About Google My Business

Should you use GMB posts?

About 17% of businesses have ever created a GMB post, and only 4 % in the last week.

Here are 3 reasons to give posts a try. Firstly, the post will stand out from the crowd because so few businesses are adding posts. Secondly, the cost of the effort is small. It is certainly worth trialling for a couple of months. And thirdly, with the changes in the Facebook algorithm for Facebook Pages, you might find it better to switch some of your efforts to GMB.

At Kitchen Table Web Design, we offer a weekly GMB post for $50 a month. They are also included in our Basic SEO plans.

If you want to add GMB posts:

How to add a GMB Post

At present, you cannot schedule posts ahead of time through Buffer or a similar social media poster. However,  it is more time-efficient to prepare a few posts at once and store them in a folder on your PC. GMB posts are shown for 1 week only. Therefore, you can recycle any of your posts, especially those with a high engagement, by adding the same image and text to make a new post at a later date.

Step 1: Prepare your images.

Example of how to use words in an image for a GMB post

The ideal post image size is a minimum size of 720 pixels wide and 540 pixels tall or larger in that ratio. (At the time of publishing this article but you may have to experiment as Google does change the image size).

The image will be resized to appear on the knowledge panel. For example, on a desktop, the image shows as 187px by 140 px so bear that in mind when selecting font size if you incorporate words on your image.

Step 2: Write some call to action sentences.

Or write something that will pique someone's interest in your core services or products, around 100 to 300 words for each post.

Step 3: Publish a post each week.

Go to your GMB dashboard and click on “Posts”. Upload your image, add your text and select a link option.  Add a UTM parameter if you want to track the clicks. UTM parameters are tags you add to a URL — the tags are sent back to Google Analytics and tracked. An example is https://buildyourwebsite.co.nz/website-care-plans/?utm_source=gmb. I can tell if the person came from GMB post or another source, i.e. the ?utm_source=gmb. Preview your post, check and then click the publish button.

More about the content

It is worth bearing in mind that Google indexes Google posts.

According to Mike Blumenthal:

“...That would be consistent with what we saw with my tests and Joey's tests that if there are very long-tail phrases, where the ability to increase relevance isn't up against so many headwinds then this is a signal that Google might recognize and help lift the boat for that long-tail phrase. My experience with it was it didn't work well on head phrases, and it may require some amount of interaction for it to really work well. In other words, I'm not sure just the phrase itself but the phrase with click-throughs on the posts might be the actual trigger to this. It's not totally clear yet.” Source: https://localu.org/

Mike suggests that it might be worth focusing on long-tail phrases, i.e. 3-4 word keyword phrases that are very specific to your company rather than something broad that has high competition. Adding product posts is an excellent idea.

Read more

• https://moz.com/blog/boost-conversions-with-google-posts
• https://localu.org/2018/02/28/video-deep-dive-google-posts-impact-study/

Do’s and Dont’s

Do be accurate and clear about the offer you are making. Make the content friendly and timely. Don't use commercial slang and excessive sale pitch. It is best not to include more than one offer.

Next Step

In this article, I have explained why using GMB Posts for your Local Business effectively uses your marketing budget both in time and effort. I have also included some tips to get the most out of your posts and some brief instructions showing how to create them.

The next step is to start adding posts to your GMB Listing.

If you would like to delegate this, Kitchen Table Web Design offers a weekly GMB post service. Weekly GMB posts are also included in our Basic SEO plans.

Google Reviews

Google uses the reviews and ratings on your GMB Listing (as well as other factors) to decide your small business web site's value to its customers, i.e. the people using Google Search and maps. These reviews are especially important for "local search" results.

If you have a nice amount of four-star and five-star ratings, Google considers you a more valuable result on their search result pages, which contributes to better rankings for your site. Source https://yoast.com/get-local-reviews-ratings/

What is a Local Search

A local search is a search where Google determines that a person is searching for businesses near their location. The search does not need to contain a location. For example, I searched for “hairdresser”. At the top of the search results, are local hairdressers. See below. I did not need to search "hairdresser" and my location. Google determined by my search "hairdresser" I was looking for a local business. If I search "Advice hairdressers" I am not given local results. The results included top salons around the world.

Google reviews need to be genuine.

Reviews are only valuable when they are honest and unbiased ~ Source 

When you’re searching on Google, we aim to provide the most useful results for your query. Today, around one in five searches on Google is related to location, so providing locally relevant search results is an essential part of serving you the most accurate information. {emphasis mine} ~ Source

Ask your customers for a Google review.

Google encourages business owners to ask their customers for reviews and gives guidelines. Google suggests that business owners remind their customer to leave reviews. Do reply to reviews and make sure our business listing is accurate and verified on Maps, Search and other Google services.  Go here for full details of Google's guidelines for best practices.

Read More:

• The Difference Between Local SEO and regular SEO

How well are you doing with your GMB Page?

Head over to Local U to use their Google Brand Page Score Tool

Record your score and then take some steps to improve it over the coming months.

Read More: GMB: Don't Set It and Forget it.

Our Services: Optimising your GMB Listing

We offer services so you can take advantage of the GMB listing and reach more customers.

GMB Set-up and Optimisation $100 + GST

• We claim or create your business listing, work with you if required to remove any duplicates or errors.
• Assist you will verifying your business with Google
• Optimise your settings, including adding hours, address, phone number, photos, business details.

If you would prefer to set up your GMB page yourself, here is a great guide from Whitespark.

Posts and ongoing improvements  $75 + GST per month

There is some indication that weekly posts for Google Business help you rank. This service includes a weekly post with photo and call to action and working with you to improve your GMB page. These services included in our SEO Plans for business where local search is important.