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How GMB Posts Can Boost Local Rankings
In recent years, Google My Business has become a great tool that has consistently helped marketers and business owners create a footprint on the web. It has helped many businesses achieve great visibility both on Google Maps and Google Search while helping to drive huge traffic to their stores.
However, in 2017, Google added the Google Blog (Google Post) feature to help businesses gain more authority with local content. Since its addition, Google Posts has gathered huge popularity for its potential to improve local SEO.
This could also be the ultimate solution you need to give your local SEO a boost. So, let’s learn about what Google posts are and how they can positively affect your local search rankings.
What Are Google Posts?
How GMB Posts Impact Local SEO
Helps increase traffic
Great for sharing local content
Many marketers and business owners do take advantage of GMB Posts to share fresh, relevant, and highly targeted local content.
Whether you want to share local news or events with your customers or just looking for a way to let them know about your new, innovative equipment at your office, GMB Posts will always come in handy. This hence helps create more engagement with your customers.
It generates huge conversion
Can help boost traffic to specific products on your website
Great for building an email list
You can use GMB Posts to build a strong email list for yourself. You only need to include a CTA to an online registration form to capture your customers’ information. This email list can turn into a reliable, constant source of repeated traffic for your website or local store.
Pulling all these together, you will quickly see how powerful GMB Posts could be in improving local SEO and search rankings.
How to Create GMB Posts
Another advantage of adding GMB Posts as part of your SEO and marketing strategy is that they are very easy to create. You can make these posts on the GMB mobile app or through its desktop version.
To create a GMB Post, here are the steps to follow:
- Log into your GMB account (whether on mobile or computer) to get to your GMB management dashboard
- Select the location you want to publish the post for, in case your business is located in multiple locations.
- On the main menu, click on Post. Then click the Create Post button to start writing
- You will see different options to add text, photos, videos, or events. Use them as needed
- Once you are done writing, use the Preview option to preview the post before you hit the publish button
- If everything looks okay for you, check for the Publish button on the top right corner of the screen and click to publish your post.
Once your post is published, it will remain live for up to seven days before Google automatically removes and archives it. That means if you are creating a post for a local event, you should calculate the 7 days window when choosing the time to publish the post.
GMB Posts with Focus on Local
One way to achieve the best result with GMB Posts is to focus on local content.
About 89% of people search for a local business on their smartphone at least once a week. That’s definitely a lot of people searching – you just can’t afford to miss out.
Create posts around local news and happenings and include local city and neighborhood names in the posts. Regularly posting local blog articles will not only help boost your local SEO but will also help provide useful information to your audience. That is one easy way to build relevance from your GMB Posts.
Capitalize on the popularity of an event coming up in your locality, fair trade, election, etc. to drive relevant traffic to your website. Sponsor local events, teams, or organizations and write about them in your GMB Posts.
Also, you can interview local experts within or outside your company and feature the interview section on your GMB Posts.
What Are the Types of Google My Business Posts?
This is a new type of GMB post that was recently added to the list. It was created to accommodate ongoing business changes that were caused by the recent pandemic. So if you want to inform your customers about COVID-19 updates in your area or how it affects your business hours, this is the type of GMB Post to create.
This type of post is often used to promote special events such as a trade fair, job openings, customer appreciation, awards, and other forms of celebrations. Here, you can include a link to a landing page explaining the relevant details. You can as well link it back to your website.
Looking to grow your email list, this is the perfect type of post to create. In such a post, you can offer to give out discount codes, coupons, or offer freebies in exchange for customers’ information. While your customers get amazing deals from you, your email list also grows. It’s a win-win thing.
This is a perfect post to create when you are launching a new store online or making a new product available online. It helps you generate enough local buzz needed to give the store or product a good starting foot.
Include a link in the post to take your consumer straight to your ecommerce store to make an order.
This is similar to ordering online posts. But instead of leading your consumers to an e-commerce store, you will be sharing the contact details and physical address of your store so customers can walk in to pick up their product in person.
This is also similar to the buy post. But instead of placing an order, the customer will be booking an appointment. If you own such businesses as beauty salons, massage parlors, real estate agencies, barbershops, and law firms, you can hook more appointments using this type of GMB Post.
Useful Tips for Creating a GMB Post
#1: Post regularly
Remember that post will automatically be archived by Google once it’s up to 7 days on the platform. That means the key to achieving the most from GMB Posts and keeping your brand consistent is to post regularly.
It is easy to let this slip through the cracks, so your best bet is to create a posting schedule to regularly put good content up there. On the other hand, you can give the job out to a professional SEO agency. They will help you post regular updates on your page and even do much more.
#2: Use high-quality pictures or videos
No matter the type of post you are creating, it is always good to leverage videos and pictures to help consumers retain your message a little longer in their minds.
#3: Add relevant keywords in your posts
#4: Avoid using multiple offers in a single post
It’s okay if you need to read this again. Using more than one offer in a single post will confuse your target audience. Instead of doing that, you can consider creating individual posts for each offering.
#5: Include the most important message in the first paragraph
Although Google My Business allows you to create a post of up to 300 words, only the first 100 words will be visible in the search results. And this will usually depend on the type of screen a customer is using. That way, you should always aim at getting your message across in the first paragraph.
#6: Ensure to link to relevant landing pages
In your GMB Posts, always link to the correct landing page. Getting your customers to land on the wrong page can negatively affect your web traffic.
Final Note
Don’t wait. Start posting on Google My Business. GMB Posts can bring amazing benefits to your business. Plus, it only takes a few simple steps and little time to create one. With the level of help it provides local SEO, it is a tactic worth trying by small businesses looking to serve a specific location.
However, if you are struggling to come up with the perfect post for your GMB, you can leverage the help of a professional SEO agency to help set things right. They can help post regular GMB posts that are local-focused to increase chances of online conversion and in-store purchases.
Whether you are doing it yourself or employing the service of an agency, the main thing is to get started right away. Stop leaving money on the table. Start tapping into the potentials of GMB Posts for local rankings.
