In order for small businesses to be easily found by users searching for your product or service, your website needs to rank well in the local listings. While studies show that 28.5% of clicks come from the first organic SERP and then drop significantly; The local 3-pack has the highest percentage of clicks with 44% click rate.

To maximize visibility and increase your chance of ranking well, it is important that you own your local listing, also known as the Google My Business page.

Request your company profile using Google My Business

A company profile can be added to Google by anyone. A profile is a listing of your company - or a local quote. Every place that is added to Google Maps receives a profile. Because of this, you may not have any control over your business location. To be able to manage your company profile, you need a separate Google My Business account for your profile page. You cannot manage your company profile without a Google My Business page.

You need to take ownership of your company profile. Once approved by Google, you will have a company profile that will allow you to properly manage the accuracy of the information consumers see.

In essence, Google My Business is a tool that you can use to improve the visibility of your profile. Maintaining accurate and up-to-date information on your business profile is important as other channels, including Yelp and Bing, also get their local business information from Maps and Search. Whenever possible, it is important to have consistent NAP information about local directories and your site's location information.

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Interaction with consumers in Google My Business

In GMB, you can manage how your business is displayed in local searches and on Google Maps. You can manage your NAP, pictures, videos and more - including ratings.

We found that 93% of users are influenced by reviews, whether they are positive or negative. It is therefore important to have as many positive reviews as possible about your GMB listing.

Via GMB, you can interact with and get in touch with consumers if they leave you a review. This is a great way to show other consumers that you care about what users are saying about your products and services. You can also enable direct messages to be contacted directly by consumers through your Google My Business page.

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It's important to know that you cannot turn off GMB reviews. If you have negative reviews, work with the rest of your marketing team to decide a good strategy to address as they will likely have an impact on sales.

Harvard Business Review found that companies increase sales and reviews when they respond to good or bad reviews. Forbes recommends taking the situation offline by providing the contact information of a specific company representative. By responding, you have an opportunity to increase ratings and show potential customers that you care about your consumers' experiences.

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Optimize your Google My Business page

A well-optimized Google My Business page can increase the visibility of your website and is an integral part of local optimization efforts.

Add your company's Google My Business page to Google Maps and request it.

Include a clear and detailed description of your company that encourages employees to learn more. Use relevant keywords for products and services to rank these queries higher.

Choose a specific business category to better connect you with consumers. Some category options include grocery, beauty items, or fitness center. Use a category that describes your company as a whole. If your beauty store offers in-house services such as haircuts, create a separate business profile for the services.

Use high quality images and videos of your products and your company.

Make sure your NAP - name, address, phone number - is completely correct for potential local consumers.

Encourage consumers to leave positive reviews. You can provide a post-purchase CTA, send a thank you email to request a review, etc.

You can use Google My Business to increase both visibility and your opportunities to outperform the competition. Manage how your business is displayed in search engines and correct as much NAP information as GMB can control.