember, Posts can be used to announce new products, share a special offer, invite your customers to an event, and more. Which URLs should I UTM tag?You’d think this question would have an obvious answer. But it’s a little more nuanced. First of all, you’ll want to make sure that the URL resolves with a 200 status code. Don’t link to a URL that redirects as this might strip the UTM tagging from the URL. We really don’t want that. 200 status code: This means that this page is working well and that users and search engines are easily able to access it. If you’re using Chrome as your browser, then you can install this extension to check your status codes. Tagging URLs isn’t a one and done process because URLs may change for any number of reasons. When they do, you’ll need to update the URL at source. I’ve lost count of the number of GBP URLs I’ve clicked on that return a 404 error (page not found) or go through a series of redirects. Businesses often update the primary URL but forget about the appointment URL, the menu URL, etc. If you want to use Google Analytics to monitor the behavior of visitors that come to your website from these GBP links, then those URLs will need to be accurate. Remember, if you’re linking through to a URL on a third-party platform, then you’re not going to see GSC or GA data for that search or that visit! Incorporating UTM Tagging into Existing Reporting ProcessesYou’re likely now asking yourself, “How can I make sure my tagging framework plays nicely with any existing reporting framework?” Before you implement UTM tracking, you need to confirm who manages data and reporting for the business you’re working with. Run your suggested framework and tagging structure past them. Are they happy with the way you suggest tagging the source, the medium, and the campaign? It might be that they’ll suggest you use something else, in which case you can update your tagging template accordingly. Share the tagging template with all of the relevant people so that they have a record of the work you’ve done. This will also allow them to observe the way you’ve suggested the business tags Google Products and Google Posts (if relevant) moving forwards. Top Tips for UTM TagsI’ve said it before and I’ll say it again—consistency is key. It’s better to spend hours carefully planning out your tagging structure—and checking with everyone concerned that your suggestions will make sense for the business—than it is to spend days unpicking borked data. The following tips will help you to be consistent with your UTM tagging! Use LowercaseGoogle Analytics is case sensitive in all of its reports. This means that the same names with different cases will appear in reports as separate entries. I’d stick with lower case for simplicity. You don’t want your campaigns showing up separately if you mix and match upper case for your tags: Source: holini Make Your UTM Parameters Easy to ReadDecide how you’ll separate your words when a parameter has multiple parts. For example, from the below, which campaign name reads best? utm_campaign=girafferidinglessonsforkids OR utm_campaign=giraffe-riding-lessons-for-kids Personally, I like to use a dash to separate words in the parts of the parameter that I’m populating. The other options are to use an underscore, or to use the ‘+’ sign, which will create a space between the words when viewed in GA. Don’t Get Your Source and Medium in a MuddleA UTM code enables us to identify the source, medium, and campaign that a website visit comes from. Think of the trajectory of the visitor from the link click in GBP through to your website as a journey. The source is where the journey starts. The medium is the method of transport. Also, I think of the campaign as the seat or the carriage on that method of transport. When you incorporate all three of these dimensions, you’ll get a unique travel story. If you get the source and the medium mixed up, the traffic from your tagged URL is going to end up in the ‘other’ bucket in GA, and that’s very sad. How you label your medium will determine which bucket your data sits in. I always choose ‘organic’ as this is the default channel definition that I want my GBP traffic attributed to. For ‘source’ I use ‘google’, but other examples of UTM tagging for GBP might recommend you use ‘local’ or something else. Whatever you choose, be consistent and make sure that it doesn’t mess with your data and reporting! You *can* change the default channel groupings in Google Analytics so that you can tag GBP traffic with a medium of your choice, and tell Google that you want this included as ‘organic’. However, if you’re managing the data for an external organization, then don’t fiddle with any settings that might mess with the data someone else is using! Watch out for ‘?’ in URLsUTM tags typically have a ‘?’ before the first query parameter, such as: https://ift.tt/ziXWMNRmT?utm_source=google&utm_medium=organic&utm_term=gbp-listing If the URL you’re tagging already includes a question mark, you’ll need to swap out the ‘?’ at the start of your UTM tag for an ampersand instead: https://ift.tt/XQmwsYE0q?st=long_street&utm_source=google&utm_medium=organic&utm_term=gbp-listing Google UTMs for Business Profile URLsAs I already mentioned, I’m using ‘google’ for the source and ‘organic’ for the medium. I’m using the ‘campaign’ field to differentiate between the purpose of the GBP URLs, and the ‘campaign content’ field to differentiate between the locations. Source: google Medium: organic For the campaign field I use the location of the link in the GBP: For the primary website URL: Campaign: gbp-listing For the menu URL: Campaign: gbp-menu For the appointment URL: Campaign: gbp-appt For the place an order URL: Campaign: gbp-order Since the ‘campaign content’ field is used to specify your locations, I’d advise choosing the store codes you’re using for your locations in the location group. Ideally, these will be descriptive and UTM-friendly: This is another chance to think about the reporting and data requirements of the organization. What unique identifiers do you need to include in the campaign content field to answer questions like:
