10 Mar

The Importance of Google Business Listing and Reviews

Google Business Listing and Reviews

Research has shown that few people understand how important the ‘Google My Business’ listing is to a business or organisation.

In simple terms, Google uses the listing to help them decide if you should appear in Google Search results.

It also uses the content to decide how you should rank in relation to your competitors.

As Google controls how 90% of people may, or may not find you, it is worth investing a little time and perhaps invest a little money in getting it right.

What is a ‘Google My Business’ Listing?

Google automatically sets up these listings for every business and organisation it comes across.

It may include the business name, address, location map, phone number, opening hours, category, website, photographs, videos, and reviews.

Sometimes the information it uses is wrong or out of date.

If you claim your Google My Business listing then Google knows that the information in it is correct.

As a result, it rates listing that has been claimed by the business owners higher in search than competitors who have not claimed their listing.

What Does a ‘Google My Business’ Listing Cost?

Completing as much information as possible will help the listing to be ranked higher in Google search results.

Google does not charge for the listing, but you may think it worthwhile to employ a professional to ensure that your Google My Business listing is optimised.

Employing an expert is especially important if you need to sort out duplicate listings, wrong images, opening hours, bad reviews, or numerous other issues that can arise.

Money spent on getting your ‘Google My Business’ professionally optimised can reward you with better organic search and lower Google Ad Words costs.

Optimising Your ‘Google My Business’ Listing

It is important that all the information you provide is consistent across all your listings including your website and social media sites.

You should complete the following at the least:

Correct Name
Address (you can hide the precise address and just show the area)
Telephone
Email
Website
Business Category
Opening Hours
Business Description – used by Google but not shown.
Photographs – a selection representing your business premises, products, services as appropriate.

You may also choose to add

Appointment Link
Opening Date

Claiming Your Listing

It is best to have a Gmail account that is NOT your personal Gmail.

Use a different browser than the one you use for your personal Gmail to set this up. Use this Link
Then go to the Google Listing for your business. (If there is none you will be able to create a new one)
Click on ‘Claim This Listing’
Use your business Gmail to claim the listing.
You will receive a letter in 5 to 15 days with a confirmation code.

Confirm your listing and start to complete/correct the content.

Reviews on your Google My Business Listing

You may run the best business in your sector.

Your organisation may get a top rating for its work.

You may receive great reviews on Trip Advisor.

You may be weighed down with industry awards and accolades.

Sadly when people search for you none of these will be visible to them.

The only rating they will see are the stars of your Google Reviews.

Worse still Google will rank you in a large part by the number and quality of the Google Reviews you receive.

A word of warning – do not try to review yourself, or worse still, purchase reviews online.

Your listing may be wiped permanently by Google, and there is in effect no recourse.

Dealing with bad reviews on your Google My Business Listing

Got bad reviews you really do not deserve?

Many bad reviews are a result of bored people who have no understanding of the damage they are doing to the business or organisation that they are giving a bad review to.

Some of these are just ratings giving one star, the person has not even made the effort to write an actual review.

If you rush in and try to deal with the issue you may regret it, as it is very difficult to reverse your actions in your Google My Business Listing.

You will need to

Report any reviews that are breaking any of Google’s rules
Respond to reviews in a measured way, never argue that the customer is wrong
Ask your customers for reviews, to balance up the bad ones you cannot get rid of

As this area is a minefield you need to do your research before starting to take any action, as errors can seldom be reversed.

Why Bother?

90% of search in Ireland goes through Google.

Being found in Google Search and Maps can make or break a business.

If you pay to have the work of optimising your listing done, you should get a good return on your investment, especially if you look at the ongoing cost of Google Ad Words and other paid searches.