Tag Archives: Google My Business

Here’s Why You Should Opt For Google’s Local Booking Service

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Google unveiled the option to book appointments with local businesses directly from the search results in August 2017 and since then they have been pushing it to local business owners in a very discreet manner. Maybe it’s because they don’t want to appear like a pushy salesman. However, this feature didn’t receive the kind of warm welcome they were expecting. It might be because people were not sure whether they are just testing it or planning to fully launch it before putting efforts, money and time into it.

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If you want to test this out (recommended), first you have to go to your GMB dashboard and check whether your business is eligible for the booking feature or not.local-bookings-gmb

And if your business is eligible, you will have to choose a third party provider from all the listed options. Yes, you read that right. Google has partnered with third-party booking services for this feature and you have to shell out anywhere between $20-$80 a month. But it “might” be worthwhile for you since bookings can increase given how convenient it is to book appointments directly from the search.

Need more information on Google’s Local Booking Service? Connect with us to learn more!

GMB-Agency-Dashboard-Header

The New Google My Business Agency Dashboard

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Google rolled out Google My Business agency dashboard in June. It was launched to help agencies manage a large number of listings. But many agencies faced issues while migrating to the new agency dashboard. To help them out, Google has launched a new tool to streamline the entire process.

First, you have to decide whether you want to shift completely to the GMB agency dashboard or not. So far the migration of the location has been the biggest hurdle. In case you decide to shift to the new GMB, Google is offering you two ways to do so.

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Assisted Migration: In order to encourage hesitating agencies to shift to the new GMB agency dashboard, Google is ready to offer them personal assistance in migrating the locations and accounts. It’s good for agencies who have a lot of locations to move. You just have to request for the assisted move and for that, you will need to log into your GMB agency account, then go the Overview tab, click the Got existing locations to transfer? and follow the instructions from there. It will take around 48 hours to complete the entire process and then you can see all of the locations in the manage location tab of your agency account.

Self Migration: You can opt for this option if you are managing only a few locations. In order to transfer the locations into your new agency account, you will have to request access to each location or location group manually from your agency account and then accept the request from your personal account. The steps can differ based on the number of locations, so make sure you read Google’s support page.

We would like to inform you that it’s far easier to manage multiple locations and accounts on the agency dashboard than the private account. Google has also fixed the bugs from the initial launch, so we highly recommend you to use the agency account.

 

 

For more information on Google’s new agency dashboard and other strategies, Connect with us!
Video-Verify-Google-My-Business

Now You Can Verify Your Google My Business Listing Over a Video Call

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It’s quite ironic that an internet giant like Google relied on old school “Postcard verification” process till now. In order to verify your business, you had to send a request via Google My Business and then wait for 14 days to receive the postcard. In many cases, the postcard arrived on time, but in some cases, it didn’t arrive at all. So the whole process was slow & troublesome, to say the least.

Although Google did offer Phone verification too, it was limited to selected industries because it’s really hard to check the authenticity of a business over a phone call, and Google wants to list only genuine businesses, or at least they try their best to do so.

After a ton of complaints and thousands of emails with subject line “I have not received the postcard,” they decided to verify a business over a video call. Although it’s not currently available to everyone, we can say that it will be a norm in near future.

Here’s how Video verification works:

  • Go to Google My Business and click on the verify my business listing from the left menu.
  • There will be 2-3 verification options depending on the type of your business. Choose “Verify now with live video chat”.
  • You will receive an email from a Google representative, asking you about the right time for the video chat. Confirm the time and date and you will receive a video call from a Google representative.Verify-Business-Listing-Video
  • They will ask you to show your place of work & a business card or letterhead that has the exact same address as your listing. They may ask for some other proofs as well. So keep all documents handy.
  • The whole process takes only 10-15 minutes and you will receive verification email (if everything goes right) within a few hours or 2 days at max.

    Contact us for more information on how to properly set up your Google My Business listing!

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Google-word-count-limit

Google Switched from Word Limit to Character Limit for GMB Posts

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Earlier, a Google My Business post had a word limit of 100-300. Now, they have changed it to 1500 characters. Although it’s not a revolutionary change, because 1500 charterers roughly translate to 294-320 words, it still provides more convenience over the word limit. How?

GMB-Character-LimitBecause counting words is not as precise as characters. You will now know exactly where to stop while writing Google My Business posts.

 

Are there any changes in how many characters will Google display on Mobile devices without having to click “learn more”? According to our test, it has increased from 55 characters to 140 characters. Google has not officially said anything about this, but few others who have tested it are backing our claim.

Overall, now you can be able to convince your customers more effectively via Google My Business posts.

Contact us for more insights on all the latest updates to Google My Business posts!

For more in-depth insights into the most vital features of Google My Business, Download The SEO Solutions 2018 Guide to Google My Business to learn more!

Sign up for The SEO Solutions Newsletter to read up on all the latest updates!

GMB-Listing-Ownership

A Gentle Reminder That You Don’t Own Your Google My Business Listing

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The main aim of having and maintaining your Google My Business listing is to spread awareness about your business. But in case you forget to fill the Service area then you will face something that’s rather strange. 

