How to Optimize Google My Business for Local Boise-based Businesses.

Did you know that nearly 46% of all Google searches have local intent? Whether you run a pest control business or a fast-food joint in Boise, chances are your existing consumers and prospects are currently looking up keywords like:

“best pest control agency in boise”
or
“best chinese restaurants near me”

Failing to put your business in front of customers when they look up relevant local keywords will put you multiple steps behind your competitors. Even if you offer the highest-grade product or service, if your business doesn’t appear at the top for local keywords, you’ll have difficulty attracting consumers and getting them to take your desired action (aka getting them in the door!)

And one of the best ways to skyrocket your online local presence is by optimizing your Google My Business Profile as much as possible. While Google My Business (also called Google Business Profile) has helped millions of local businesses 10x their revenue, a staggering 56% of local businesses haven’t even claimed their listings.

If you’ve already created yours, that’s excellent news! But now, to appear at the top of Google for relevant local keywords, you need to optimize it:

  • Listings with pictures are twice as likely to be considered reputable. At the same time, such listings get 35% more clicks.
  • Nearly 90% of your prospects and consumers will read reviews before taking the desired action. So, if you don’t work on your Google My Business listing reviews, people may have a hard time trusting your business.

At the same time, it’s equally important to add relevant information to your Google My Business Listing to improve your local rankings and position your business as credible, trustworthy, and reliable.

To help you level up your local SEO results, we’ve put together this blog post to share proven tips you can implement to optimize your GMB listing for Boise-based businesses.

Wondering what Local SEO is? Don’t forget to read our “Your Go-To Local SEO Guide.” 

Without further ado, let’s dive into the realm of Google My Business.

How to Optimize Your Google My Business Listing in 2022?

Following are four tips you should take into consideration to optimize your Google My Business listing and level up your local SEO efforts:

  1. Complete your GMB profile
  2. Add photos and videos
  3. Ask your past customers to leave their valuable feedback
  4. Post to your GMB profile

Complete Your GMB Profile

Put yourself in your audience’s shoes and answer this question:

“Would you rather trust a local business with little-to-no information on their GMB profile and no online presence or a well-established business with a GMB profile that helps you gain deep insights into their business from their business hours to phone number to reviews and more?”

We’d guess it’s the latter choice.

Google wants to put the most reliable information in front of people. And if your GMB profile doesn’t comprise the required information like address, phone number, website, and more, your chances of your website appearing at the top will be slim.

So, the first thing you need to do is complete your GMB profile.

Following are the sections of your GMB profile that you should complete straight away:

  • Name
  • Phone
  • Address
  • Business hours
  • Website URL
  • Products & services
  • Questions & answers (owner-generated)
  • Category & attributes

While you can go ahead and start filling up these sections, some sections that are ongoing include:

  • Questions & answers (consumer-generated)
  • Reviews
  • Posts

Add Photos & Videos

Let’s say you run a restaurant based in Boise and would love nothing more than to get as many seat reservations as possible. Now, what your prospects and consumers will most probably do is (before contacting you) head over to Google, type in keywords like “best restaurants in Boise,” and explore the top results they get.

Boise’s Best Restaurants Example

We did the same, and here are the top three results:

Google search result for "best restaurants near me boise"

Google considers these three restaurants good enough to be ranked in the “Google 3-Pack.” And you’ll be shocked to know that the businesses that appear in the 3-Pack get the highest number of clicks.  

Now, let’s explore these listings a bit.

1. Lucky Fins Boise

Lucky Fins google my business listing images in Boise, Idaho

With over 986 reviews (as of writing this post), Lucky Fins Boise ranks at the top. This restaurant has done a brilliant job optimizing its GMB profile, but they have also added numerous photos that can help consumers fuel their decision-making. 

2. Melting Pot

Melting pot google my business listing and images Boise, Idaho

Again, from a complete profile to visually appealing photos that offer a great deal of information to users, Melting Pot has knocked it out of the park. 

3. Trillium Restaurant

Trillium Restaurant google my business listing and images from Boise, Idaho

Last but not least, we have the Trillium Restaurant – again with visually-appealing pictures and a complete GMB profile. What more can you ask?

And that’s not all. You can also add videos – which will help you get the much-needed boost. While adding photos to your GMB listing, make sure that they are:

  • High-quality
  • Engaging
  • Visually appealing

Wondering what your Google My Business cover photo size should be? Here are the guidelines shared by Google:

Google business profile photo and video guidelines snippet of information

Ask Your Past Customers to Leave their Valuable Feedback

The third and one of the most important points on our list is focusing on your Google My Business reviews. Google seriously considers the quantity and the quality of reviews your GMB listing gets. Here are a few stats we’ve put together to help you understand the power of online reviews:

Now, here’s the question – 

“Would you rather trust a business with 100 5-star reviews or one with none at all?”

We’d choose the first option over the second option at any given time. Online reviews are powerful. And if you want to grow your local business and want as many of your prospects to take the desired action, we’d advise you to reach out to your past customers to leave their reviews on your GMB profile.

Also, remember to provide an irresistible offer when reaching out. Compare these two different messages to your customers:

“Hey! We’re glad you’re a part of our family.

Could you please take time out of your busy schedule and drop your valuable feedback on our GMB profile?”

or

“Hey {Name}! Thanks for doing business with us.

We hope we’ve managed to help you out.

We’d love to offer a flat 10% discount on your next order as a token of appreciation.

You can unlock it upon leaving your valuable feedback on our GMB profile. We’d appreciate it.

Thanks!”

The truth is people won’t give their time unless you have something to offer. And if they like your offer, they’d love nothing more than to invest their time to grab it. While both messages are fine, the chances are that the response rate of the second message would be far more than that of the first. 

Similarly, you can frame your own copy and ask your past customers to leave valuable feedback. 

Keep Adding Posts to your GMB Profile

Whether you want to share any urgent announcement or local news with your audience, Google allows you to add posts to your GMB profile. You can create the posts in your GMB dashboard. And as soon as you get them up and running, they’ll appear in the “updates” section. While adding posts can help you deliver news and roll out updates, it can also help you position yourself as an industry expert. At the same time, when you add posts, Google will consider them as positive ranking signals. 

Google wants you to roll out updates and local news. That’s why we’d love nothing more than to give your GMB profile a boost when you consistently add posts. However, it’s advisable to be consistent with your posting efforts.

Don’t do it just for the sake of sending signals to Google. Instead, we’d advise you to use this feature to deliver truthful and relevant information to your local audience – which is what Google wants you to do.

Optimize Your Google My Business Listing Today!

Google My Business is powerful. This free tool offered by Google has helped numerous local businesses climb the ladder of success. But the thing is – you need to do it right to achieve the best possible results.

At redfox visual, we offer strategic SEO services – which will help you ace your overall GMB efforts and level up your Local SEO, allowing you to grow your local business and position yourself as an industry expert.

So, what are you waiting for? Our experts would love to work with you and your team and help you hit your KPIs.

Hire the #1 SEO agency in Boise today!

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