Win more business with your Google Business Profile
As a small business owner, you’re keenly aware of the power of Google to connect you with customers and promote your business. Google offers a way to help customers find you with Google Business Profile, an easy-to-use tool to manage your business on Google. By claiming and managing your business profile, you can control the information that consumers see when they search for your business and the products and services you offer. You can also use your profile to interact with customers as they leave reviews, and discover more about how customers search for your business and where they come from.
While it’s a powerful tool, your Google Business Profile (formerly known as Google My Business profile) isn’t a set-it-and-forget-it solution. To get the most value from your profile, you’ll need to do a bit of work and pay regular attention to it. That’s where Thryv can help.
As a do-it-all platform for small business management software, Thryv offers a Google Business Profile optimization service that can help you claim, edit and improve your listing so the right customers find you faster.
Best practices for your Google Business Profile
The more you interact with and update your Google Business Profile, the better your results will be. Here are a few best practices when optimizing your listing:
Add your own description
Under your business’ profile, the first thing users will see is a description of your business written by Google, not by you. It’s an effort to keep a consistent style across the platform. To tell users about your business in your own words, you can add copy to the “From the Business” description, which tends to appear below the reviews section. This is where you should let potential customers know why they’ll love your business or your services.
Lock in a category
The category listed in your profile makes it easier for customers to find your business when they’re searching for the type of products or services you offer. If your category is wrong or doesn’t appear, you’ll likely miss out on potential customers.
Check the attributes
Attributes are features that set your company apart from the competition – 24/7 emergency services, patio seating, a wheelchair-accessible entrance or online booking, for example.
Add a photo
Customers are 42% more likely to get directions to a business when the Google Business Profile offers a picture. Updating the photos on your profile regularly shows Google that you are actively involved in managing your profile, which will positively impact your local ranking.
Get reviewed
The reviews in your Google Business Profile not only help customers identify the most highly rated businesses, they’re also a major influence on Google’s ranking algorithm. Encouraging happy customers to leave reviews can have a snowball effect that can pay big dividends down the road.
Post often
Posting about announcements, events, promotions, offers and products will have a positive effect on your Google ranking. Most posts expire after seven days, so make it a practice to post weekly at a minimum.
Offer answers
The Q&A feature in your profile is a great way to engage customers and offer factual information. When you organically including keywords in your answers it can help improve your rankings.
Be clear
Clearly listing your products and services is essential and will help when competing for rankings on relevant searches.
Perfect your Google Business Profile with Thryv
Thryv is an end-to-end solution that lets small businesses manage workloads from one centralized platform. From automating marketing and simplifying social media to nurturing leads and accepting payments, Thryv delivers everything small businesses need to stay organized and work more efficiently.
Thryv’s Google Business Profile optimization service (formerly known as Google my business optimization) does the heavy lifting in claiming and managing your Google listing. From a single screen, Thryv helps you create, claim or transfer your profile quickly, eliminating the time-consuming verification process and the wait time to give you ownership of your business info.
With Thryv, you can also:
- Optimize your listing by ensuring it includes critical items like hours of operation and available services.
- Ensure your information is always up-to-date and that you have a complete and attractive profile.
- Boost rankings in local and “near me” searches, improving your chances of appearing in local search results for Google’s Map Pack.
- Automate the process of generating reviews to increase search rankings and earn the trust of consumers who rely on Google Business Profile to select a business.
- Simplify your workload with Thryv’s Google Business Profile Managed Service. With this service, our expert team provides daily management and optimization of your listing, aligning your profile and calls to action with your website to improve engagement, boost local rankings and convert more customers.
More solutions from Thryv
Along with services for optimizing your Google Business Profile, Thryv offers a broad range of software solutions for managing nearly every aspect of your business.
Marketing
Set up trigger-based campaigns to automatically send texts and emails to the right customers at the optimal time. Draw inspiration from a massive library of ready-to-send messages for every occasion.
Social media
Create and schedule social content in one place, using pre-built posts when you need inspiration. Publish posts to Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn with just a few clicks.
Scheduling appointments
Let customers book or request appointments anytime, day or night. Online appointment scheduling allows you to eliminate the need to answer the phone or play phone tag with customers seeking to book your services.
Customer relationships
Upgrade your contact lists with a CRM system that collects all customer data in one location, making it easy to engage customers and nurture leads.
Communication
From a centralized inbox, communicate with customers on their preferred channels – text, email and social – while viewing all messages in a single client-specific thread, no matter where they came from. Thryv’s customer communication management solutions also provide automated reminders to follow up with customers in the future via email or text.
Documents
Securely request, share and store documents online, eliminating paper clutter. Edit documents collaboratively while never losing track of the most recent version.
Invoicing and payments
Send interactive estimates, quotes and invoices and let customers approve or pay them on online, even with their mobile devices. Give customers more ways to pay and get paid faster.
Reputation
Generate more reviews by automatically asking customers at the right time. Get notified when reviews are posted and respond within one business day, with help from Thryv’s customer reviews software.
Why Thryv?
Thryv is the ultimate collection of small business software, providing easy-to-use tools for managing a business more successfully. With more than 20 industry customizations and a fully mobile interface, Thryv provides small businesses with the kind of technology that was previously reserved only for larger companies.
With Thryv, small businesses can:
- Access tools from anywhere on a smart phone, tablet, laptop or desktop.
- Simplify workflow by eliminating the hassle of logging in to multiple apps throughout the day – Thryv features a single login that provides access to comprehensive tools.
- Keep using familiar tools – Thryv integrates easily with QuickBooks, PayPal, WordPress, Gmail and dozens of others.
- Enjoy 24/7 support from Thryv specialists who have both technical know-how and business savvy.
- Keep data safe and secure with cutting edge data encryption and customizable account access controls.
