Many businesses overlook the opportunities for free yet valuable advertising available in Google and Google maps search results. This isn’t simply your name and address, but can include photos and videos, directions, hours, printable and mobile coupons, where to park, and other information about what you offer.
Search together with Social Media are the two key places your brand, and your business are found.
Google gives you the opportunity to control what’s in your listing, both for accuracy and to provide additional valuable content for your customers. It also gives you information about how well your listing is working, and how many people have seen and clicked on it.
Claim and enhance your free listing.
1. Visit Google’s Local Business Center. It’s easy and provides a way to have an online presence even if you don’t yet have a website.
2. Validate your listing. This is how you confirm to Google that it is really your business. It is done either by phone or a mailed postcard. You’ll need a free Google account, which you likely have already.
3. Enhance your listing. Add quality photos and videos, together with highlighting content that makes you unique.
4. Continue to improve your listing. You can visit your listing and check its performance as well as keep it current seasonally, or with other new information and visual content.
Paid listings coming soon.
Another potentially valuable feature is $25/month premium listings. They are currently being tested in various markets and will likely soon be released on a wide scale basis. Here’s how these work:
1. Further highlight what you have to offer. Enhance your search results listing to include direct links to photos, videos, websites, coupons, directions, menus or reservations sign up.
2. Whenever your listing appears in a Google or Google Maps search result, the premium information will appear alongside it. This does do not, however, affect the ranking of listings, and Google indicates which parts of the search results are sponsored.
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