How to Generate Organic Visits for Google Business Profile?

How to generate organic visits for Google Business Profile? I’ve lost count how many times I’ve heard this question. There is a lot of confusion about this useful free tool offered by Google. 

Simply put, the better your GBP is, the more organic traffic you’ll get. But what is the good, the better and the best when it comes to GBP?

Okay, let’s settle this issue once for all in this Innocams blog post.

What is Google Business Profile (GBP)?

GBP is a free tool that helps businesses create a profile that may improve their visibility in Google Search and Maps results.

It was formerly known as Google My Business.

But the process of getting this profile and optimising it for better online visibility is easier said than done. 

How to Get Your GBP?

Setting up your GBP involves creating, verifying and managing your GBP. This is a rather complicated process. So read this section carefully. 

The process Google recommends are like this:

Create Your GBP

• Sign in to your Google account with your business email.
• Go to ‘create a profile’. 
• Type in the name of your brand.
• Search for the category your business belongs to.
• Follow the prompts.
• Specify the physical location of your business.
• Mention the service area of your company (Google recommends not to exceed more than 2-hour driving time. But there is no harm if your service area is bigger than that).
• Enter phone number and brand URL.
• Click ‘finish’. 

Points to Remember

You must keep in mind the following points if you want to know how to generate organic visits for Google Business Profile.

1. After entering your brand name, if you find it already exists, you can claim the ownership of your business. Find how to here.

2. Enter the correct address, phone numbers and other details. This is important. Incorrect entries will make things difficult for you to manage your GBP. 

3. If you have a brick-and-mortar existence where customers can visit, mention it clearly. 

4. You can edit your GBP info later. But frequent changes attract negative impressions from your potential customers. 

Verify your GBP

You cannot make changes to your GBP before you verify it. Verification is the second stage of creating your GBP. Here is how to do it.

• Sign in to the Google account associated with your business.
• You can find your business by searching for its name in Google Search or Google Maps. 
• If you have multiple businesses, use the dropdown menu to select which business profile you want to verify. 
• To verify your business, you need to use one or more than one options available. These options can’t be changed because Google decides which method is suitable for your kind of business.
• You can verify your GBP through video recording, phone (one that is manually controlled. Automated answering systems will not get the code), email or mail. 
• In each case, follow the instructions Google provides. Don’t deviate from them. 

Once you verify your GBP, you can add, remove or update details. 

Manage Your GBP

Once you verify your business, you can update your information. This is important. Studies have shown that customers reject businesses that have inaccurate information on their business profiles in search and maps. 

You cannot edit your GBP unless you verify it first. Remember this. 

This is how you can edit your GBP:

• Go to your GBP.
• Select ‘edit profile’ in Google Search and Google Maps.
• After editing each information, click ‘save’.
• Google may review your changes before publishing them. 

Advantages of a GBP

I’ll shortly discuss how to generate organic visits for Google Business Profile, but first let’s take a quick look at the advantages of having a GBP.

You have created and verified your GBP. Well done. But why did you take the trouble? Let’s find out the benefits of creating a valid and accurate GBP for your business. 

Improved Local SERP Visibility

A well-organised valid GBP helps businesses rank higher in local search results and Maps, making it easier for potential customers  to find them.

Prominence in Google Maps

The GBP helps businesses feature in Google Maps prominently, again connecting them with local customers who search for the relevant products or services.

Increased Leads and Conversions

An optimised GBP, as part of the local SEO, helps businesses get more qualified leads that often translate into sales and more profits. 

Direct Customer Interaction

A GBP helps businesses directly interact with customers through reviews, FAQs and posts. This interaction helps a business understand customers’ pain points better and serve them properly.

Opportunity to Highlight Pros

The GBP also allows businesses to highlight their USPs through relevant high-quality posts, images and videos. This is an excellent opportunity to get a strong advertisement campaign without spending any money. 

Data-Driven Decision

A GBP provides data and analytics that helps businesses track customers’ behaviour. This facility again helps them make data-driven business decisions that seldom go wrong.

How to Generate Organic Visits for Google Business Profile

We will now see the effective strategies to drive organic traffic for GBP. But what is this organic traffic?

What is Organic Traffic?

In SEO parlance, organic traffic means the number of people who visit a website after being directed by an unpaid source like a search engine. 

Suppose I want to buy a product that you sell. I do a Google Search for the product, I see your listing in the search results Google returns, I get interested and click on the link to your site and visit your site.