Many users have reported that, when they forgot to fill the service area, a third party lead generation company’s link called “singleplatform.com” appeared in front of the service section.

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Upon clicking on the link, it takes you to a page that is dedicated to the business. And the weirdest part is, it doesn’t open in a new window, but rather navigate you out of Google.

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Sometimes it shows “Get a Quote” option, not from the business that you have searched for, but from the businesses that have paid on singleplatform.com to get listed.

When you click on the “Claim this Menu”, it will show you a service cost that ranges from $99 to $149 a month. Although we didn’t investigate further, Google forcing business owners to opt for a paid option is a wakeup call for those who think that they “OWN” their Google My Business listing.

Although the above encounters were mostly from the home service industry & were limited to the cities which have Google local services active.

The only way we can see to protect yourself from this is to fill out your services menu within Google My Business. We recommend you do this regardless of your industry. Just because Google is focused on the home services industry doesn’t mean they won’t turn to your industry next.

For more in-depth insights into the most vital features of Google My Business, Download The SEO Solutions 2018 Guide to Google My Business to learn more!

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Increase-Sales-Google-My-Business

Here’s How You Can Increase Sales With Google My Business Posts

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Google posts have the immense power to boost the bottom line of your business. Those who
know how to utilize it to the fullest have seen a huge boost in sales. Ex-Googler & SEO expert
Joel Headley increased booking by 11% for his client using Google posts alone. He also shared
some great tips on how you can fully utilize the Google posts. A compelling background image
with a call to action can help you increase the conversion rate, he added.

Google is very excited about the posts and also want the same enthusiasm level among the
business owners too. So they keep adding new features & the latest addition to the Google
post is VIDEO. Now you can upload videos of your business or any topic that revolves around it.
It’s already proven that Video marketing is extremely beneficial for your business, now the
ability to upload it to Google posts further enhances the overall benefits.
Google posts also allow you to schedule your post in advance because they know that
sometimes it gets hard to remember.

For those new to it:

  • You can access Google Posts by logging into your Google My Business account.
  • Now you will see the “Posts” option right below the Home.
  • Click on it and upload the type of content you want to share.
  • After uploading, you will have the option to preview it and once you are satisfied, hit the Publish button.
  • After publishing, actively monitor the conversions and see how your targeted audience is responding.

The best way to find out which type of content work best for you is to TEST. Analyse your audience reaction to different content and then you will be able to figure out what type of content really clicks with your targeted audience.

For more information on how to better utilize Google My Business posts to increase sales, feel free to reach out to us. Sign up for The SEO Solutions Newsletter to read up on all the latest updates!

 

Google-My-Business-Dashboard-Graphic

The All New Google My Business Dashboard is Here

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The brand new Google My Business dashboard is here and people are excited about the new features. Many influential marketers got their hands on the new dashboard about a month ago, and now Google is making it available to other people on…a random basis.

Here’s a screenshot of the new Google My Business dashboard (with multiple locations).

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The new Google My Business dashboard boasts many improved features such as:

All users regardless of their size will be using the same interface. It means that you will no longer have to switch between the card and list view.

The new dashboard is easy to navigate, allowing you to view and edit your listings within the same window.

What is all available? Dashboard View, Posting, Business Info Editing, Insights, Reviews, Messaging, Photos, Website, Users, Create an Ad, Add New Location, Manage Locations and Settings.

This one is big! Under Insights on the left navigation panel, you can now easily access the analytics related to the people who have viewed your photos, called your business, clicked on your website link! You can even get insights as to how many views your business gets on Google by Search results & by Maps.

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Another great new feature is Messaging! You can now easily add your phone number to be listed on your Google My Business listing to receive texts from customers and prospects! Just click on messaging, add your phone number, and verify your phone number via text and your done!

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Additionally, adding more listings will not affect the loading speed of the page.

Not sure if you have the latest version of the dashboard? Log in to your account and check if there’s a “Black to Classic GMB” option in the left side navigation menu.

Explore and enjoy the new Google My Business dashboard for your business! This is a game changer and will allow you to improve your online business if you just spend a little time working on this and updating this every week.

Editing Your Google My Business Listing Just Got Easier!

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Editing your Google Business Listing? If you have a verified business in Google My Business, you can now update your business info directly from Google search engine result page, provided you’re logged in to your Google My Business account.

Here’s how it works. Just type your business name in the Google search box and you will see a menu right above the search results. Again, you need to be logged into your account in order for this to work. Upon clicking the edit info button, you will find all the editable fields highlighted.

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You can upload photos, see the number of views, check and respond to the reviews and even access detailed information about your site metrics and Google My Business metrics. And the best part is, you can do it from any device, be it desktop or mobile.

To provide accurate and updated information to the users, Google heavily relies on the business owners. Google knows that if they want valuable content for free, they have to make the process simple and easy.

And, who better suited to provide accurate content than the business owner, right? Google’s perfect plan to outsource the business info-update process just got a little more efficient. This not only maintains the value, it increases it for Google, businesses, and customers. A win-win situation for everyone!