Google My Business is a core element of local SEO, so it’s important to highlight at this point just how crucial it is that your listing data is accurate and kept up to date. Research suggests that 50% of consumers visit a store or business the day of performing a local search, such as ‘dry cleaners near me’, and that 80% of consumers lose trust in local businesses if they see incorrect or inconsistent contact details or business names online, so you’ll want you keep your NAP (Name, Address, and Phone number) consistent across all your listings, not just GMB. Setting up your Google My Business profile is a critical part of local SEO. Get it right the first time with the following guide. While there are lots of ways to monitor and improve GMB performance, to start with you’ll need to set up your basic profile, free of the bells and whistles that will come later. 1. Set up a new Google AccountIf you want to use any Google service—be it Gmail, Google Photos, Google Docs or Google My Business—you need to have a Google account…that’s just the way it is. Fortunately getting one is free, and businesses just need to go here and click the “To manage a business” button. If you want to create a new Gmail address then your username can only contain letters, numbers and periods, or you can choose to sign-in with an existing personal or business email address. Use an email that you’ll have immediate access to, as you’ll be asked to login and retrieve a security code. After being asked to provide a phone number, date of birth and gender (and to agree to the ubiquitous terms and conditions), you can now start to build out your business profile and get noticed! 2. Head to google.com/businessThis area is your Google My Business gateway. You’ll be coming back to it regularly so take the time to save it as a bookmark, and when you’re ready click ‘Manage Now’. 3. Enter your business nameIf you have the same name as another business in your region, you’ll see the autocomplete function suggest those businesses for you. This is to allow you to see if your business listing already exists (to avoid accidental duplication), and to add a new GMB profile to an existing business if you’ve just opened a new location. 4. What to do if your business is already claimedClick the “Request access” button and submit the form with as much detail as possible. You’ll receive a confirmation email of the request, and Google will contact the email currently associated with the business. Unfortunately it’s then a case of wait-and-see for 7 days before you can reach out to Google Business Support. If during this time you receive confirmation that account ownership has been passed over you, then great! If you receive an email saying that you’ve been denied ownership, then the best thing to do is to raise a question with the GMB Help Community and get advice from one of their volunteers. 5. Enter the address of the business location(Only if this is where your business engages in face-to-face interactions with customers). If you’re a Service Area Business that delivers goods and services to your customers, you’ll need to tick the box at the bottom of this form. SABs have two options here:
All businesses that deliver goods and services directly to their customers will have the option to specify a Service Area in the next step. 6. Specify service areas (Service Area Businesses only).Before you can choose your business category, you’ll need to specify the areas you serve, so that Google can accurately surface your business for searches in those areas, even without a physical address. Enter one or more regions, cities, or ZIP codes that your business serves. N.b. At the time of writing, Google My Business is phasing out the ‘Distance around your business location’ option and has stated that these will be replaced, so we’d recommend forgoing this option and specifying regions, cities, or ZIP codes instead. 7. Choose your business category.This is a very important field that will not only strongly influence the kinds of search terms you appear in Google for, but also appear within your Google My Business profile. It’s also something worth testing when you come to update your Google business listing. While you are able to adjust this later (which will require re-verification – more on this later), we’d recommend researching competitors and looking through a full list to find the most accurate category for your business. N.b. Some Google My Business features are category-specific. For example, hotel listings show class ratings and list any amenities offered. Food and drink businesses can also add URLs to their listing for online orders, reservations, and their menu, and they can even add menu items directly into GMB. Services and health and beauty businesses may be able to add a booking button to their listing. These are just a few examples of the sophistication that Google is developing for GMB, so it’s worth staying up-to-date on new additions to Google My Business. 8. Add a contact phone number and website URL.Neither is compulsory but are strongly recommended if you want to take advantage of GMB functionalities like call tracking. If you ever need to change this when updating your Google business listing, be sure to make those changes to all other business listings, too. If you don’t already have a website, Google will even give you the option to create a new ‘Google Website’ based on the information you’ve provided. However, as we’ve shown before, there are plenty of reasons local businesses need their own unique websites. 9. Complete your Google My Business Verification.Google obviously needs to be able to prove that your business is where you say it is, and for entirely new GMB profiles, you have three options:
The two other options are instant verification, which is only available if you’ve already verified your business’s website with Google Search Console, and bulk verification, for businesses managing ten or more locations. You can read more about both of these options here. What’s Next?Once you have an officially verified listing, it’s time to optimize your Google My Business! Now you can:
To benchmark your business’s GMB performance against others in your industry, take a look at our Google My Business Insights Study. Boost your local marketing with BrightLocalSetting up your Google My Business profile is just the start of your local marketing journey. Competition is rife, no matter how niche your business is, so it’s crucial that you have the local SEO tools on hand to help you understand your local search presence. That’s true of your website as well as your Google My Business listing (remember that the Local Pack appears above organic search results for local searches and is only made up of GMB listings), so you’ll want a toolset that gives you an overview of how both are performing. BrightLocal’s Rank Checker, Local Search Audit, and GMB Audit are great ways to get this up-to-date and accurate performance data for you or your clients. Get started with a free 14-day trial today! via BrightLocal https://ift.tt/398215f Check out more SEO posts onhttps://seouk41.blogspot.com/
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Maybe you’re new to the world of Search Engine Optimisation (SEO), or you might be an industry pro who’s moving into a Local specialism? Either way, BrightLocal’s Local SEO Glossary explains all the relevant terms to bring you up to speed, and is the perfect partner to our Complete Guide to Local SEO. We’ve also turned this glossary into a quick-reference downloadable CSV for you to repurpose however you’d like! AApple MapsThe default map system for Apple products, and the second most popular maps application among mobile users, after Google Maps. Local SEO should target Apple Maps alongside Google Maps through Google My Business, and Bing Maps through Microsoft. Average star ratingThe rating that shows up next to a business listing on any directory that features business reviews, such as Yelp and Google. The review score is calculated from user ratings and a variety of other factors, and after someone leaves a new review, it may take up to two weeks to get an updated review score. BBing Places for BusinessA free tool for businesses to appear in Bing search engine results, as well as in Cortana results. It’s suitable for businesses with storefronts, chains with multiple locations, or service providers without a physical store. Want to know more? Check out our dedicated guide to Bing Places for Business. CCentroidA concept in the local search industry used to define a central point of geography or activity. Wherever a user is physically located at the time they search for something local, Google’s results will be customized to display the businesses nearest to the user’s device. This may be referred to as “proximity to the point of search” or the “user-as-centroid phenomenon”. CitationIn local SEO, a local citation is a complete or partial web-based reference to a business’s name, address, phone number, plus other core data. Structured citations can occur in the form of formal local business listings on local