Everyone wants to land on page 1 of a search result. And even better, to have photos and other visually juicy eye candy that draws attention to your listing over anyone else’s. Google now lets you do that, no charge, with the Google Business Profile.
The Google Business Profile (GBP)
Have you ever noticed that some searches deliver a side panel with photos, hours of operation, and reviews and star ratings? This is the Google Business Profile where your business is writ large and colorfully. It does attract a lot of attention—and clicks. Think of the Google Business Profile as the equivalent of a business Facebook page. But it’s not a page with its own URL that the public visits directly. It only comes up on search results pages if Google thinks there’s a match based on the search term or phrase entered.
Accuracy = VisibilityGoogle (and every search engine) is in the business of delivering the best match for the searcher’s query. “Best” means some combination of “relevant,” “useful,” “accurate,” and “high quality service.” The more confident Google is in the accuracy of your information and the easier it is for Google to access that information, the more likely they are to place your information high in a result. The Google Business Profile is Google’s way of letting you tell them what the real scoop is about your company.
Multiple online references to you
There can be lots of different Web pages that make reference to your company (Facebook, Yelp, LinkedIn, your own website). You probably have only one company website, but you may have started and abandoned a few Facebook pages, perhaps a LinkedIn page or two. Your company name may have started with “The” in front, and then over time you stripped that out for simplicity’s sake. You may have moved, but a directory listing from long ago never got updated so it’s showing your old address. And you may be listed on directories you never intended to be listed on! (Plenty of websites will grab links and assemble information without asking the company owners. Usually it’s a good thing to have many links. But in this case it can backfire on you.) From the perspective of the automated search robots (“bots”) that index the Web, your online identity could be muddy indeed.
The NAP: The key to your identityNAP stands for “name, address, phone number.” These are the critical pieces of accurate information Google is after. When you put together a Google Business Profile, they want to be sure you are you. (This is for your protection. They don’t want a competitor, for instance, to post a page in your name and enter false information about you.) A correct NAP not only ensures that searchers will be able to contact you, it also gives Google confidence in considering your business for placement in the “Map Pack” section of the first page search result.
Google also wants to discourage promotion of here-today, gone-tomorrow scammers. They want a brick and mortar location to be tied to your business, even if it’s not published information. For instance, PO boxes are not allowed for your address.
The verification process
They will go through several processes to be sure that they have the most up-to-date NAP for your business. Google uses snail mail to send a postcard to your brick and mortar address. It will have a code that you enter as part of the verification process to prove you are you and that your business is indeed where you say it is. Depending on their findings, you may also have to go through and clean up out-of-date directory listings and officially delete any duplicate Facebook or LinkedIn pages. Sometimes they decide they want a video verification, where you do a walk through of your office to show them your address, your sign, obvious business equipment, your city business license, etc.
Photos of your locationFrom the data entered on your Google My Business page, a panel will be displayed on the right side of a search results page anytime Google thinks there’s a good match. Google will automatically insert a map and an outdoor photo of your office building or location, which they take with their Google Earth satellite capabilities, or the roving Google cars. Potentially helpful, if you are in retail. But sometimes it’s a parking lot. Not very enticing! And with elder care, your location is largely immaterial. Very few people come to your office. You go to their homes. (In fact, you may work from your home and not really want a map or photo of it displayed.) You can insert your own photos of your office or set your business up as service-based and avoid external depictions of your business location.
Best use of photos
More to the point, you can display wonderful photos of your staff and/or people working with elders. This is your opportunity to introduce images that project the warmth and caring of your service. Happy and kind photos jump out on the normally boring, text-heavy search result page. There’s no charge for photos, so put in a lot. Other than an accurate NAP, it’s the single most important thing you can do to boost your visibility.
A cautionary note about HIPAAIf you are including photos of actual clients or patients, you must get a signed release from them. It doesn’t have to be a special release from HIPAA. Simply permission to publish. (Getting permission is basic etiquette with all publishing, not just with patients and clients.) From the eyes of the Office for Civil Rights—the enforcers of HIPAA—a photo is a unique biomedical identifier and therefore protected health information. You can publish a photo of a client or patient. Just have documentation on file proving that permission was given.
Want help with your Google Business Profile?
We offer Google Services for clients who license our content resources or have us build their actual website. To learn more, give us a call at 707-477-0700 (Pacific) or email helpyougrow@elderpagesonline.com