The Multi-Location ChallengeMulti-location businesses face a number of unique challenges, and UTM tagging is no different! Issues of Google UTM scalabilityIn my other UTM tagging template, I explain how to tag your Google Products. Google states that Products Editor is for small and medium-sized businesses. The product listings have to be manually curated in the GBP dashboard—therefore they’re not a great choice for bigger businesses or those with multiple business listings. Google, of course, wants larger businesses to provide data about their products via Local Inventory Ads (quelle surprise!). I’ve seen some multi-location businesses manually curating GBP products, but they’re few and far between. These businesses aren’t really the audience for this feature, so you won’t find a tagging framework on the BrightLocal tagging template. Posts are another sticking point for multi-location businesses. Google now allows chains (usually defined as businesses with ten or more locations that share the same name) to create Google Posts via the API and publish them across all locations. So, multi-location businesses can create a Post and push it out to all of their business listings. Because it’s only possible to post in bulk via the API—and not via the GBP dashboard—businesses usually manage this using a third-party tool, such as Uberall. This is why we haven’t included a section on Post tagging in our template. Listings Management PlatformsBusinesses with several locations *can* update their GBPs via the dashboard using bulk location management. However, if these businesses need to make frequent changes to their listings, they’ll likely manage this using a third-party solution. If this is the case for your business, or your client’s business, you’ll surely have a few questions for that vendor, such as:
Once you have the answers to these questions, you’ll be able to see if the template that we’ve put together, or the tagging framework you put together with the reporting manager, is viable within that platform. If you’re using listings management, don’t be tempted to add UTM tagged URLs via bulk upload in the GBP dashboard. These will only stick through to the next time the third-party platform pushes the data they hold for your listings back into the API. Ever read any of the ‘Google keeps stripping the tags off of my website link’ posts on the Google Support Forum? This is likely the cause of many of those problems. Claire—Show Me the Template!Okay, OK! Here’s the BrightLocal Multi-location UTM tagging template! Remember to make your own copy, change the name, and then add in your own unique URLs. Here’s a run down of the tabs in the template and who they’re for! For all businesses:START HERE—read this sheet first, and follow the instructions. Your Locations—this is where you’ll populate the important data you’ll need for each of your locations. I’ve given you one example, use this to put together a MASTER list. *TOP TIP* When you’ve finished, put all of the URLs you’ve entered through a crawler of some description (Screaming Frog or Sitebulb) and check they all give a 500 status code with no redirects. Primary Links—generates the primary links for your locations. For some businesses (depends on primary category):Appt Links Menu Links Place an Order Links Reserve a Table Link Next StepsRight. You have your Google UTM tagged links which have been signed off by your data and reporting lead. They’ve been put together with an understanding of the opportunities and limitations of the structure offered by your third-party listing provider, if you have one. Hooray you! If you’re using a third-party platform that’s going to update these URLs via the API, then you’ll need to liaise with that provider about how you communicate the new URLs to them. This will most likely be via a master spreadsheet. If you’re using the bulk management function within GBP Manager, you can download your business data, update the URLs in the sheet with the ones that you’ve generated using the template, and then ‘import businesses’ back into the location group. Monitor your listings to check on these URLs as they get updated and start showing in the places where your GBP features, such as Search and Maps. Google should update your URLs quickly, so check back in a couple of hours to see if your edits have gone live. Final Words of CautionThis guide is based on the premise that you’ll be changing pre-existing URLs purely by adding parameters, and in some cases adding new URLs in fields where you hadn’t previously had URLs. The domain itself needs to remain unchanged. Changing the domain to something different than the domain that was used for bulk verification is a big NO-NO and will likely result in suspension. Try a bulk update with a test set of about 20 at first to check that all changes go smoothly and that none of your changes are triggering any issues. Once you’ve tagged your URLs with UTM codes, you can start collecting and analyzing the data in GA and GSC! via BrightLocal https://ift.tt/Rx9hXqZi6 Check out more SEO posts onhttps://seouk41.blogspot.com/ Much has been