Google Business Profile: Intro + Tips for Improving Your Local SEO

A well-optimized Google Business Profile (GBP) can drive significant traffic to your website—and, ultimately, your front door.

In local SEO, Google Business Profiles are your best friend. A perfectly free tool, the GBP makes your business discoverable to users looking for products and services like yours.

According to BrightLocal, 46% of all Google searches have local intent. As potential customers increasingly reach for their phones to explore the real world around them, why not give your business the best shot at showing up where your prospective customers already are?

All those local searches typically trigger a “local pack,” like the one below:

If you’re not giving your business the best possible opportunity to appear in the local pack, there’s no doubt you’re missing out on a stream of potential customers.

We’re going to overview Google Business Profiles, why you need one, how GBP impacts local SEO, and some tips for improving yours.

Let’s get local!

🤫 PS: Stick around to the end, and we’ll reveal RicketyRoo’s #1 secret to maximizing the visibility of your Google Business Profile. 🤫

What Exactly Is a Google Business Profile?

Launched in 2014 as Google My Business and rebranded in 2021, the Google Business Profile Manager is a one-stop shop for businesses to manage their online presence across Google’s products like Search and Maps. The GBP manager allows you to control key information for how your business appears to potential customers online.

We’ve all seen Google Business Profiles pop up in Google Search and Google Maps. Like the screenshot above, they’re where listings appear accompanied with some business info and location.

When you search for a specific business or brand, information from the Google Business Profile often populates the “knowledge graph” that appears regularly to the right of the organic search results.

While we’ve probably all had GBPs impact our plans for the day—where we might dine or get our next oil change—the tool’s full functionality often flies under the radar. If your business isn’t taking full advantage of its GBP, potential customers will slip right past you.

The fundamental purpose of the Google Business Profile

The core purpose of a GBP is to bridge the gap between businesses and local customers. It’s all about connecting people with the products and services they are searching for in their locale.

By maintaining an accurate and complete GBP, you ensure your business stands out in the local search ecosystem. This makes it easier for customers to find you and book a service or walk through your front door.

Google Business Profile is your digital front door, welcoming local customers and guiding them straight to the products and services they need from you.

5 Reasons Every Local Business Needs a Profile

It’s obvious that every business and every location of a business needs a Google Business Profile.

Just in case you’re still curious or need a little extra convincing, here are 5 reasons every local business needs their own profile.

1. You have a GBP whether you want to or not.

Even if you didn’t create your own listing, you probably still have one. There’s nothing worse than having a profile you can’t control. But the truth is that it happens all the time. It’s a huge opportunity for misrepresentation—plus, it just looks lazy to have a half-filled-out profile that a business doesn’t manage for itself.

Google is constantly scraping the web, pulling data from all kinds of sources. They want their products to reflect the real world as closely as possible, so even if you don’t give them the info they want, they’ll find it (accurate or not!) and use it.

By claiming your GBP, you gain control over a valuable marketing and customer-relations asset that no longer risks misrepresenting your business.

2. Boost your visibility in Google Search and Maps.

An optimized GBP significantly enhances your visibility in Google Search and Maps. When customers search for local services, your profile gives you an opportunity to stand out beyond the organic search results. The more attention you give your Business Profile, the more likely it is that your business will appear in relevant local searches, driving more bookings, phone calls, and foot traffic to your doorstep.

3. Show off and grow your business’s reputation.

Reviews are a powerful tool for building and showcasing your business’s reputation. Positive reviews can significantly influence potential customers’ decisions—not to mention impact your rankings and visibility in the local search landscape. As your reputation grows positively, your customer base will grow accordingly.

For tips on getting more reviews on your GBP, check out our guide with 11 actionable tips.

4. Engage with customers more.

There are obvious ways that businesses can engage with customers and customers with businesses, like responding to reviews and fielding direct contact like phone calls.

There are also some not-so-obvious ways to engage with prospective customers:

• Q&A: Answer questions directly on your profile. Or ask your own questions and provide your own answers. The Q&A doesn’t show the source of the question! Ask away!
• Posts: Share updates, events, special offers, and more. Keeping your profile active with posts is a great way to engage users and remain relevant.
• Products: Showcase your products with photos and descriptions to entice customers to click through or contact. (You can also display your services as products since services aren’t always readily visible on your profile.)
• Services: Select the services you offer to maximize your relevance for all you provide.

5. Learn valuable insights about your customers.

If you’re curious about how people are discovering your business, you can learn a number of useful stats from your Google Business Profile. Navigate to the “Performance” section, and you’ll find a number of valuable insights that you may be able to capitalize on to increase your effectiveness even further.

How Do Google Business Profiles Impact Local SEO?

A well-optimized, active Google Business Profile can generate an impressive number of impressions and leads, especially when it works in tandem with a website that’s optimized for Local SEO.

Gain Precious Visibility with the Profile Itself

Your GBP helps you stand out in a number of ways. We’ve mentioned a few of these already, but maximizing visibility is always worth reiterating.

• Local Pack: Even if you have the best local business website for your industry in your locale, you’ll never show up in the local pack without an optimized GBP. With a great website and an engaging GBP, you have the chance to show up in the organic results and the local pack. Imagine if you were running PPC, too!
• Knowledge Graph: If your business has any brand recognition, branded searches are super valuable. Why not take up as much space as possible on the first search engine results page with a fully populated knowledge graph that’s drawn from your GBP?
• Maps: Depending on your type of business, users may search for you more on Google Maps than Search. An optimized GBP gives you the best chance at showing up in Maps in your locale—and perhaps even beyond your locale if your business is exceptional.

Let Leads Convert Immediately

Once your business is found, you want customers to take action. Your GBP allows them to do just that: call your business, book an appointment, get directions to your location, visit your website, and more!

The more users find what they’re looking for right on your GBP, the more likely they are to interact with your profile. And the more users interact with your profile, the more your business will rise in prominence! It’s an upward spiral that satisfies more users and generates more business along the way.

The Secret to Improving Your Local SEO with a Google Business Profile

Wanna know our secret to boost your GBP visibility?

We won’t beat around the bush.

Here it is: Fill it out completely!!!

Sorry if you’re underwhelmed, but it is absolutely the single best piece of advice for increasing your visibility and engagement. Google says so too:

Can it really be that simple? Yes, absolutely! You won’t believe how many businesses we encounter at RicketyRoo that don’t take advantage of all GBPs have to offer! If you fill out everything you can, you’ll already be ahead of most of your competition.

Consider these stats from Google itself (emphasis added):

• “Customers are 2.7 times more likely to consider a business reputable if they find a complete Business Profile on Google Search and Maps.”
• “Customers are 70% more likely to visit and 50% more likely to consider purchasing from businesses with a complete Business Profile.”

And the beauty of all this is that filling out and keeping your GBP updated really doesn’t take all that much effort! A little bit of time each week can go a long way in boosting your visibility.

Better Business for Optimized Google Business Profiles

Google strives to provide the most relevant and accurate information possible. That includes the local search ecosystem, where Google wants to reflect real-world behavior in search results.

If customers are passing by your business to head to a competitor down the street in the real world, then you can all but be sure that the competitor is going to end up outranking you online too. Your online presence should be a reflection of your real-world values. If your business is known for excellent service, high-quality products, and a great customer experience, your GBP should showcase these strengths.

As your GBP reflects what happens in the real world, you’ll see your prominence and authority grow, with an upward spiral toward more and more business. Ultimately, by working hard to achieve excellence in business, you “naturally” maximize your GBP. You’ll still have to enter the digital world for a little bit of optimizing and tweaking, but taking a holistic approach to your business’s marketing will help you get ahead online and off.