business data platforms. Unstructured citations occur as simple mentions of a business on a blog, news site, website, or other online publication. Want to know more? Check out our Complete Guide to Local Citations. Citation campaignThe practice of auditing, cleaning up, and building citations for a local business on a variety of local business data platforms. DData aggregatorA data aggregator is a company that collects data on local businesses such as their name, address, phone number, opening hours, etc. in order to present it elsewhere online. Data is verified then sold (leased) to other companies in need of local business data. Companies that typically buy this data are online directories (e.g. YP.com), local-mobile applications, and mapping and GPS companies (e.g. TomTom). Want to know more? Check out our guide to data aggregators. DirectoryAny website which lists business names and contact information in an organized fashion, typically in alphabetical order or by business type. Directory information is frequently assimilated by local search engines. Duplicate listingAny time you have more than one listing on a given platform (like Google My Business) representing a single entity (a business), that’s considered a duplicate. It’s important to regularly check for and consolidate any duplicate listings for the same business. Want to know more? Check out our guide to removing duplicate listings. FFirst-party reviewsUser reviews that are collected and displayed on your own website with no input from the business owner. GGeo modifierAlso known as a geographic modifier, location modifier or location qualifier, this is the part of a search term which references a location. Examples of keywords with geographic modifiers would be “plumber London” or “plumber near me”, rather than just “plumber”. GeotaggingThe process of adding geographical identification data to various media such as a website, image, video, SMS messages, QR code or RSS feed. Geotagging helps search engines make the connection between your content and the location of what it depicts. Google GuaranteedA Local Services Ad label indicating that a business has passed the screening and qualification process and that Google will back the work of the business. This only applies to ‘home services’ businesses, including plumbers, locksmiths, electricians, etc. If a customer that booked service via a Local Services Ad is not satisfied with the quality of the work, Google might reimburse the customer up to the amount they paid for the service (with a lifetime cap per customer of $2,000 in the United States). Want to know more? Find out more about Google Local Services Ads. Google ScreenedA Local Services Ad label indicating that a business has passed the necessary screening and qualification process but is not backed by any kind of guarantee from Google. Only businesses that provide professional services including law, financial planning, and real estate are eligible for the Google Screened badge. Want to know more? Find out more about Google Local Services Ads. Google MapsA web mapping platform that offers street maps, satellite imagery, 360° interactive panoramic views of streets, and real-time traffic conditions. It also offers route planning for traveling by foot, car, bicycle, air and public transportation. Crucially for local SEO, it enables users to search for places and businesses, and see their descriptions reviews and more details from Google My Business. Want to know more? Find out how to get your business to rank on Google Maps. Google My Business (GMB)Google My Business is a free tool that allows businesses to set up a profile to promote business information on Google, such as address, phone number, email, social media links, and more. Your profile will appear in Search and Maps, and you can use it to post photos and updates to your business profile, and see how customers are interacting with your business on Google. Want to know more? Check out our Complete Guide to Google My Business. Google My Business insightsA Google My Business tool that provides data on business profile views, searches and actions from both organic search results and Google Ads. It includes metrics on search queries, direction requests, phone calls, and what a business is best known for. Google My Business messagingA Google My Business tool that allows customers to get in touch with a business in real-time, from the Business Profile. Google My Business Q&AQ&A is a Google My Business tool that enables searchers to ask and answer questions about a business, and also gives the owner or representative the opportunity to respond. Anyone with a Google account can leave questions for the business through this section, and all Q&As are visible on the listing. Want to know more? Check out our guide to Google My Business Q&A. Google My Business productsA Google My Business tool that allows businesses that don’t have the ability to integrate product feeds via Google Merchant Center to add product inventory manually. Access to GMB Products is dependent on a business listing’s primary category. Want to know more? Check out our detailed guide to Google My Business Products and Services. Google My Business servicesA Google My Business option for a business to add the services it offers, along with descriptions and prices. When local customers search on Google for a service that a business offers, that service may be highlighted in their GMB profile as a justification. Want to know more? Check out our detailed guide to Google My Business Products and Services. Google My Business spamThe act of unfairly employing spammy tactics in local search results to get ahead of competitors. Examples include keyword stuffing, having multiple Google My Business listings, lead generation websites, and falsified reviews to manipulate local search results. Want to know more? Learn how to find and report Google My Business spam. Google My Business verificationBusinesses who have registered with Google My Business won’t be able to make changes to a listing until they have been verified. This is usually via a physical postcard sent out to the business’s registered address. This is to make sure that only authorized representatives of genuine businesses can create and manage listings. Want to know more? Find out how to verify your Google My Business listing. Google PlacesThe old name for the Google My Business suite of tools, which changed in 2014 when Google consolidated its Places services with Google+ Local. Google PostsA Google My Business tool which allows businesses to provide updates and promote offers from their Business Profiles, which show up in the local panel on Google search and on Google Maps. JJustificationsAn extra snippet of text that Google displays in the local pack, local finder, and in Google Maps to signal to searchers that a feature of the business specifically matches their perceived intent. Want to know more? Check out our guide to justifications in local SERPs. LLocal backlinksA link from another local website to your own website, which will boost your domain’s authority in the eyes of search engines. Local SEOs can earn local backlinks from a variety of sources, including local business directories, newspapers, and blogs. Want to know more? Find out how to get local backlinks. Local business schemaSchema (or structured data) is a standardized format for providing information about a web page to help search engines display relevant results. Local business schema includes business hours, department sections, reviews, reservation or ordering systems, payment areas, and other actions. Want to know more? Find out why local business schema is so important. Local finderAn extended listing of local businesses which appears when clicking on the ‘More Places’ link at the bottom of Google’s Local Pack. Want to know more? Learn the difference between the Google Maps and the local finder. Local landing pageA landing page is the page a user first visits when arriving on your website. In local SEO, a local landing page is one which offers details about a specific store location or branch, and which may be optimized for that specific location. Local landing pages are particularly important for multi-location business websites, who may have a separate local landing page for every business location. Local pack (also known as 3-pack, Local 3-pack / Google 3-pack)Also known as the 3-pack, Local 3-pack or Google 3-pack, the local pack is a Google feature that displays a map and details of an area’s top three local businesses. For instance, if a user searched “restaurants near me”, it would display three restaurants near to the user’s current location. Earning a rank in the local pack can drive a lot of local traffic and brand visibility to a business. Local search intentAny query in which a search engine assumes the user is looking for a local result. Local search ranking factorsThe components that contribute to the rankings of a local business. These can change over time but tend to focus on Google My Business, on-site SEO, reviews and links. Want to know more? Find out what the