3 Ways to Protect Your Google My Business

By Chuck Magee, Raise the Rank. 

How to win leads against your competitors by showing up first in local search results. 

There is a lot of information out there when it comes to Google My Business (GMB), but not much surrounding GMB spam, it can be easy to get confused. GMB spam is when a less than credible business outranks other businesses by listing duplicate locations, flat out fake companies, or keyword stuffing. 

GMB is a crucial part of customers finding your business, so it is important to stay up to date on the fundamentals for using GMB. This article will cover how competitors and spammers can steal away your traffic and threaten your SEO strategy. Read on to learn what you need to know in the changing landscape of GMB while listing your roofing business.  

To help you understand how important it is to fight GMB spam, let me quote what Joy Hawkins of Sterling Sky has recently said: “64% of digital marketing agencies have no idea about how to fight spam.” These are some fascinating statistics and highlight just how clueless even digital experts are when it comes to Google My Business.   

There are a few things you need to skyrocket your business as far as local search results are concerned such as how to take care of your GMB profile and how to protect it from spammers and trolls.   

How to perform GMB optimization? 

Ideally, the process of GMB optimization should be performed in a step-by-step manner instead of doing it all at once. You want to make it as flawless as possible by performing every step to absolute perfection. 

GMB optimization involves a little bit of writing expertise as well. But you needn’t worry. Help is available at the click of a button. Freelancer sites like Upwork can help you find a content writer to fit your needs and budget in no time. What’s more, these sites can even help you find an expert, ranging from graphic designer to creative writers to make sure that your personal projects go smoothly and efficiently from start to finish. 

So, if you want to turn your GMB profile into a lead generating machine for your business, you’ll love this article. Let’s get started. 

1 - Claim your Google My Business listing  

Why is it so important to claim your GMB even if you have no intention to optimize it right now? You might be wondering. The reason is if you don’t do it, someone else will. Unfortunately, in most such cases, they are the internet trolls and spammers.  

What can they do with your GMB? To put it bluntly, they can do a lot of damage to your reputation and bottom-line without you even realizing it. 

Once they successfully claim your GMB, they can easily steal away your leads by adding their own phone number in place of yours. What’s more, they can put the URL of any illegitimate website including porn sites in your GMB profile. These things can severely damage your reputation in your market. 

If you think that this doesn’t happen, you are dead wrong. We can show you hundreds of examples in every industry. The most unfortunate part is that Google’s machine learning algorithm for GMB verification is not working as efficiently as it should.   

According to Google, around 44% of small to mid-size businesses have not claimed their GMB listing. 

2 - Verify your Google My Business account 

The next step after claiming your GMB listing is to let Google verify it. It can be in processing with Google for 24-48 hours before fully verified.  

Claiming your GMB listing and get it Google verified is half the battle. Congratulations if you’ve come that far. Now, it’s time to optimize it and turn it into your 24/7 free marketing tool. 

3 - Google My Business listing: 

So, what does it exactly mean by optimizing your GMB profile? 

Don’t fret! We are here to guide you at every step of the way. 

The most important thing to do first is to set your primary category right. To realize how important, it is to set the right category, just know that this can directly impact the type and quality of leads Google will send your way. So, in a way, it can make or break your business in Google. 

Choosing a wrong primary category has a cascading effect on everything including attributes, whether you get products or services to select, hours of operation, Q and A, and so on. 

That’s why it’s the most critical step in the entire process. Get this wrong and you’ll mess up everything. It is as simple as that. 

On the other hand, if you manage to make it perfect, Google will reward you by sending tons of free leads to your business every day. Google gives priority to well-optimized profiles, and it could mean a world of difference to your business. 

Now it’s your turn 

There you have it – Some of the most basic steps you should keep in mind to take care of your GMB profile and protect it from spammers. Make sure you use every technique in the list while creating your GMB profile. Give us a call today to know how you can boost your sales and leads further by implementing time-tested digital marketing strategies.  

Learn more about SSA in their RoofersCoffeeShop® Directory or visit www.ssacapp.com. 

Original article source: Raise the Rank