Google My Business can help you sell your products and services to people who are nearby, so by optimising your Google My Business page with complete details of your company, Google can understand more effectively when you should be displayed higher in the search results.
What is Google My Business?
Essentially, Google My Business is a vast directory filled with local businesses all around the world. Once you input your details and verify your business, you can update it with lots of information such as your opening hours, location and prices, as well as pictures of your shop or business premises. In turn, Google has a better understanding of where you are and what you offer and ranks you accordingly.
How does Google determine local ranking?
Local results are based primarily on relevance, distance and prominence:-
Relevance
Relevance refers to how well a local listing matches what someone is searching for and by adding your complete and detailed business information, will help Google to better understand your business and therefore match your listing to relevant searches.
Distance
How far is each potential search query and result from the location term used in a search? If a user hasn't specified a location in their search, Google will calculate the distance based on what’s known about their location.
Prominence
Prominence refers to how well known a business is. Some places are more prominent in the offline world, and search results try to reflect this in local rankings. For example, famous museums, landmark hotels or well-known shop brands that are familiar to many people are also likely to be more prominent in local search results. Prominence is also based on information that Google has about a business from across the web (such as links, articles and directories). Google review count and score are also factored into local search ranking – more reviews and positive ratings will improve a business's local ranking. Your position in web results is also a factor, so SEO best practices apply to local search optimisation. You cannot request or pay for a better local ranking on Google. Google has stated that they will do their best to keep the details of the search algorithm confidential to make the ranking system as fair as possible for everyone.
How can Google My Business help my SEO efforts for my local business?
By properly updating your Google My Business account, Google will be able to display you higher in the rankings when someone searches for a product or service that matches what you are offering. In fact, studies have found that Google My Business has the largest effect on local rankings than any other method that people use.
How can I get started with Google My Business?
To get started, all you need to do is head on over to Google My Business and set up an account. From there you can claim your business. To verify it’s you, Google will either call you or send you a physical postcard which allows you to verify that you do indeed own the business. From there, you can go about playing with your listing by filling in all the relevant details that people will need to know about your company.
Over time, you can log back into your account to track and see how many people are clicking on your link and what actions they are taking. Be sure to regularly update your account and take genuine interest from any reviews people are leaving about you.
How can ShopTill-e help?
ShopTill-e is a multi-channel retailing platform that provides a seamless approach for you to sell in-store, sell online and sell on Internet marketplaces by eliminating unnecessary back office inefficiencies and boosting productivity.
Multichannel retailing the smart way
At ShopTill-e, giving your customers multiple ways to shop doesn’t mean having to manage several points of sale software.
We make things easy, with our fully integrated cloud ePOS system and ecommerce platform , it syncs up seamlessly, keeping all your products and inventory management constantly updated, so whether you sell online or sell through your own shop or marketplace like Amazon and eBay, ShopTill-e helps you to “spend less time managing and more time selling”.
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