Are you taking advantage of Google My Business for your local, virtual or small business? If you’re not, I’m here to convince you why you should. Because I’m all about GMB these days. It’s free, easy-to-use and helps you manage and optimize your business presence on Google. I’m seeing what it’s doing for my online visibility and for some of my clients, too.

Google My Business (GMB) has been around since the summer of 2014 when Google chose it as a replacement for Google Places and Google+ Local, services that helped local businesses be found online. Since that time, thousands (undoubtedly, millions) of businesses have claimed their free listing and are using it to bring more attention to their company when people search via Google.

According to one stat I found, only half of the businesses who qualify for a GMB listing have one. I didn’t want to be in the 50% who are missing out, so I set up my profile this past March after following Google’s instructions. The set-up’s easy as long as you have a Gmail account … and don’t we all? In some cases, Google will mail a verification postcard to prove your connection to the business before the profile shows up online. But typically, you can sign up and launch a GMB listing in just a few minutes.

Since I created my account, I’ve been exploring ways to fully optimize it by using some lesser-known features and updating my profile regularly with blog posts. I asked four of my clients if they’d grant me access to their GMB listing, so I can experiment with theirs, as well.

Here’s why I’m a fan of Google My Business for companies of any size or industry, especially small businesses and virtual companies, like mine.

Virtual Businesses Can Use Google My Business

Number one on my list is the fact Google allows both businesses with a physical location and those without to use GMB. Google says:

In order to qualify for a Google My Business listing, a business must make in-person contact with customers during its stated hours.

Google goes on to say which business aren’t eligible for a listing, including rental or for-sale properties such as vacation homes, model homes or vacant apartments.

A related plus: Google doesn’t require you to list a physical location. I work from home and have clients here in the Phoenix metro and in other parts of the U.S. While I’m not opposed to showing my address online (I know people can easily find it through other means), I like that Google lets me suppress my address and show a city, state or region on its map instead.

Google My Business Is Great For SEO

Since I’m still exploring this benefit, I look to SMEs who say that GMB is, indeed, great for SEO.

Here’s what I found in my research:

• Complete and accurate Google My Business listings get 7x more clicks than those missing information and are 70% more likely to attract location visits. – Source: ThriveHive
• If you’re just getting started with local SEO, your Google My Business listing is a great place to focus your early efforts. After all, when people search for a product or service near them, they’re usually very close to making a purchase. One in two people who conduct a local search (think “watch repair near me”) visit a store that day. – Hubspot
• And straight from the source, here’s what Google says: Local results appear for people who search for businesses and places near their location. They’re shown in a number of places across Maps and Search. You can improve your business’s local ranking by using Google My Business.

Share Your Blog posts and Company news on GMB

Keeping a website regularly updated with content is a long-known SEO best practice. I like the fact you can update your GMB listing, too, which — all things being equal — should benefit your listing’s appearance online.

The easiest way to keep your profile updated is to add blog posts, company news or an event, offer or product. Log in to the GMB dashboard and choose Create Post. (Google offers instructions here, but it’s very easy to figure out.)

Add Photos And Videos to your listing

Another Google My Business tip: You can add photos and videos (though only short ones of 30 seconds or less) to your listing. The public can add photos, as well, and so does Google. It scrapes certain images from your website and adds a street view photo if you’re using a physical address. (Learn more here.) One of my clients, a cryotherapy company in Kansas City, now has a collection of photos on its listing — some added by Google, photos added by yours truly and recently one of KC Cryo’s customers added photos, too.

In my research, I found several statistics saying a GMB listing with photos and videos outperforms those without. This makes sense from an SEO standpoint, so I’ve been adding more photos to my client’s listings and also to mine.

If one of your customers adds a photo to your listing that you don’t want included, there’s a process for flagging the photo and asking Google to remove it. (=I haven’t tried this, so I don’t know if it’s easy or hard.

a home for google reviews

GMB is Free … For Now, At Least

Earlier in the year, I read an article that said Google may start charging for Google My Business listings. That would be a shame, but Google is a struggling company that needs revenue. #tongueincheek

I won’t fret over what could be, and neither should you. Grab your Google My Business page if you haven’t already, then get to optimizing it!

I actually have more GMB goodness to share, but this post is getting long. So I’m making notes for a part two, where I’ll talk more about metrics and the keywords/phrases people use when people find your listing … and much more!

Photo: THIÉBAUD FAIX Via Unsplash