Photo Strategy

A picture is worth a thousand words, and this old adage rings true for your business listings. Photos are often the first place potential customers look to get a sense of the services you offer. Keep your photos updated and steer clear of stock photos. Prospective customers respond best to authentic images that accurately depict your business including your team, your storefront, and your products or services.

Social Posting

Posts are a great way to share business updates, events, and offers with your customers. These messages can include photos, videos, offers, links, and CTAs which make them powerful conversion drivers when used correctly. Depending on your industry, posts can also be a powerful way to increase online bookings. If you want to take things to the next level, we recommend this video on 7 Google Posts tips which houses some excellent tips on how and when to post to Google (with research to back it all up!)

Q&A

The Q&A section of your Google My Business listing is unique. It allows both consumer-driven and business-driven content to be posted publicly. Because of this, you'll want to kick things off by getting ahead of any frequently asked questions by posting them directly from your business. From there, we recommend responding to customer questions promptly and effectively with as much relevant information as possible.

Reviews

Last, but certainly not least, we cover one of the most important and influential aspects of your business listing — your customer reviews. 88% of people say they trust online reviews as much as they’d trust a personal recommendation, which means there is a ton of opportunity to influence prospective customers to choose your business. When responding to reviews, take note of any low-star reviews — respond to these empathetically and respectfully. This will give you the best chance at turning things around. From there, you should try to get to as many reviews as possible with thoughtful and concise responses. Take advantage of the review analysis tool in Moz Local to view your top 100 keywords, identify review trends, and see what customers like and what they think could be improved.

Keep learning

• The Impact of Local Business Reviews on Consumer Behavior | SEO Industry Report - Our local business review survey outlines key takeaways regarding the impact of reviews on consumer behavior and local business success. Learn more about the fundamentally important inclusion of online local business reviews in any local SEO strategy.
• Local SEO Certification - In this six-part Certification, you’ll receive nearly six hours of on-demand, instructor-led content, covering the fundamentals, local competitor research, location data management, reputation management, and measuring and tracking success.
  
• In Real Life: Local SEO Tactics - In this course, local business owners learn how to get the most out of their SEO strategy using skills and knowledge they already have.
• The Essential Local SEO Strategy Guide - A comprehensive beginner's guide to SEO marketing for small businesses.