latest local search ranking factors are. Local SEOLocal search engine optimization is similar to SEO in that it is also a process affecting the visibility of a website in a search engine’s unpaid results. Local SEO differs in that it focuses on optimizing for display by search engines when users enter local searches for its products or service, for example by including the name of a town/city, or by adding the phrase “near me”. Want to know more? Check out our Complete Guide to Local SEO. Local Services AdsPay-per-lead ads that appear at the top of local search results, above organic results and traditional Google Ads. To run Local Service Ads, businesses must first pass a screening process that involves background checks, license checks, and insurance checks. Want to know more? Find out more about Google Local Services Ads. Localized organic search resultsSearch results returned for a specific location, dependent on local search intent, the physical location of the user, etc. Ludocid / Ludo CIDThe Ludocid, sometimes referred to as the ‘CID’, is a unique ID that Google assigns to a specific business location in order to identify it within its systems. It can be used within Google search URLs to return the Knowledge Panel for that specific business. It can also be used within Google Maps to view a specific business. Want to know more? Find out your business’s Ludocid with our handy free tool. NName spamName spam refers specifically to any manipulation of the business name in Google My Business, such as keyword stuffing. Want to know more? Find out how to spot and remove Google My Business name spam. NAPLocal search engines use Name, Address and Phone number (NAP) information to judge the accuracy of the data in their own indexes. They do this by crawling the web to assess authenticity, or receive it from other data providers. Consistent NAP information helps to improve search engine rankings and is beneficial to local customer acquisition. PPlace IDsPlace IDs uniquely identify a place in the Google Places database and on Google Maps. They are available for most locations and businesses, and it is possible for the same place or location to have multiple different place IDs. Place IDs may change over time. Want to know more? Find out your business’s current Place ID with our handy free tool. Pointy from GoogleA Google My Business add-on that helps brick-and-mortar retailers list products online Want to know more? Find out how Pointy from Google can drive sales. ProminenceOne of the three pillars of local search, along with relevance and proximity. These pillars drive Google’s local algorithm and help determine the local pack and rankings. For prominence, the algorithm is asking, “Which businesses are the most popular and the most well regarded in their local market area?” Want to know more? Find out how the Google local algorithm works. ProximityOne of the three pillars of local search, along with relevance and prominence. These pillars drive Google’s local algorithm and help determine the local pack and rankings. For proximity, the algorithm is asking, “Is the business close enough to the searcher to be considered to be a good answer for this query?” Want to know more? Find out how the Google local algorithm works. RRelevanceOne of the three pillars of local search, along with prominence and proximity. These pillars drive Google’s local algorithm and help determine the local pack and rankings. For relevance, what the algorithm is asking is, “Does this business do or sell or have the attributes that the searcher is looking for?” Want to know more? Find out how the Google local algorithm works. Reserve with GoogleA Google Maps service that allows for reservations and bookings of restaurants, tickets and appointments. ReviewsA customer’s text summary of their experience at a particular business. Reviews can be left on search engines, apps or websites, and are often simultaneously assigned star ratings. Google-based reviews are believed to impact Google’s local rankings. Review gatingThe act of soliciting feedback from a customer, and then deciding whether to ask them for a Google review based on their response. This is strictly against Google’s review guidelines and can come with heavy penalties. Want to know more? Learn all about the risks of review gating. Review managementThe practice of generating, and responding to, customer reviews, either manually or with the help of software. Want to know more? Check out our Complete Guide to Online Review Management. Review spam / Fake reviewA fake customer text summary about a particular business. This can include fictitious positive or negative statements made about a business for the purpose of helping or harming its reputation or rankings. Want to know more? Check out these statistics that show why fake reviews are a real problem. SService areaTypically used to describe specific neighborhoods, towns, or cities served by the service-area business model, which includes businesses like plumbers, cleaners, or gardeners. Service-area businessA term frequently used to describe go-to-client businesses that travel to customers’ locations to render services, such as plumbers, electricians, and carpet cleaners. Want to know more? Check out our guide to local SEO for service-area businesses. Small-to-Medium-sized Business (SMB)Small businesses are usually defined as having less than $50 million in annual revenue and/or fewer than 100 employees. Medium businesses typically make more than $50 million, but less than $1 billion, in annual revenue, and/or have between 100 and 999 employees. Structured citationBusiness listing information built into the structure of a pre-existing digital platform or database, usually a business directory. TThird-party reviewsUser reviews that are collected by third-party websites, such as Google, Facebook and Tripadvisor, which are independent of the business. UUnclaimed listingsWhere a listing for your business already exists on a business directory, but you do not have control over it. Unstructured citationA non-directory listing of a business’ complete or partial contact information, for example in an online news article, blog, best-of list, etc. YYelpA publisher of crowd-sourced reviews about businesses, currently with 100 million reviews worldwide. Are there any terms you’d add to this glossary? Let us know in the comments below! via BrightLocal https://ift.tt/3Dj8MBe Check out more SEO posts onhttps://seouk41.blogspot.com/ Citation Builder has been nurtured and developed over the years to provide you with the best, most efficient service. However, whilst we’d love to achieve world domination, expanding our citation building service on an international level takes time. That’s why we’ve set you up with the next best thing in the meantime: a comprehensive list of international citation sites that can be used to build citations across nearly 200 countries worldwide. We’ve conducted extensive research into both international citations and local seo citations for each country listed in the table, and while we found a few helpful blog posts and lists along the way, there was nothing very extensive or broad in its geographic coverage. We know how helpful such lists can be when SEOs and marketers are conducting citation research, so we’ve updated our free resource of international citation sites for 2021. What Are International Citations?International citations are sites and mapping services that cater to business listings acros multiple countries. There are multiple national or local citation sites that cover one to two countries (e.g. the USA and Canada), but there are not as many sites available which have global coverage. However, these international sites are very useful for local SEOs and marketers who wish to work with businesses in different countries across the globe. Below the table you’ll see the full list of countries covered by these citation sites. Please Note: Citation sites listed here aren’t necessarily ones we can submit to using Citation Builder. Click here for more information. Top Free International Citation SitesCountries Covered by the Citation Sites on This List