Here, in me you get a lead via a search engine and I’m a part of your organic traffic. Clear?

The main thing is, you get potential customers without paying for any advertisement.

Strategies to Generate Organic Visits for GBP

To generate organic visits for Google Business Profile, you need to optimise the profile so it shows up prominently in search results and Google Maps. 

Here is the breakdown of this GBP optimisation process:

1. Claim and verify GBP

This is the first strategy in GBP optimisation. If you don’t claim and verify your GBP, it is a waste of time for you to know How to generate organic visits for Google Business Profile. 

The process of claiming and verifying GBP is simple, but many businesses overlook these two key factors in their business profile optimisation for local searches. 

Search engines want to provide users with accurate and authentic information. Google puts great emphasis on this simple but crucial process of claiming and verifying GBP. 

A claimed and verified GBP, with accurate NAP and other details, tells search engines and potential customers that it is a valid, authentic and trustworthy business establishment.

2. Optimise GBP Details: 

Visitors will make purchasing decisions after checking out the details of your business information in your GBP. So make sure your business details, like NAP, website, business hours etc are accurate and up-to-date. 

You must be consistent in your business details in your GBP, website and other online platforms. For example, your NAP in your GBP must match that on your website and Facebook page. This consistency gives a business authenticity and trustworthiness. 

3. Engaging Brand Description

Take pains in crafting your business description for your GBP. This is your first introduction to your potential customers. Utilise this space to highlight your USPs to impress your target customers.

An engaging business description will greatly help you generate organic visits for Google Business Profile.

While drafting this description, remember the following points:

•  Remember that you are writing for human beings, not only for search engines. So add some human emotion to your business description.
• Use relevant keywords but don’t overdo it. Keyword stuffing is a strict no for search engines.
• Highlight what makes you different from your competitors, what unique service or product you offer that others cannot. But don’t launch a frontal attack on your competitors.
• Make your business description as engaging as possible. Use technical terms sparingly. Use a forceful but simple language.

4.  Engage Your Visitors

Engage your potential customers by encouraging them to post positive reviews and comments. Respond to the reviews, positive or negative, immediately. 

Search engines consider positive reviews and comments serious ranking signals. Besides, positive reviews from happy customers encourage potential customers to do business with you. 

But remember, reviews should be authentic. Paid reviews and fake reviews will harm your reputation and GBP optimisation over time.

5. Upload Visual Content 

Seeing is believing. So decorate your GBP with high-quality visual content to impress your visitors and potential customers. 

To generate organic visits for Google Business Profile, you should upload excellent visual content.

If you have a brick-and-mortar establishment, click some eye-catching photos and videos of it and show them in your GBP. Use high-resolution and optimised photos and videos.

The visual content in your Google Business Profile will establish your authenticity and may please your potential customers into buying your stuff.

6. Geotag your Images

Make sure images in your GBP are geotagged. Geotagging will attach your business’s location data to the images.

This will help search engines to pinpoint your location and show your pages in relevant local search results. This may significantly improve your local SEO campaign and optimise your GBP.

7. Take advantage of Google Posts

Leverage Google Posts and share updates, offers and announcements directly in your GBP. This facility offered by Google is an effective way to highlight your expertise in your niche. 

Consistently upload valuable content on your niche business to educate, inform and engage your potential customers. These efforts will not only generate more traffic, but establish yourself as a leader in your niche business.

8. Select the right category

Google provides several options to categorise your business in GBP. You must select the category closest to the type of business you have. 

Selecting the right category is of utmost importance if you want to generate organic visits for Google Business Profile.

The right category will help Google show your GBP in relevant local searches and Maps. If you select a wrong or inappropriate category, your entire GBP optimisation effort will go down the drain. 

9. Monitor Your Performance

Any SEO effort is an ongoing process and GBP optimisation is no different. You have to regularly monitor your GBP performance to learn the strengths and weaknesses of your efforts.

Analyse Google Insights. They will give you valuable data on visitors’ behaviour, number of calls, direction requests etc. Analysing these data you can understand your GBP performance and formulate better optimisation strategies. 

Conclusion

To generate organic visits for Google Business Profile, you need a well-organised and optimised GBP.

This GBP will boost your ranking in local Google Search and Maps results. This high visibility may drive traffic, generate qualified leads and more conversions and sales.

An optimised GBP will prove your authenticity, help Google give you the rank you deserve and engage your potential customers. You can easily optimise your GBP following the strategies I mentioned in this blog post. 

Best of luck!

Frequently Asked Questions