5 Reasons to Create Your Google My Business Local Listing

If you’re a local business without a Google My Business listing, you’re at a severe disadvantage. In the Digital Age, visibility is key. Google My Business is Google’s free-to-use local listing tool that lets you control how your business appears on a Google search or on Maps. Having a Google My Business listing is also a healthy boost for your SEO efforts.

Whether you’re a small business or a local sales staffing agency, you want to be visible to any prospective customer. Especially when your nature of business demands the customer visits your physical location. This blog explores 5 reasons to create a local listing on Google My Business.

Reason # 1 Increased Visibility

In a time when businesses have intense competition within every niche and industry, visibility is key. This includes both how visible your business is on a Google search results page as well as Google Maps. That’s not to mention that many third-party sites, such as online review platforms, rely on your Google My Business listing to aggregate your business information. A properly executed listing adds to your chances of being featured on these third-party sites to get more customers. In addition, the information that you add to your listing gives Google more to go on when ranking you for relevant searches.

Reason # 2 Deliver Consistency

Let’s not forget that the vast majority of internet users rely on the Google search engine to find what they are looking for. Google makes every effort to deliver accurate and relevant results. This means that when you create a Google My Business listing, you are offering Google accurate information about your business that can be useful to your customers. The key is delivering consistently accurate results. You don’t have to lose business just because you move to a new location or change your business number. A few keystrokes can easily update that information, ensuring your customers always know where to find you.

Reason # 3 A Great Impression

In the modern consumer-brand relationship, first impressions are everything. A Google My Business listing allows you an opportunity to present your business best foot forward. Every online customer goes through a moment where they decide whether to engage with, buy from, or ignore your brand. A Google My Business local listing allows you to add images, videos, and even customer reviews. This ensures that whenever a customer encounters your business online, you always present the best possible impression.

Reason # 4 Optimized Search Engine Results

Any SEO professional will tell you that the top three slots on a search engine results page is the ultimate real estate. A very insignificant number of Google users ever venture to the second page of the results. That means it is important for every business to try and rank as high as possible for a relevant search query. A Google My Business listing can help you do this. If a particular search query displays your business Google My Business listing as a top result, your chances of acquiring more customers and traffic improve considerably. This supplements your ongoing SEO efforts.

Reason # 5 Increased Visibility

Brand credibility is a huge factor that comes into play when a customer is trying to make a buying decision. Nobody likes to be the first to buy from an unknown brand, and many will try to look for customer reviews to help them reach a decision. A Google My Business listing not only adds credibility to your brand, but it also offers you the chance to display top reviews and feedback from real customers. Google My Business also allows customers to leave your business a customer experience rating, which can further build on your brand visibility.

Wrapping up

Google will always try to show the best results, and that includes businesses with a high customer satisfaction rating on Google My Business. It also helps prospective employees make a better decision on you as a valuable employer, which you can leverage in your performance appraisal strategies.

Quite simply, the more visible your business, the better it is for you as both a seller and as an employer. If you don’t already have a Google My Business listing, my advice would be to get a move on.