Over the years, Google has set itself up as the prime player in the World Wide Web space – it has developed many useful tools that are mainly free of charge for businesses to utilise to increase their online presence. Platforms such as a Search Engine (the #1 in the World!), Email, Maps, Analytics, Page Speed Insights, Translation, Browsers and the list doesn’t stop there! One particular tool that is extremely helpful to all businesses is Google My Business. In this article, we’re going to look at some of the ways that you can optimise your My Business listing in order to enhance and maximise your online presence.
What is Google My Business?
Simply put, it’s a free online tool that businesses can use to manage their online presence on Google. This relates to items such as –
- Maps
- Search
- Trading Hours
- Overview of Your Business
- Address and Contact Details (incl. social media)
- Business Imagery/videos
- Posts and Products
- Reviews
- Popular Visiting Times
Majority of dive businesses nowadays have a Google My Business account already and it’s just a case of making sure you are utilising all facets of the platform to gain the most you can from it. For those of you that may have a listing but no access to it, or alternatively may need to create a new listing you can easily do this through Google Support.
The Basics
With your active listing, there are a few basics that you need to ensure are added and up to date. Main items include your address (this will need to be verified), trading hours, phone number, web address, photos/videos, brief description and category. Additional items which you should not forget about are accessibility, amenities, highlights, planning, payments, and service options. All of these will help your listing to provide current and potential customers all the information they need to know about your business.
Reviews
Within the scuba diving industry, word of mouth or recommendations from family/friends are the number one source of why a diver chooses their dive centre or resort. With this in mind, we need to remember how important any sort of ‘review’ is, not only on Tripadvisor or Facebook but also on Google.
Google Reviews display on your My Business listing – it will show how many reviews you have and also gives you a rating out of five, based on the average score of all of your reviews. The reviewer has the opportunity to write a review, rate you (via a star rating) and also add some photos if they wish. Once this is posted, the business then has the opportunity to respond. Responding to your reviews is a good business practise and also recommended by Google – ensure you bring something ‘personal’ about the customer and their experience with you into the review rather than just a template response. If the review is negative, thank the reviewer and take the solution offline.
More Advanced Tools
With Google+ now being defunct, Google has developed ‘Google My Business Posts’ within their platform. Although these posts won’t help your SEO ranking, you can use this feature to promote Events, Offers and Content from your blog. Add posts to help promote learning to dive, eLearning etc. Do this in your Google My Business account, in ‘Posts’.
Google also allows you to add ‘Products’ along with prices. This is your opportunity to promote the scuba gear you have for sale and the courses that you offer along with prices, links to PADI eLearning (ensure you use your unique PADI eLearning link!) or your own booking agent/course info page. Locate this feature in the My Business menu under ‘Products’.
Some listings you see or alternatively you may have displayed on your listing are ‘Popular Times’. These are activated only by Google – they collect the data from those customers who have opted in to Google location history. This data appears only if Google has sufficient data to represent your business, you can’t manually add it in.
COVID-19 Updates
Google have also enabled COVID-19 features to ensure that your business details are kept up to date during these unprecedented times. You can post COVID-19 updates to share more about precautions you’re taking, what products are available, if you provide extra services for the community, and whether customers can expect delays. In addition, you can mark your business as ‘Temporarily Closed’ – depending on your dive businesses current situation. Ensure they are up to date to reflect your COVID-19 trading hours. These features are located in your account on the main dashboard named ‘Stay connected during COVID-19’.
By utilising your Google My Business account, you can enhance your online presence within the web with this fantastic free tool. For additional information or assistance with Google My Business, please contact PADI Marketing directly.