Afghanistan, Albania, Algeria, Andorra, Angola, Antigua & Barbuda, Argentina, Armenia, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Bahamas, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belarus, Belgium, Belize, Benin, Bhutan, Bolivia, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Botswana, Brazil, Brunei, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cabo Verde, Cambodia, Cameroon, Canada, Central African Republic, Chad, Chile, China, Colombia, Comoros, Congo, Costa Rica, C̫te d’Ivoire, Croatia, Cuba, Cyprus, Czech Republic, North Korea, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Denmark, Djibouti, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Estonia, Ethiopia, Fiji, Finland, France, Gabon, Gambia, Georgia, Germany, Ghana, Greece, Grenada, Guatemala, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Hungary, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kiribati, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Latvia, Lebanon, Lesotho, Liberia, Libya, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Madagascar, Malawi, Malaysia, Maldives, Mali, Malta, Marshall Islands, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mexico, Micronesia, Monaco, Mongolia, Montenegro, Morocco, Mozambique, Myanmar, Namibia, Nauru, Nepal, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Niger, Nigeria, Norway, Oman, Pakistan, Palau, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, South Korea, Moldova, Romania, Russia, Rwanda, Saint Kitts & Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent & the Grenadines, Samoa, San Marino, Sao Tome & Principe, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Serbia, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, Solomon Islands, Somalia, South Africa, South Sudan, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Suriname, Swaziland, Sweden, Switzerland, Syria, Taiwan, Tajikistan, Thailand, Timor-Leste, Togo, Tonga, Trinidad & Tobago, Tunisia, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Tuvalu, Uganda, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, Tanzania, USA, Uruguay, Uzbekistan, Vanuatu, Venezuela, Vietnam, Yemen, Zambia, Zimbabwe, United States of America, United Kingdom Want to Suggest a Site or Edit?There’s always room for improvement, so we’d gladly welcome any additional suggestions or feedback in the comments below. via BrightLocal https://ift.tt/3yalpe8 Check out more SEO posts onhttps://seouk41.blogspot.com/ If you’ve found this article then you’re almost certainly asking “is there a way to verify Google My Business without a postcard?” It is 2021 after all… The answer (unsurprisingly) is both ‘yes’ and ‘no’, and you can either skip straight to the details, or find out more about verification first. What Do I Need to Know?For the most part, Google keeps product and service registrations as straightforward as possible. You can set up a Gmail account in seconds. Ditto for Google Ads. And on the face of it, setting up Google My Business follows the same principle. That is until you’ve registered but aren’t able to make changes to your GMB listing straight away. What gives? Verification. It’s a pain, we get it. But until you prove who (and where) you are, you won’t be able to do any of these things:
The verification system ensures that only authorized representatives of the business, and genuine businesses, can create and manage listings, which ultimately safeguards your business. What’s the Standard Verification Process?Google says that most local businesses will need to verify their listing by post. This means they will send you a postcard containing a verification code which you then enter to confirm your listing. The downside is that this method can be slow—you could be waiting upwards of a week for your postcard to arrive. Google warns that this delay has also been exacerbated by the pandemic, and some business owners have reported postcards that have gone missing en route: All of which can be frustrating when you’re ready to take control of your local SEO and optimize your Google My Business listing. What If I’m Tempted to Skip Verification?Quite simply: don’t. If you skip verification, there’s very little point in actually claiming your Google My Business listing in the first place. You won’t be able to use your profile in any meaningful manner. Do I Have to Verify by Postcard?Here’s the bottom line:
The only way to find out your available options is to register and see which ones come up. How Do I Verify Google My Business?This is your starting point: Verify with postcard:
Verify over the phone:If your business is eligible for phone verification, you’ll see a phone option when you click ‘Verify’.
Verify via email:Some businesses may be given the option to verify by email, rather than postcard.
What If My Business Has Already Been Verified?You may be offered no verification options, and instead see a message saying that someone else has verified that profile:
Google My Business verification processes are subject to change, so we’ll keep a close eye on any changes to keep this article up to date. We wish you luck for a smooth verification! via BrightLocal https://ift.tt/2WaT0ai Check out more SEO posts onhttps://seouk41.blogspot.com/ Local search intent is the holy grail of appearing in the local pack. Here, local SEO expert Joy Hawkins breaks down how justifications in Google My Business (GMB) can help you understand and match this intent, and sometimes even tell you why you’re ranking! What Are Justifications in Local SEO?Justifications are little snippets that Google shows in the local pack to help “justify” why the business is there and is showing up for that search. There are several types of justifications. The type you see highlighted in the local pack varies based on what you search. Types of Justifications1. “Sold here” justificationsCan you influence them? No. These justifications show a searcher looking for a specific product that it’s sold by your business. According to Krystal Taing, this is taken from “Know this place?” questions on Google Maps. Google often prompts users with push notifications on their phones (from the Google Maps app) to answer questions about a place after they have visited. There doesn’t seem to be a way to control what questions people get asked, and we assume it varies for people that Google knows have physically visited the location. We currently don’t know why some get a checkmark icon and some do not. 2. Posts justificationsCan you influence them? Yes, in your Google posts. These pull in words from Google posts and have an exclamation point icon next to them. They can overwrite other justification types and pull from Google posts that were created in the last 60 days. Post justifications get updated with the most recent Google post that matches the search query. However, they don’t just look for an exact-match: for example, I searched “internet marketing companies” and got a post about “SEO companies” because these words are related. If you’re trying to optimize for post justifications, remember that posting about a single topic looks much better than having a long post that lists all your services. It’s not just one post type that can get used in justifications, either. Different types of posts can get highlighted. We have seen event posts get highlighted and we’ve seen regular update-types highlighted. 3. “Provides” justificationsCan you influence them? Yes, in the ‘Services’ section of your GMB profile. This type of justification uses a checkmark, just like “Sold here” (which is confusing), but instead it pulls from items that are added under ‘Services’ in Google My Business. Be careful how you word your services, because otherwise things can end up looking really dumb in the search results. For example, I’m pretty sure none of these lawyers offer “slip and fall injuries” as a service (h/t to Justin Mosebach). 4. “In stock” justificationsCan you influence them? Yes, by using ‘See What’s In Store’. This type of justification shows up for listings that have an activated See What’s In Store (SWIS) function, which is powered by Pointy from Google. There are a few third-party platforms that can get you this feature, such as dbaPlatform. 5. “Their website mentions” justificationsCan you influence them? Yes, with content on your website. This type of local justification pulls from content on your website. If you click on it, it will often expand and show you the exact page of the site that it’s pulling the content from. This can include a meta description or alt text and a photo. Unlike other justification types, this one is useful for your local SEO strategy, because it’s likely giving you insight into why that listing ranks, and is showing you the content on the site that likely influenced the ranking. 6. “Menu highlight” / “On the menu” justificationsCan you influence them? Partly, in the Menu on your GMB. This type of justification shows up for restaurants, and shows things that are either listed on the menu in your GMB or are featured in the menu highlights section of your Business Profile, which is controlled by users and the photos they add. 7. Review justificationsCan you influence them? Yes (by encouraging reviewers to use preferred keywords in their reviews). These are pulled from business reviews left on Google. Everything (Else) You Need to Know About JustificationsJustifications Don’t Cause RankingsJustifications do not mean that these “things” they are pulling from are what is causing it to rank. For example, if you see a post justification, it’s because the business already ranked for that query and has just created a Google post that is relevant to the query. And in our testing at Sterling Sky, we found that Google posts don’t impact ranking. The one exception to this is website justifications. When you see “their website mentions”, it is often an indication that the content from the website is what is helping the business rank for that query. 