8 Ways to Optimize Your Google Business Listing

Transcript:

If you need to find a business near you, what is the first thing you do?

You take out your phone and get on Google.

Google will then provide you with several local businesses in your area that will help you with the service you require.

Ranking high on Google maps can bring in a significant number of leads for local businesses, especially dentists, which is why you need to be proactive in getting your business listing to rank high on the list.

In this video, I am going to go over eight ways you can optimize your listing to help increase its visibility to help you start gaining more views and new business. If you’re ready to learn and are looking forward to this information go-ahead type, “Rank Higher” in the comments below, and we’ll get started.

 Creating a Google Business Listing is free,  so there should be no excuse as to why your practice doesn’t have one already. Now, if you already have one, don’t assume because it’s active that you will automatically rank for the searches coming in for your area. No, it doesn’t work that way, especially in a competitive market like Miami or New York City.

In fact, proximity is just one of many factors Google Maps takes into account when ranking business listings; there are many others that I will cover in this video. Not only will these optimization tips help increase your chances in ranking on Google Maps, but it can also help you reach one of the top 3 positions of the “Local 3-Pack,” which shows on Google’s first page of organic search results – and this right here is the goal. This right here can significantly increase the visibility of your business.

So without further ado, let’s begin.

Your first tip is to verify your business. Now you may need to create a new listing, or there might be one out there already that you can claim; either way, you must verify. Verification can be completed by phone or mail. If you opt-out for mail, you will receive a postcard within five business days with a verification code. Once you receive that, log in to your listing and type in the information, it’s as simple as that.

Tip number two is to complete your business information fully. This means adding business hours, a thorough business description with keywords, selecting a primary business category and secondary categories, phone number, and address.

 When writing out your business name, address, and phone number, make sure that you keep it consistent across any other business listings you create on other sites.  Google Maps ranks businesses it can trust, and one measure of your trustworthiness is the consistency of information about your business across the web.

The third way to optimize your listing is to add photos! Make sure to add your logo to showcase your brand and keep consistency from a visitor, see your business listing, and then visiting your website. Add team photos and office photos, give a tour of your office with videos, and show people what they can expect when visiting your practice.

Google loves when you upload pictures and videos to your listing because it shows you are an active listing worthy of being ranked higher, and people love photos – so if they love them, Google loves them too.

Your fourth tip is to get reviews.. Getting reviews can help you stand out against your competition. Not only does a star rating show potential patients that others trust you, but it can capture their eye, especially if your competitors don’t have many reviews themselves. Remember, patients love reviews, so just like the previous tip – if they love them, so will Google.

It is important to remember to respond to every single review you receive – be it a positive one or a negative one. Show people an appreciation for taking the time to share their experience and don’t just only focus on mitigating the negatives.

Also, just because people CAN leave reviews on your Google listing, it doesn’t mean they will so make sure you and your team are proactive in asking for them.

Tip number five is to remove all duplicate Google listings. You may have created them or not, but take the time to do this step because Google does not like multiple listings for one business – unless, of course, they have an actual second location with a different address and phone number.  Duplicates will harm your rankings, so don’t try to scam Google because eventually you will get caught and suspended. 

Tip number six is to post regularly on your listing. Google Posts arrived at the scene back in 2016, and it seems to continue to be staying around. Posts trigger a signal to Google that you are proactively managing your listing, keeping it up to date and engaging with your local community. This provides you an opportunity to share upcoming specials, news, or resourceful information for your audience.

Now when you create your Google listing, it is ideal to add a website URL to your business information. This way, they can visit your site for more details if needed. This seventh tip is more for your website but works in tandem with your listing, and that is to make sure your website is up-to-date and responsive. This is because more than half of Google searches are done on the phone, so if you’re leading your audience to a mobile site in which they have to pinch, zoom, is slow to load, or has several broken images and links, then your ranking status will suffer. Not only on Google maps but the organic search result pages as well.

Jumping on the back of website optimization, your eighth and final tip is to make sure your on-page SEO is on point. Make sure that your website and it’s pages have a centralized focus and that you have optimized it with keywords that relate to the dental services you are providing, as well to the local area you are serving. This includes reviewing your title tags, alt-tags, body text, and URLs.

So, guys, you have made it! Those are eight ways to optimize your dental google business listing to help you rank higher. If you do not have a business listing set up already, do it immediately, this is incredibly important for the local online success of your business. If you already have a listing, go through these tips again and make sure you have completed all of the items listed.

If you need help, and would rather us help you, we’d be more than happy to do so. Just click the first link in the description below to contact us.

If you don’t know already, my name is Marli Espinales, founder of Clicc Media Inc, thank you so much for sticking around and listening to what I have to share. The last thing I ask of you is to hit the like button below if you enjoyed the information in this video and hit that subscribe button as well to get notified for our next upcoming one.

Have a beautiful day. See you next time.