One of the key components for online visibility when you have a local business is creating or verifying your Google Business Profile (GBP). But the work doesn’t just stop after the initial creation and verification. You need to continually optimize to ensure that your business keeps showing up at the top of search results for “near me” searches in your area.
Your Google Business Profile is one of the first experiences a potential customer might have with your business, as 97% of users primarily learn about local companies online. So, what happens when you get busy running your business and let your GBP grow stagnant and fail to correct errors?
We’ll look at how even the smallest errors on your GBP can have big consequences for your business in this blog post.
[Related: How to Correct and Protect Your Online Business Information [Infographic]]
What is Google Business Profile?
Before we get into how errors can affect your Google Business Profile, let’s take a step back for a moment to talk about what exactly Google Business Profile is.
Google Business Profile is a free tool from Google that lets business owners manage how their business appears on Google Search and Maps. It provides potential customers with important business details like business name, address, phone number, contact information, photos, website, and customer reviews. Considering that Google sees about 9.5 million searches per minute and accounts for 89.66% of the global search engine market, it’s probably safe to assume it’s one of the primary places that potential customers will discover your business.
To make sure your GBP is showing up when potential customers are searching for you, you need to:
- Complete every field in the profile: Fill in your hours, phone number, services, products, and all attributes.
- Keep your details current: Keep up with holiday hours, upload new photos, and update menus or service lists as they change.
- Build your reputation: Keep a steady stream of reviews flowing and respond to them all quickly.
[Related: Hibu Enhances Google Business Profile Optimization In Its Digital Marketing Solutions]
Small errors and their potential consequences
A complete and continually optimized Google Business Profile is crucial to customers finding your business. In a recent study 86% of all Google Business Profile views came from category-based searches, like “dentist open now” or “best dog groomer” in <their city>. What that means is that the majority of customers have no idea who you are until they begin a search. And a complete, optimized profile is really what enhances your probability of showing up in those intent driven searches.
So, what if it isn’t complete and optimized? What if you make an error in your setup or you get busy running your business and forget to make updates? Let’s walk through some of those seemingly small errors and tell you exactly what the consequences could be.
The error: Misspelled business name
The consequences: 64% of Google Users admit to using Google Business to find business information. If someone types your business name into a Google search to look up your hours, address, or website, that misspelling will prevent your GBP profile from showing up in that search. Meaning you could miss a call, a visit, and ultimately, a sale.
The error: Incorrect hours of operation
The consequences: When someone Googles your business to check your hours only to then show up and find your business is closed, that’s a serious problem. Not only do you lose a potential sale, you also risk losing that customer’s trust. And loss of trust invites bad reviews about your business being unreliable or even fraudulent.
The error: Wrong phone number
The consequences: If your business relies heavily on customers being able to reach you by phone, like a service business booking appointments, having an incorrect phone number on your profile could be catastrophic. If this initial phone number is incorrect in your profile, potential customers might not look further into your website for a correct one and will move on to calling a competitor.
The error: Outdated website link
The consequences: Not only does an outdated website link create distrust in your business for any potential customers who might click on it, it can also hurt your profile ranking. Google uses signals from your website (like backlinks, schema markup, and load time) to determine where your GBP will rank on the search engine results page (SERP). And with “near me” searches having increased by over 200%, those top few spots make a difference.
The error: Misplaced map pin or incorrect address
The consequences: Let’s face it … people won’t drive around for long searching for your business if your address is off or your map pin is in the wrong place. So, you’re at risk of losing customers who can’t find you, but an incorrect address is a big deal to Google too. A “small” error relating to your address could trigger a reverification through Google and even a suspension of your whole profile.
The error: Inconsistent category selections
The consequences: Google will use the categories you select for your profile to match your business with relevant searches. So, when your categories are inconsistent, you might not appear in searches for your actual services. The opposite is also true. You might show up in searches for services you don’t offer, which is misleading to potential customers. Both outcomes result in lost revenue.
The error: Not responding to reviews
The consequences: You might think not responding to the online reviews you get on your GBP is no big deal, but it’s a costly mistake. 83% of consumers read Google reviews before making a purchasing decision, and 89% of customers expect a response from businesses to their online reviews. Not only are your responses important to customers who are ready to make a purchase, they’re important to Google as well. When you interact with your profile by responding, you signal to Google that your profile is active and you’re interested in improvement, which in turn helps you rank higher in the SERP.
Ultimately, even mistakes as seemingly minor as these matter to both your customers and Google. You need to keep your profile up to date and optimized at all times in order to build trust with potential customers and Google, make sure you don’t lose revenue, and help position your business at the top of search results. The research shows 75% of businesses in the top three positions on SERPs have completed Google Business Profiles.
[Related: 9 Tips to Generate Organic Visits for Google Business Profile]
How to audit and fix your GBP
The good news is that all of these mistakes can be easily avoided if you regularly audit and update your Google Business Profile. We recommend checking in on it at least every 3-6 months. But if you’re consistently posting, responding to reviews, and adding new photos, you’ll probably be doing it even more frequently.
Here’s a solid checklist you can use when performing your audits:
- Verify all contact info and hours.
- Check map pin accuracy.
- Ensure categories and services are correct.
- Review photos and business descriptions.
- Monitor and respond to reviews.
[Related: Costly Marketing Mistakes Your Local Business Could Be Making]
Let Hibu manage your Google Business Profile and other listings
If the idea of auditing and staying on top of your Google Business Profile (and your other listings!) seems like an overwhelming task on top of your other daily duties of running a small business, Hibu and our Listings Management service are here for you.
When you partner with us, we’ll constantly review and manage your information across top sites, directories, and apps to make sure your online business listings are all complete and accurate everywhere your customers are searching. That’s even on voice search like Siri, Alexa, and Google.
Need to make an update to your hours or phone number? We’re only a phone call away. You’ll also always have access to view your information 24/7 within your performance dashboard.
Ready to learn more about how Hibu can manage your business’s digital marketing? Call 877-237-6120 or complete our Get Started form. Your consultation is free!