57% of Local Packs Feature JustificationsA study by Moz found that 57% of local packs featured justifications. Sometimes, when you click to expand the listing inside the Local Finder, it will actually show you multiple justifications, or things related to your search. Top Tip: If you see the “onsite services” and “online appointments” attributes inside Google My Business, these actually block justifications from showing in the local pack. We tested removing these from a listing and after about 48 hrs we started seeing justifications showing up instead. Justifications Get Updated FastThe justifications in the search results get updated in real-time. I was able to see a post highlighted for a client in the search results that I had just posted five minutes prior. Justifications Vary Based on the Device UsedWhat justifications show, and what type you see, varies based on the device you use. For example, mobile results show a horrible review snippet, yet it’s not there on a desktop. In SummaryJustifications are a fun way for businesses to help get more information about their business to surface in the search results. Make sure you look at all the different types listed here and add the correct information to your Google My Business listing (and website) to help maximize all the opportunities available. via BrightLocal https://ift.tt/3xZm167 Check out more SEO posts onhttps://seouk41.blogspot.com/ For any business aiming to grow in a specific geographic area, local SEO is undoubtedly a powerful marketing tactic. An impressive 78% of consumers will make an in-store purchase after a mobile search with local intent. People making local searches are actively looking to buy, making them an ideal audience for you to target. The practice of local SEO can help both search engines and searchers identify your business as a relevant result. Your shoppers can get quick, easy, and accurate information about your service, product, or industry with a local context. When implemented well, local SEO can be the reason your brand becomes a nearby shopper’s first choice. But without it, there’s a chance your business will remain unnoticed on the web. In this article, we’ll dive into five ways you can provide virtual “context clues” that can help search engine users find your local business. Whether you own a brick-and-mortar company or a business with a dedicated service area, these tips can help you take your SEO marketing to the next level. 1. Answer Location-based QuestionsIf you’re already putting local SEO into practice, odds are that you’re already inserting location-based keywords throughout your content. It’s a basic local SEO tactic that can effectively help your website rank higher on search engine results pages (SERPs). But if you really want to stand out for local searchers, understanding and directly answering your target market’s questions is the next step. Answering location-based questions (for example, “where are georgia peaches grown”) can increase online visibility in three key ways:
So how do you know what questions to answer? Standard local keyword research tactics still apply. Great questions should include a core term that’s relevant to your business, like “pedicure” for a nail salon, as well as a local term (like “in LA”). Tools like Ahrefs, Semrush and AnswerThePublic can tell you the exact questions searchers are asking. Expert Tip: Voice search now makes up one in five Google searches, so answering local questions can be critical when searchers use smart speakers and other voice assistants. 2. Localize Your LanguageThe need to include city and state names within local SEO content is fairly well-known. But even the best SEO experts often forget the importance of localizing your language or the way you write altogether. Where we live affects how we speak and write. In the USA, a ‘soda’ in the West is a ‘pop’ in the Midwest and a ‘coke’ in the South. What tourists call San Mateo County, locals may call the Peninsula. Similarly, Londoners spell theater as “theatre.” Naturally, our learned language affects the way we search. Using highly localized language can help you match your target audience’s search terms exactly. And when you do, search engines will take note of your website’s heightened relevance. Local language will also catch the eyes of searchers themselves, and help you build trust with the people who matter most to your business. Expert Tip: People are literally searching the way they speak, so mix in both local and colloquial language. As more casual terms make their way into queries, search engine algorithms will adjust by seeking web pages that provide matching context clues. 3. Expand Your Online PresenceHaving your name, address, and phone number (NAP) on your site is already a good start for localization. However, search engines know that not all businesses stay on top of website updates. To make sure you’re actually a local company, search engines like Google scan outside sources for confirmation. To show up for more local searches, your NAP must remain consistent across all of these sources. One way you can improve your local SEO is by claiming your business listings on platforms like:
Claiming your listing allows you to personally update your business listings. Rather than relying on your current clients to report any changes, you can proactively keep your NAP data aligned across all platforms. In addition to jumping on business review and directory sites, you can create social media pages for your business. Platforms like Facebook and LinkedIn allow you to input your NAP on your business pages to offer additional context clues to searchers and search engine algorithms. Expert Tip: If you ever write a guest post for a blog or get your brand featured in an online publication, see if you can get your address and phone number alongside your business name. Even if you can’t, these can still be opportunities for your business name to appear with broader local terms on an external site. 4. Use Visual CommunicationVisual communication—including your visual branding or images of your signage or building—can tell users a lot about who you serve. For example, if your logo includes a state flag, local shoppers will instantly connect with your brand, and they’ll do so fast. The human brain can process images in as little as 13 milliseconds, compared to the 114 seconds it takes to translate sounds into actual words. Adding images that hint at your locality to your website, Google My Business page, and other platforms don’t automatically boost your search engine ranking. However, they offer context clues that attract high-quality shoppers. Great images alone push 60% of consumers to click and make a decision. Now imagine if those images offer a local context. If shoppers are scrolling through Google Maps and see a sign they recognize, or scroll through Google Images and spot a familiar building, they may gravitate toward your brand. As your visuals improve your organic traffic, dwell time, conversion rates, and other important SEO metrics for local searches, this can start to improve your local search rankings, too. Visual communication will only grow in importance as Google Maps AR grows, combining real-world visuals with search and content. 5. Set Up a ChatbotLive chat solutions are highly effective contact platforms that let customers get their questions answered at any time — including those about your location or service area. And on the flip side, they can help your business gain information about customers’ locations, too. With a chatbot, you can even automate your information collection. The data you can collect is valuable for local SEO. You can gain insight into where your shoppers are located and what they need help with, so you can continuously shape your local SEO strategy. If your website uses dynamic content, data collected by chatbots can also help you improve your personalization. Boost Your Local SEO with Better Context CluesAdding local context to your online content is crucial for reaching and converting nearby searchers. It can make both searchers and search engine algorithms confident in your relevance. As a result, you can start ranking higher for local searches, attracting more local customers, and improving your business results altogether. via BrightLocal https://ift.tt/385fgFv Check out more SEO posts onhttps://seouk41.blogspot.com/ Most of us are as familiar with Google products as we are with our own friends: Google My Business, Google Reviews, Google Maps… But Google Pointy? Pointy Google? Pointy from Google?! If you haven’t heard of this particular product, don’t worry. This short guide will bring you up to speed in no time at all. Pointy Google? What’s that?First up, you should know that Pointy didn’t start life at Google. It was founded in Ireland and acquired by Google in January 2020. Now known as ‘Pointy from Google’, it’s a software and hardware solution which helps local retailers sell more products and services…instantly! Pointy connects with the retailer’s point-of-sale system, either via a physical Pointy box or an app download. This means that it’s especially useful for smaller businesses, as no data entry or e-commerce experience is required.
