Google My Business has made it easier for consumers to find the physical locations of online businesses since it was launched in 2014. Nowadays, for your business to grow you need an online presence. Therefore, creating a website and a Google My Business Listing should be a priority to every business owner. Google owns about 90% of the search engines as of now. Therefore, numerous users rely on Google to search for products and services online.

Google My Business (GMB) is a free tool offered by Google to help business owners manage their online presence. The main objective of using GMB is to help users get the most accurate local search results of the businesses they are interested in. However, to prevent users from manipulating the system, Google enforces strict SEO guidelines and a top-notch algorithm. This makes it hard for business owners to determine how and where their businesses will appear after a Google search. In the past, some people used to manipulate search engines to rank high in the search results. But, after Google introduced the new SEO guidelines and improved their algorithms, things have taken a new turn. If you want your business to grow, you need to optimize your Google My Business listings to top the local search engine results.

What is new with Google My Business?

• Add a Logo – a business logo is vital to create and build your brand. A business logo will also help potential customers relate to your business or find your business in search results with ease. To add a logo in your GMB listing, open your account and go to the ‘Overview’ tab. You are advised to add the logo on the upper right side of your profile for it to appear beside your reviews or posts.

• Welcome offers – welcome offers attract new customers while still trying to maintain the customers you already have. Your welcome offers should be used to thank your customers. Some of the details you can include in the offers include a link to your site, T&C’s, product descriptions and coupons.

• create your offer, login into your GMB account and navigate to ‘Turn Followers into Customers’ section. Click on the ‘Create Welcome Offer’ section, create your offer, review and then publish.

• Marketing Kit – this is a new site introduced by Google My Business to help business owners create and print promotional assets to grow their business. Some of the things using the Marketing Kit include social posts, free stickers, and posters. You just need to have a GMB account to reap the benefits of the Marketing Kit.

• you are interested in creating posters, stickers, table tents, and signs, you can do it for free when you download the in-store kit. To get creative designs and promotional material, consider visiting marketingkit.withgoogle.com/ Local Favorites – In every business category, GMB is offering a ‘Local Favorite’ badge to the top 5% of businesses in search results. However, as of now, Local Favorites features only the most popular restaurants in Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York. With time, other categories and locations will be added because Local Favorites is a new feature.

• Short Names – Short names make it easy for users to search and share business profiles. Ergo, now business owners can choose and register their preferred business name. After registering, the users will just search @shortname to land on your business profile. If you’ve registered for a short name, you can have a short URL that you can share with ease.

• Request a Quote – to create a ‘Request Quote’ button, you will have to enable messaging in your GMB. With a Request Quote button, users can inquire about a quote on any of the products or services you are offering.

• Book an Appointment – if you want to improve your users’ booking experience, you should consider managing your booking through another booking provider. By doing this, your users will also benefit from other features like calendars and reminders.