Why a Google My Business Audit is Essential for Local SEO

To truly take advantage of all that Google Business Manager has to offer, it is essential to conduct an audit. In this blog post, we will walk you through a 9-step audit process to help you optimise your Google Business listing and improve your local SEO presence.

As a business owner, you understand how important it is of having a strong online presence to attract customers and drive sales. This is particularly important when trying to reach local customers and one way of achieving this is via a free tool called Google Business Profile (formally Google My Business). This free tool allows you to manage how your business appears on google, including in search results and on google maps.‍

1. If a listing has already been created, be sure to claim and verify your listing! This will give you access to all of the features available on the google business platform and allow you to easily make changes.
2. Check your business information. Make sure that all of your business information is accurate and up-to-date. This includes your business name, address, phone number, and website. Google trusts a business that has this information far more than a page that contains no contact information.
3. Optimise your listing with the relevant keywords that you would like to rank for. Think of the type of search terms your potential customers would search for. You can add these keywords in the categories and product descriptions on your page.
4. Add images and videos related to your business and services. Visual content make your listing more attractive to potential customers. Make sure you add high-quality images and videos to your listing. Even better if you can have professional pictures taken by a photographer!
5. Check to see that there are no duplicate listings. Duplicate listings can have different and conflicting information that can be detrimental to your local SEO rankings.
6. Encourage your customers to leave reviews! Positive reviews are great for improving your online reputation and visibility.
7. Share regular updates with Google posts! Google posts allow you to share updates, events and offers to your customers. Use them to keep your users and engaged.
8. Monitor and respond to questions. Always check for potential questions and queries from customers as not only does it build trust with your customer but also gives your page credibility. Always try to monitor and respond to any customer questions in a timely manner.
   
9. Use Insights. Google business insights provides great valuable information about how your customers are interacting with your listing. It gives you valuable information as to what searches are being made in order to find your page, which devices people are accessing your website and how many website clicks you are receiving. This type of data is extremely valuable in helping you to better optimise your listing.

We hope that by following these 9 steps, you can optimise your google business listing, improve your local SEO and increase your visibility to drive more customers to your business.

Remember that maintaining your listing is an ongoing process. If you require further assistance on how we can help to improve not only your google business page but your overall SEO ranking, check out our affordable SEO packages.