written on the Millennial and Gen Z dislike of phone calls—often in reference to the anxiety experienced from making and receiving them. Does this ring any bells (excuse the pun)? If so, you’re not alone. According to Conversocial’s State of CX Trends Report, an increased demand for business messaging was observed in 2021. The year saw a 13% increase on 2019, with 69% of survey respondents stating they used a private messaging channel to engage with a brand. Additionally, 81% of respondents shared that they expect a brand to engage with them through direct messaging, which is an increase of 10% from 2019. With your potential customers less likely to want to engage over the phone—and more likely to want to engage via messaging—where does messaging through Google Business Profile (GBP) come in? And, how can businesses best implement it in order to take advantage of consumer preferences? Read on to find out! What is Google Business Messages?Google Business Messages has moved through a range of different formats and technologies over the years. In 2019, SMS was deprecated and there was a move to app-based messaging via the Google My Business (GMB) app—which will be retired later this year by the way! More recently, messaging has been integrated into the Business Profile dashboard. A range of messaging functionalities—such as automation—are now available via third-party platforms that utilize the Google Business Messages API. Like many of Google’s products, Business Messages can feel like it’s in a permanent state of beta, and it’s likely that there are more changes in the pipeline. Google Business Messaging FeaturesGoogle Business Messages has many layers to it. A small business can use it for ‘chat’ interactions via Business Profile, and bigger businesses can use the rich messaging options, such as automation and bots, via the API. This more sophisticated functionality will suit larger businesses—think chains with many locations. It’s particularly useful for companies that want the option to have bot-only responses, or a combination of bots and live chat, to interact with customers. Today, we’ll focus on how small to medium-sized businesses can implement and use Google Business Messages—specifically those that have one to a handful of locations. These businesses are able to set up Business Messages via GBP. Larger enterprise businesses (or even small businesses if they have the resources and budget) can work with a range of providers who use the Google Business Messages API. They can also tap into the more advanced features. What does Google Business Messages look like?Messaging—which is possible on a mobile device via Google search and Google Maps—allows customers and potential customers to contact you directly through your Business Profile. Keep an eye out for possible integration with other Google services and platforms in the future. When visiting a Business Profile on mobile, clicking the ‘Chat’ button, as highlighted in the image below, will start a conversation with a profile manager: When searching for a business on Google Maps, the ‘Chat’ button will present in a similar way: Sometimes the chat button can also appear as an additional call-to-action (CTA) button on GBP Posts, and it’s not possible for a business to turn this off. If messaging is enabled, it’s likely that this button will appear here, potentially robbing clicks from your other CTA buttons. If you’re managing Google Business messaging via a third-party with an API integration, there are other places where the messaging functionality may appear. This includes in sitelinks on a branded search, within an answer box, and on websites as a button widget—meaning that users can easily click and start a conversation. How do I enable Google Business Messages?A business can enable messaging in their Business Profile dashboard, in the GMB app, and via the direct edit experience: When you’ve enabled chat, you’ll see a variation of this message: Next, there are a couple of things you’ll need to do. Sadly, the current experience of setting this up is far from seamless, so you’ll need to make the changes in the GMB app. First, go into the app, find the ‘customers’ tab, then go into the ‘messages’ tab, and click ‘edit your welcome message’: This will be the first message people see, so it’s a good idea to manage their expectations regarding response time. Next, decide if you’d like to turn on read receipts for customer messages. You can do this within the app or in the Business Profile dashboard in ‘settings’: How quickly should I respond to messages?Time is of the essence here! Despite being labeled ‘chat’, this interface is only ‘chat-like’ if the business is quick to respond. It’s likely that users will expect a pretty direct answer. If they’re asking if you’re open because they’re about to get in the car to visit, and you take eight hours to respond, that’s a potential lost (or unhappy) customer. It’s worth noting that Google sets a 24-hour time limit for responses. If a response isn’t received during this time frame, Google might remove the business’s ability to use messaging, and the ‘chat’ button will be removed from the profile. You should also keep in mind that chat users will see your average response time when they message you. On the one hand, having a quick response time may encourage someone to send a message, but on the other hand, it can also mean that they’ll expect a prompt response as standard… so it’s important to be consistent. What’s the ‘Request a quote’ button?Depending on your primary category, switching on messaging may also activate a ‘Request a quote’ button on