How does Pointy from Google Work?Pointy from Google sits between the retailer’s barcode scanner and their point-of-sale system. Each time they scan a barcode, that product will automatically be uploaded to their Pointy Page (also known as a Pointy Store): Source: Pointy with Google You can think of a Pointy Page as like having your own virtual store: just as you’d fill your real world shelves, Google digitally stocks your virtual ones. The Pointy Page shows product information alongside other key details—such as store opening hours—with options for shoppers to contact the retailer or reserve items of interest. Once scanned, each product is also added to your Google My Business page, meaning that it can then be shown in millions of searches for relevant keywords and terms. This video provides a helpful overview of the whole process. Advanced FeaturesPointy also offers the option to integrate with Google’s See What’s In Store feature. This lives within Google My Business, and (once initiated by the store owner), provides an inventory of in-stock products at a given brick-and-mortar location. The product feed is then used in a number of Google search properties, including Shopping, Images, Maps and Search, which increases search visibility: Source: Pointy from Google For those wanting to drive even more traffic, Pointy ProductAds (yes, there’s no space!) takes product information and automatically turns that data into Google PPC ads, with retailers only required to set a daily budget and geographical target area. To find out more, visit Google’s local inventory ads page or watch their video here. Finally there’s the retailer dashboard, which provides measurable data that makes it easy to determine if your investment is paying off. It’s populated with quick-to-understand reports covering key stats such as most searched products, and how people found your store: Source: Pointy from Google Is Pointy right for your business?There’s much to recommend Pointy from Google if you’re a local business with a brick-and-mortar location:
You’ll need to have an existing point-of-sale system, and decide between installing a physical Pointy box or downloading the app, which will determine the final cost. Note: Pointy is currently available in a select number of territories: the US, Canada, UK, Ireland, and Australia. Pointy can check whether your business is eligible. You will need to provide your store name, email address and contact information in order to do so. How to get started with Pointy from GoogleIf you’re ready to apply, log in to your Google My Business listing and navigate to the ‘Products’ tab on the left. You should see a promo card for Pointy: If not, then simply head to the Pointy website to sign up. A Pointy representative will call you to discuss the platform, tell you how it works and go through your Google My Business profile. And while you’re waiting for the call, ensure that your Google My Business profile is as good as it can be with BrightLocal’s Google My Business Audit tool! via BrightLocal https://ift.tt/2Xhz322 Check out more SEO posts onhttps://seouk41.blogspot.com/ Starting a brick-and-mortar business is already difficult enough, but securing funding to support growth is an entirely different battle. In this article, capital-raising expert Dave Lavinsky explains how marketers can use their expertise to help clients grow their business by raising capital, and build a long-term client relationship to boot. Helping your client to grow their brick-and-mortar business is no easy task. This sentiment is even more powerful in today’s business landscape, where viruses and variants threaten the existence of established brick-and-mortar businesses around the world. Even before COVID-19 changed the way we consume and make purchasing decisions, business owners were already facing challenges of a different kind. An oft-cited statistic from the U.S. The Bureau of Labor Statistics says that 20% of American businesses fail within the first year. Within five years, that number jumps to 50%. Some of the best retailers of the 21st century faltered: Sears; J.C. Penny; Pier 1 Imports; GNC, and Toys R Us, among others. In 2019, a record-breaking 9,500 brick-and-mortar stores went out of business. In 2020, an additional 12,500 stores closed. But this isn’t a grim tale about the highly-debated future of brick-and-mortar stores; if anything, the pandemic has given people a new appreciation for neighborhood retailers, restaurants, and experiences. Companies who were able to pivot their strategy survived—and even thrived—during COVID, with those that were able to quickly adapt to online marketing particularly well-placed. In fact, many businesses were launched during these tumultuous times. As a marketer, the key to growing your SEO or marketing business is uniquely positioning yourself to help clients beyond the technicalities of citations, on-site optimization, and link building. Instead, consider how you can help your clients grow their businesses, and make your work indispensable to their success. The Rise of New BusinessesIn the midst of one of the biggest economic catastrophes in modern history, business startups in the United States increased by 24% from 2019 to 2020. The burgeoning interest in starting a business is clear. And when you connect the dots, it makes sense. During the height of COVID-19, many Americans revisited abandoned hobbies, reassessed career goals as unemployment rates skyrocketed, and questioned their goals during lockdown and social distancing. My company Growthink, a business plan consulting firm, saw a record-breaking number of business plan template downloads in 2021. The modern business landscape is changing, but one thing has stayed the same: no matter what type of business your client has, they need a business plan to get a bank loan or raise money from investors. Brick-and-mortar businesses need strong business plans and traction (or demonstrable interest) to appease lenders. If you want to help your client raise money and renew their SEO and marketing contracts, it’s time to collaborate with them to work your local SEO strategy into their business plans. Integrating Your Local SEO Strategy Into Investor DocumentationIt’s no secret that local SEO is a must for brick-and-mortar businesses. Local SEO attracts potential buyers who want to make an immediate purchase. According to Google, nearly half of all searches have local intent, and even as early as 2015, 93% of local searches display the coveted local pack. Furthermore, Google searches with the phrase “near me” have doubled in 2020. The majority of people who conduct a local search visit a store within five miles and 18% of local mobile purchases lead to a sale within one day. Savvy, up-to-date marketers understand the relevance of local SEO and have likely heard the aforementioned statistics before (and used it in sales pitches of their own). However, these statistics are important because most companies that create business plans only briefly mention local SEO, if at all. If the power of local SEO is strong, so why isn’t it used to communicate growth potential in fundraising documents? The first step you should take is to help your client integrate local SEO statistics and metrics into the “marketing plan” section of their business plan or pitch deck. Many lenders (accredited investors and financial institutions) are not SEO experts—it’s a foreign language to them. Once you and your client feel comfortable about the data you’ve compiled for their business plan, it’s time to start meeting with investors. Even if you aren’t a part of the in-house team, consider attending these meetings with your client and structuring a new revenue share agreement for your participation. Having an SEO professional on-site will help your client appear more professional, informed, and well-equipped to communicate the competitive advantages of local SEO. The investors your client chooses to meet depend on the type of business they’re running. For a simple coffee shop or retail store, the chances are that they’ll meet with a bank lender. On the other hand, if they just launched their first coworking location, they might meet with an angel investor. During a meeting, it’s crucial that you communicate the value of local SEO with simple language and concrete data, just as you would with a new client. Here are a few tips to help you achieve this:
In addition to the “Marketing Plan” section of your client’s business plan, you can also include the benefits of local SEO in the “Competitor Analysis” section. Numerous competitor analysis tools can reveal the local SEO efforts that other companies are putting into their business. In a traditional business plan, the competitor analysis section hones in on a competitor’s market share, pricing, strengths, weaknesses, and customer reviews. But every search engine optimizer knows that there’s plenty of value in examining their traffic, ranking keywords, and local influence. Use this data to help demonstrate that your client is better-positioned to attract local customers than its competitors. A Sample of a Local SEO Strategy for a Business PlanLet’s examine the competitive analysis section of a business plan for a fictional coffee shop called Bohemian Cupsody. Using the Competitive Research Dashboard on Semrush, we pulled the following metrics for Bohemian Cupsody. It shows that Bohemian Cupsody has 67 keywords contributing to featured snippets and 19 keywords that contribute to local packs. Tip for communicating SEO lingo in simple terms:Snippets: A few sentences of useful text pulled from your website and placed at the top of search engine results pages. Local Packs: A digital business card that appears at the top of search engine results pages along with direct competitors.
