How To Create A Google My Business Account And Optimize It For Incredible Results

Learning how to create a Google My Business account is easy, it only takes patience.

And it takes even more patience, and time to rank on the Google 3-pack.

It’s every business owner’s wet dream to rank on the local 3-pack.

Showing up in the 3-Pack listings means you’ll get more visibility. And more visibility means more clicks.

Being on the local 3-pack is the equivalent of being in the category of the top 3 pound for pound boxers in the world.

The 3-Pack listings can help influence buying decisions.

People who find you in the local pack are more likely to make a direct purchase shortly afterwards.

But let’s not get to ahead of ourselves.

The road to the local 3-pack starts with one step.

I only wanted to let you know what your goal should be when creating a Google My business account.

I’m here to guide you thru the initial stages so you can land your business in the local 3-pack ASAP.

Some of the questions I will be answering are:

How to get my business listed on Google?

How to create a Google My Business account?

Is Google Business Profile free?

How to optimize Google Business Profile?

Do you need a Google Business Profile manager?

How to manage Google Business Profile?

How to improve Google Business Profile?

I will be providing you with Google business profile help.

So let’s get started with the first two questions.

How to get my business listed on Google, and how to create a Google My Business account?

The first thing you should know is that there are guidelines to being listed on Google.

You must be a “legit business”.

By “legit business”, I mean you must have a business License with name of business and address, business equipment relevant to your trade and industry, you must prove geographically that you are at the location you say you are, and most importantly you must have permanent signage.

You must prove that you are not a scammer or somebody that’s trying to pass off as somebody else.

This measure is enforced by Google because they must protect Google users. If Google is accepting phony listings their user’s safety is in jeopardy in every way imaginable.

If Google didn’t have protective measures, and a screening process hundreds of phony listings would be created every day, and I’m sure Google would have a fall from grace because their information would not be accurate and be worthy of consumer’s time.

This is the thinking behind the verification process.

Ideally the best measure would be to physically verify the listing but because this is not possible the second best option they have which is the current measure in place is to do a video verification.

4 Step Video Verification Process

A. Existence: Is this a genuine/real business? /Does it exist?

B. Geographic location: Is this business located where the business profile says it is located?

C. User integrity: Is this an authentic company? Is it a real merchant? Google is trying to determine if someone is attempting to commit fraud.

D. Affiliation: Is this merchant associated with the business? Do they have the authority to represent the business?

The video verification process is the most important part because this is the part where a decision is made to list you or not.

This phase of the process has to be rehearsed a few times on your end, so everything runs smoothly because you have to record, and verify everything in one take.

Here is the link to the page to create a Google My Business account.

And for those that are asking themselves if Google business profile is free, yes, it is.

If you create the listing yourself, it is free.

However, if you don’t have the time to set up the profile or need help you can hire someone to create a Profile for you.

Now, something you should be aware of when creating an account is that Google takes anywhere between 1 and 4 weeks to approve or deny.

So, you will want to check on the account you created to see if the listing has been approved.

When you’re verified, you’ll get a notification.

If Google can’t verify your business with the first method, the “Get verified” button shows up again.

If the button reappears, try a different verification method.

I have given you info on how to create a Google My Business account, and how to verify your profile, now I’m going to tell you what you need to do in order to optimize your listing because if the listing is not highly optimized you will not reap the full benefits of the account.

How to improve Google Business Profile

There is a term that local SEO professionals use which is NAP.

NAP stands for name, address, and phone number.

This is the most basic info that you need to add to your listing.

Once you have this down next is your hours of operation.

Next is your products and services, for example if you own a salon, you can add a nail, hair, and feet service.

If you own a restaurant, you can add a menu etc.

Next are the photos you can add to your profile so the consumers who are in research mode can get a feel for the business.

You can even add videos.

It is well known that…

….the profiles which have 20 or more photos and that are highly optimized with content, and information get the most clicks and viewership.

Another way to enhance your profile is by creating citations.

This impacts your listing indirectly because it’s not the Google My Business account you’re working with.

Even thou it’s not the profile your working with it gives a boost to your listings.

There is no direct answer as to how many citations your business will need because it depends on location, competition, and other factors.

But a general rule of thumb is the more citations the better.

You can create a campaign to get more 5-star reviews.

There is an optimization feature by Google which is called Google Verified which businesses can apply for to gain more trust from consumers.

However we will not be going into this because this process deserves an article all in itself, and it’s out of the scope of this article.

There is another feature in which you can give directions to your future customers so they can drop in and visit you etc.

There’s so many things you can do to optimize your Google Business profile listing, it all depends on what you want to do and what specific industry you’re in.

All of this raises the question….

Do you need a Google Business Profile Manager?

To this question I cannot give a direct response because it all depends on your time, what stage of the business you’re in, your strengths and weaknesses, what you want to learn, if you have the budget etc.

If you have the budget and want to invest your time doing something else, I recommend you find a manager that is willing to help you attain more leads.

If you don’t have the budget, I recommend you invest time into learning, creating, and optimizing your account because focusing more time into this project will get you closer to your financial goals than anything else you must do.

Conclusion

After reading this article you now have an idea on how to create a Google My business account. How to improve Google My Business account, and how to optimize Google My business account.

If you still need help you can always reach out to me, or go to my Google Business profile service page here

I help with Google My Business listings, I have an excellent team that has over 25 years of experience that is at your disposal, and I would be more than happy to serve you.

Reach out to me if you have any questions regarding Google My Business.