your GBP: The button will open a form which the customer can use to get a quote for your services: If the ‘Request a quote’ button is clicked on a desktop, then Google serves this message: Hold my *insert drink of choice*—now for the shocking part! If a potential customer finds your Business Profile, likes the look of you, and then requests a quote via a mobile device, do you know what Google does? They go ahead and invite that person to also send a quote request to a number of your competitors: Strangely enough, Google doesn’t mention this in any documentation on messaging functionality! What should I do about spammy messages?Spammy messages should be marked accordingly in the GBP dashboard. Your response time to these messages will not be included in Google’s calculations: How do I get notified that I’ve received a message?If you’re managing messaging via Business Profile Manager, and you’re using Chrome as your browser, you can get a browser notification when you get a new message. Likewise, if you update your settings in the dashboard, you can let Google know that you’d like an email alert when you get a new message. Only Business Profile owners and managers will receive an email notification that a message has been received. If you’re managing messaging on your phone, you’ll need to enable messaging in the GMB app and/or in your notifications settings in the Google Maps app: Be aware that all users of a GBP are able to read and respond to messages, therefore businesses need to be aware of privacy issues. In my experience, a business is much less likely to be aware of who has access to its GBP versus who has access to the company emails. The moral of the story here is that businesses should regularly check their GBP users and remove anyone who doesn’t require ongoing access. What will my replies look like?If you’re using the GMB app or Google Business Profile Manager, the message you send will come from the Google account of the person who’s logged in to manage that account: You’ll need to keep this in mind. Some businesses set up a Google account specifically for their ‘business persona’ rather than for an individual, and then everyone can use this to log in. You can create a Google Account for your business by following these instructions. Tips for Managing Google Business MessagesThe following tips will help you to get started with your best foot forward! Have a PlanRegardless of the size of your business, before you toggle messaging to ‘on’, make sure you have a plan in place for who’ll be monitoring and responding to messages. Test Your MessagingIf you’re tempted to dip your toe in the water and you have multiple locations, then you can test messaging on a small subset first. This will allow you to judge the value of messaging for your business and to try variations on logistics. For example, do messages need to be answered at the location by a member of staff, or could they be answered in a central location by a dedicated customer services person? Monitor Your MessagesDon’t set it and forget it, make sure you monitor your messages. What were they about? Were they dealt with successfully? What was the known outcome or likely outcome of the interactions? At some point, you’ll need to judge the return on investment (ROI) of messaging to determine if the time and effort of monitoring and responding is worthwhile. Represent the BusinessKeep your tone of voice in mind. Chat interaction is just another channel that needs to reflect the voice and image of the business. Ensure you consistently communicate in a way that’s in line with how the business should be represented. Be timely, friendly, and professional! Are there any third-party tools to help manage messaging?We asked Local SEO specialists on Twitter which tools they’re using to manage messaging:
And several helpful experts shared their top tips! The following two cost-friendly options might suit businesses looking to streamline messaging alongside their other channels of communication: SuperchatSuperchat offers a messaging platform that “combines all communication channels in one inbox: WhatsApp, Facebook, Google, SMS and email.” LeadfernoLeadferno focuses on home services, professional services, digital marketers, and web designers. This service combines SMS and other messaging tools to “power businesses to create conversations and close more leads faster with omni-channel messaging.” Leadferno is currently working on a Google Business Messenger integration, which will include rich features, like carousels, suggested replies, and photos. Let us know in the comments below if you have any other affordable recommendations for small and medium-sized businesses.
Solutions for enterprise (and higher budget) businesses include: UberallUberall caters specifically to enterprise businesses with several locations. Uberall’s conversations tool “consolidates Google Business & Facebook messaging into a single interface to simplify messaging for multi-locations and enterprises.” GoHighLevelGoHighLevel is a platform specifically for agencies. It provides an “all in one marketing and sales platform.” ReputationReputation offers a platform for enterprise clients and bigger brands to manage messaging from multiple channels within one dashboard. Google Business Messages for small businesses—yay or nay?Yay:
Nay:
Now that you have all of the information, you can make up your own mind about whether Google Business Messages is a good fit for your business! via BrightLocal https://ift.tt/y3n6EsQY1 Check out more SEO posts onhttps://seouk41.blogspot.com/ |
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