Now here’s the same competitive research screenshot for another local fictional coffee shop, Bottom of the Drip. As you can see, Bottom of the Drip will not appear higher than Bohemian Cupsody in search engine results, and customers conducting a search for local coffee shops are more likely to go to the former. ConclusionMarketers and SEO professionals are taught to use dashboard metrics to communicate progress to clients, and sometimes clients include those reports in their business plan. However, by leveraging your knowledge of local SEO and insight, you can uniquely position yourself to build a long-term partnership with your client by helping them secure funding that supports long-term contracts. Looking beyond financial plans and forecasts can help your clients prove their potential to lenders based on the place where almost every consumer begins to shop: Google. via BrightLocal https://ift.tt/3CFCMqu Check out more SEO posts onhttps://seouk41.blogspot.com/ In March of this year, Google announced a ‘photo update’ feature that gives Google Maps users on Android devices a new way to upload photos to your Google My Business profile. I’ve only just spotted it being used ‘in the wild’, and haven’t seen much in the way of coverage, so I thought it worth sharing some details on how it works, what you need to know, and what it could mean for the future of GMB (specifically Google Posts). After all, the features you know about but your competitors don’t are the ones that make you stand out when searchers compare businesses. Read on to find out more! What are Google My Business ‘Photo Updates’?We’re all familiar with the contents of the ‘By owner’ tab in the updates section. This is where we see our Google My Business Posts, new photos and updated hours: The Google Maps update introduced the ‘By Visitors’ tab: I hadn’t read anything about this, and Stefan Somborac pointed me in the direction of this post on Google’s blog, which explains that this feature was launched in March 2021: Digging around in Google’s guidance on GMB posts, I found this section: What’s interesting here is that the guidance wording suggests that it’s only possible to add a photo update when you’re leaving a review. However, it is possible to add a photo update without leaving a review if you click here, on ‘Add a photo update’: When a user adds a ‘photo update’, Google prompts them to ‘say something about your photos’: When a user adds an image using the ‘Add a photo update’ button, the image (and optional caption) shows on the ‘By visitors’ tab, as in this example below, where no review was left: When an image is added by a user using another method of image upload (for example via ‘Add a photo’ on the ‘Photos’ tab), it does not currently show on the ‘By visitors’ tab. Replying to a ‘photo update’This feature is only active in the Google Maps app on an Android device, and businesses are only able to comment on these user ‘photo updates’ via the Google Maps app when they’re logged in with a user account that has management level access to the business listing in question. Businesses can ‘reply’ to the photo update by clicking here… …and leaving their reply, which then shows under the customer image in the tab: Just like best practice with Google My Business reviews, it’s a good idea to monitor this section, and to respond appropriately and in good time. If the photo is great, then a quick thanks might suffice. If the photo is less than flattering in terms of its reflection upon your business then you’ll need to think carefully about how you’ll respond, exactly as you would do with a negative review. What can I do if I, as a business, don’t like the photo?Not much, sadly. You don’t own this content and as long as it’s a ‘valid’ photo from a user, taken at the location, and it doesn’t contravene Google’s format specific criteria for user uploaded photos (see below) it’s pretty much a case of ‘hard cheese’. For this reason, it’s a good idea to encourage your customers to upload photos via this method, so that you can keep a fresh stream of images coming that will push any of your ‘not-so-favorite’ photos lower down on the scroll. Like all user contributed content user, uploaded photos do need to be in line with Google’s format specific criteria: An issue with the current setup on the photo updates tab is that if a business flags an image to report a violation of format specific criteria for images, the reporting criteria that Google shows in the popout applies to reviews, not to images. When you click on the three dots on the ‘By visitors’ update, like so… …you see these options: Instead, to report an image (or indeed a caption) according to the guidelines for user uploaded photos, you have to click on the image itself, then click the three dots: A click here triggers the image and caption specific popout: What does this mean for local businesses?This functionality suggests that businesses would benefit from continuing to encourage customers to upload photos using the ‘photo update’ prompt. However, Google now has so many options to upload user-generated photos, it’s going to be hard to get your customers to understand the nuance between an image upload via the ‘add a photo update’ prompt rather than any of the alternative methods to update images. It’s worth noting that, within the Google Maps app, Google is prompting business owners to get their users to populate this tab by sharing their Business Profile: Top Tip: Want to share your Business Profile to encourage more photo uploads from customers but don’t know where to find the link? BrightLocal’s Google Review Link & Place ID Generator allows you to easily search for your profile and find the link. However, as already noted, the standard routes to customer image upload don’t currently populate this tab. Though, of course, like all functionality that’s GMB related, this is always subject to a quick-fire change! Ideally, your customers would annotate those ‘photo updates’ in a way that is in line with the way that you’d want someone in a review to describe your attributes, products, and services. The ‘photo update’ tab presents another layer of opportunity for current customers and potential customers to view user-uploaded photos, so it is in your interest as a business to keep these fresh and new, compelling and attractive, for you to carefully monitor the content, and to respond appropriately to image uploads and image captions. What might happen next?The introduction of this feature earlier this year could suggest that Google’s looking to add additional user-generated content in GMB. Think of it as a little like being able to write a comment on a business’s Facebook page. If users are consuming content within the ‘updates’ tab as part of their discovery process, then user ‘photo updates’ are going to be one of the things that they’ll see. Google’s documentation on ‘photo updates’ lives in the Google Posts documents folder, so for the moment be aware that maybe GMB posts won’t remain a feature that can be so carefully curated by a business. So if you, as a watcher of GMB functionality, were playing at predicting a future where users could comment on GMB posts… perhaps this is a step towards that future. As always, I’m surprised that Google Maps users pick up on the small changes in the user interface and try them out, especially considering Google never really keeps consumers in the loop about how these features can be used to their benefit. If uptake on this feature is low, then perhaps it’ll just disappear. But GMB watchers did say that about the ‘follow’ button… so just keep your eyes peeled and have a think about how this feature could present an opportunity for your business, and how you’ll manage this feature moving forwards. via BrightLocal https://ift.tt/37S8gvz Check out more SEO posts onhttps://seouk41.blogspot.com/ Approximately 22% of customers will leave a business after receiving just one negative review, whereas around three negative reviews can drive away 59% of customers. Reviews assist consumers in making quick decisions about purchases in their research by providing a clear picture of your company. Studies show that of businesses who respond to bad reviews, 33% turn around and post a good review, and 34% delete the original negative review. Whether a review is good or bad, it makes sense to respond. When someone leaves a negative review about your company, it can be really difficult to know how to respond. There are many ways you could handle the situation, but one of the best responses is simply asking for more information and trying to find out what went wrong. Despite your natural feeling of frustration, make your best effort to remedy the situation. Resolve the problem by apologizing and repairing it. If you resolve the issue, many customers will be happy to change their reviews. Below I’ll run through the steps to consider when responding to a negative online review. 