Making some updates to your Google My Business profile can help improve your visibility and local ranking just in time for the holidays.
Now that the holiday shopping season is officially underway making some tweaks to your Google My Business profile can help you rank higher and increase visibility.
This is better than the sound of sleigh bells in the snow because experts predict e-commerce sales will jump between 11-15% from November 2021-January 2022. And the National Retail Federation (NRF) predicts that retail sales in November and December will increase anywhere from 8.5-10.5% from 2020.
As shoppers look to spend more this holiday, here are seven tweaks you can make to your Google My Business profile (GBP), so you can stand out from the competition this holiday season.
1. Update your holiday hours
You may want to extend your hours to give shoppers some more flexibility, or perhaps update your hours to share with shoppers if you plan to be closed during certain days and times, such as Christmas Day and New Years Day.
Some quick recommendations:
If you're extending your hours, use the More Hours option instead of setting Special Hours.
Don’t use Temporarily Closed unless you plan to be closed for a week or more due to a natural disaster or due to COVID-19.
2. Double-check your location info
Did you know that your location information could change if a customer suggests it to Google?
It's true. Users can suggest an edit without you even knowing it, so it's essential to check your location information at any time of the year. But it's vital during the holiday season!
Hop into your GBP and double-check your address, phone number, business name, and website links.
3. Utilize GBP product descriptions
Adding your products to your GBP using the Google Product Editor is another great way to promote your products. This way, customers can see your products even if they don't visit your website.
And using the right keywords in the description helps optimize your product descriptions as well. For example, if someone is searching for "Christmas cookies near me" and you're the expert Christmas cookie baker, this is another way to gain visibility.
4. Add new images
Be sure to post images of your products, your store, or anything you think would be fun to share this holiday season. According to a study by BrightLocal, businesses with at least 100 images received more phone calls and more direction requests.
We recommend posting images throughout the year at least once a week, but during the holiday season, it's the perfect way to build your digital reputation.
5. Respond to reviews, messages, and Q&As
Naturally, customers will have questions when choosing the perfect holiday gift. So it's crucial to respond timely to messages and Q&As. It's also important to check your Q&As because customers can also answer other customer questions, so you want to make sure the answer is correct.
You can also post your most frequent question and answers for the holiday season, which is a proactive way to keep customers informed.
And it's good practice to respond to all reviews, positive and negative. More than half of customers feel more confident with a business if they respond to reviews.
6. Create weekly Google posts
This is another tip we recommend all year round, but this can help increase your visibility while keeping customers up-to-speed on your holiday sales and news. Google posts show in the local panel on both Google Search and Google Maps, and you can make posts to include text, photos, or videos.
This is definitely an underutilized resource by most businesses, so just by posting, you'll stand out from the competition!
7. Review and add attributes
Reviewing and adding attributes can help provide customers with more details about your business, making them feel comfortable shopping with you. For example, if you're enforcing social distancing guidelines in your store, adding that attribute provides peace of mind for specific shoppers.
You can also add attributes like "woman-owned" or "Latino-owned" so customers know they support a diverse-owned business.
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