If you’re a local business owner, you might have seen the recent changes to Google My Business. We’ve taken a look at all of the recent announcements and digested them for you! What does it mean for how you should be running your page? Let’s dive in and investigate!

Google Business Profile Manager

The biggest change to the Google My Business platform in 2022 is the name itself! Google will be renaming Google my Business to Google Business Profile. You may have noticed that a few users have already been switched to the new name.

What does this mean for you?

With the change in name, Google is preparing to retire the Google my Business dashboard entirely in 2022 for users managing only a single business. That means that business owners will need to update business information directly on Search and Maps.

Of course, Map Ranks subscribers do not need to worry as our service includes consistent updates to your Google Business Profile. Simply let us know what needs to be changed and we will save you the hassle and make sure it is done right!

Distance, Prominence, and Relevance

Google’s algorithm takes into account three factors that matter when it comes to ‘near me’ searches: distance, prominence, and relevance. With more and more users searching from mobile devices to find local business that are nearby, it is important to keep Google three ranking factors in mind when setting up your Business Profile.

• Distance – Businesses that are closer to the searcher’s physical location will typically be shown higher on search engine results pages.
• Prominence – Prominent businesses that are searched for more frequently by other searchers will appear more prominently as well.
• Relevance – Google defines relevance as the amount of customer interactions your Business Profile receives. Some customer actions that Google uses to determine your relevance are amount and quality of reviews, ratings, and click-through rates. Relevance can help your business appear higher on Google searches even if your business is further away or less prominent than your competitors.

Distance and prominence are difficult to change in order to increase rankings. Relevance, on the other hand, has a lot of room for optimization because there are lots of ways for you to increase relevance on Google such as creating regular content on your Business Profile, asking your customers to leave a positive review, and answering questions in the Google Knowledge Panel.

Customers who update their profiles more often are more likely to appear in search results based on Google’s ranking algorithm. Due to the importance of relevance in Google search rankings & 3 pack rankings, Map Ranks focuses on increasing the number of customer actions for all of our customers through a combination of regular profile updates, responses to customer reviews, weekly posts, and much more.

Reviews & Keywords

Reviews are one of the most important factors in local SEO. Google sees reviews as a great indicator of how business owners interact with customers, and by extension, a great indicator of how they will treat customers in the future.

Google has made it clear that reviews are one of the top ranking factors on Google Business Profile listings. Reviews and ratings from customers will carry additional weight in an effort to help consumers make more informed purchasing decisions when searching for local businesses in Google Search.

This is great news for businesses that have been building positive online reputations through positive online reviews.

What happens when your company doesn’t have many reviews?

It might seem impossible to compete with large chains that have thousands of reviews – but it’s not. There are plenty of way you can to get reviews from your customers and improve your local SEO ranking.

The easiest one is to simply ask for reviews from your clients! As simple as it sounds, asking for reviews is still one of the best ways to increase your overall review count.

Map Ranks has developed effective strategies to get more reviews for our clients and help them boost their relevance and rankings in Google searches.

Relevant Keywords Can Help Boost Rankings

Since Google’s algorithm is always changing, it is difficult for businesses to know exactly what will affect their ranking in the future. However, based on current trends, there seems to be a strong correlation between the number of relevant keywords used throughout the Business Profile and its rankings within Google’s search engine results.

Optimizing your content for the keywords you want to rank for is one of the most powerful and most effective ways to increase Google search engine rankings. However, keyword research is not a “set-it-and-forget-it” type of job. It’s an ongoing, dynamic process that requires constant monitoring and adjustments.

Map Ranks conducts extensive research into the right keywords for your particular business so that we can use them in our optimization process and help you increase your customer actions!

Conclusion

Google my Business has gone through a number of changes that can affect the way that your business is being found of Google. Overall, these changes may seem relatively minor but can affect rankings significantly if not taken into account. We hope that by reading this blog, you are ready to keep your business rankings high as we enter 2022.

Overall, the frequency of interactions that customers have with your Google Business Profile will impact rankings and help you appear higher in Google searches.

Trying to manage your GMB business listing on your own can be challenging, especially if you are juggling other priorities. It’s easy to make mistakes that can jeopardize your standing in search results, or worse, not get the visibility you need to attract new customers.