1. Keep calm and take a breathIt can be hard not to take personal insults and low-star ratings as being directed at us, but it is important to remember that sometimes people are venting their frustrations about something else. A good way of responding might be to thank them for taking the time—yes, even if they didn’t like your business or service—and to ask what could have been done better in order to make things right with them. Before responding to an angry customer, take a moment to breathe deeply and think about it. If necessary, get up and walk around the block. The best thing to do is to settle your emotions before responding, as being angry is never a good outcome. You might find it helpful to have a list of standard responses to refer to when responding to a customer who’s had a bad experience. In writing a reply to the reviewer, you can use these “canned” responses as a starting point. Then tailor your canned responses to each reviewer’s feedback to ensure people reading your reviewers don’t see too much repetition. Taking a moment to think about what you want to say, or the kind of response you want to use, can be incredibly helpful—especially if you’re upset. Take the below response, for example. If emotions had been settled before responding, the responder might have delivered a better response, without the sarcasm. It would have been better to look at this situation from the perspective of asking if anything could have been done better to make things right with the reviewer. 2. Remember that you must respond to the negative reviewBad reviews actually have the power to improve conversion rates, so it would be a shame not to take this golden opportunity to respond. Taking the time to respond to a negative review can result in a 16% boost in customer advocacy. Remember that the most effective form of marketing is word of mouth. Businesses experience a 37% decline in customer advocacy simply by the act of not responding to a negative review. Be empathetic in your approach. Reviewers often just want to be heard. Sometimes, all it takes to make a customer happy is to show them that you have heard them and that you want to solve their problem. Customer satisfaction can be doubled by resolving a customer issue in a single contact, as you’re far more likely to get a repeat sale. Over 70% of buying decisions are based on how a customer feels they are being treated, so do your best to make all of your customers feel valued – even the unhappy ones, as below. 3. Consider the type of reviewer you’re dealing withThere are many different types of reviews and reviewers, but there are a few categories into which most people fall. You’re guaranteed to make the response process faster and more effective if you take advantage of BrightLocal’s tips on different types of reviewers, like first-time, sharpshooters, and serial complainers, for example. First-time reviewers: Consider whether the negative feedback is accurate. If it is, make internal changes to remedy the problem. When applicable, explain how you will prevent this issue from occurring again in the future. Also, if you disagree with the reviewer’s assertions, politely and professionally present your point of view. Sharpshooters: When dealing with a short, confident review from an expert, keep in mind that brevity is the goal. Condense your response into clear and concise sentences rather than lengthy ones to better reflect this type of reviewer’s communication style. Serial Complainers: The serial complainer can really hurt your business, so tread carefully. These reviewers have experience with similar businesses and know how to make them look bad in the process. To avoid this, take note of what other companies did when responding with them as well as avoiding making mistakes they made! Top Tip: If you’re working with Google reviews, click on the reviewer’s profile and you should be able to say all the reviews they’ve left for other businesses. Looking at how other businesses have responded to these reviews (and how successful they’ve been in turning the reviewer around) will give you a great idea of how to approach their review of your business. 4. Resolve the issueSometimes customers leave reviews because they are disappointed or disgruntled, and not because of something you’ve done. If possible, try contacting them privately with a response that politely addresses their message. Work to solve the problem with more than just a response. Discover what went wrong and why the reviewer was so dissatisfied. Search your database for their email or phone number and contact them. Instead of addressing the issue online, you’ll be able to speak directly and resolve it “in person.” Efforts to resolve the problem show the customer (and others) you mean business. When customer trust is broken, it is critical to go the extra mile. Fixing the problem not only makes the customer happier, but other potential clients will see how important your customers are to your business, as you can see below. 5. Get a second opinionThough it’s tempting to jump into defending yourself against unjustified complaints, responding with anger will do more harm than good. Responding in an informative manner, that acknowledges the customer’s frustration, will help you to avoid escalating any unnecessary problems. To ensure that your response to the review is accurate, let an impartial third party read it before you post it online. Double-check your message and tone by sending the response to several colleagues to ensure that it “reads” well to a third party. This is important because your response may be interpreted as overly defensive or aggressive, and this would not help to win over the customer. Share an example of what you have written with friends, family, and/or a private business network. Be transparent and open with the feedback you receive and make adjustments accordingly. 6. Remember that a well-written negative review response can increase salesLook at the positive within the negative. Negative reviews will stay negative forever if you do not respond, and we all know that nothing is lost on the Internet. How you respond to negative reviews can provide consumers with insight into your business’ credibility. In addition to fixing problems raised by negative reviews, there is another benefit. You gain the trust of potential customers. If you fix your mistakes, they will see that you are thorough and responsible, and that is certainly something to be valued as a business. This is a good time to gain insight into what your company may be doing wrong. Seeing the potential hidden within a negative review may help you improve your business. Look at the review and carefully consider what the person wrote.:
In analyzing what the customer says, look for larger issues that need to be addressed at your business, as in the example below. 7. Take the discussion offlineOn the other hand, negative feedback can provide a wealth of useful information, because what your product or service lacks is sometimes more obvious to your customers than you. Have you ever tried to collect customer surveys to get this information? A task of this nature is near-impossible. Although people may sincerely want to answer all the questions, sometimes they just forget about it when the daily rush gets to them. So reviews give you a lot of valuable feedback in this respect. Additionally, this type of feedback gives you time to resolve issues before the problem escalates with other customers. The best cure is prevention. Your customers know better than anyone what is missing from your product, so pay extra attention to what they have to say. According to Harris Interactive, 75% of customers believe it takes too long to reach a live agent on the phone. Increasingly, people use online reviews, social media, and other online methods for customer service and to voice their opinion publicly since it gets higher attention. The best way to handle attention-seeking people is to take the discussion offline as soon as possible. Simply let the customer know you heard them, like the example below, and then ask them to call or email you personally so you can resolve the matter. 8. Ask for a do-overAs long as you’ve taken steps to resolve the situation with an unhappy customer, you shouldn’t hesitate to politely request that they update/change their review to reflect the resolution. One of the best ways to do this is to send an email outlining what happened, what you resolved, and the steps you’re taking to improve things going forward, and then politely asking if they would mind updating their review. 9. Get more positive reviews to push down the negative reviewsThe vast majority of people read an average of 10 reviews before they decide to use a business. The review process is usually ordered chronologically, so if you keep a steady stream of positive reviews flowing in, you will see those negative ones extinguish over time. The best way to counteract one negative review is to get a few more positive reviews to “push down” the negative review. Provide an easy way for your customers to write positive reviews about your business. Your business is worth a searcher’s time when it has online reviews. Easily and quickly create a steady stream of positive customer reviews for your company with Brightlocal’s Get Reviews tool. via BrightLocal https://ift.tt/301CBBQ Check out more SEO posts onhttps://seouk41.blogspot.com/ |
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