Your customers are shopping online. No matter what business you are in, no matter your target market – they are looking for your products and your business online. But the question is: will they be able to find you? Google My Business (GMB) is a free, easy-to-use tool that allows businesses with physical retail locations to manage how they appear on Google Search and Maps. Creating a GMB account can drastically increase your search visibility and ultimately improve the foot traffic into your store.
Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) are measurable values that demonstrate how effectively your company is achieving key business objectives. High-level KPIs may focus on the overall performance of the business, while low-level KPIs may focus on processes in departments such as sales, marketing, HR, support and others. Organizations use KPIs at multiple levels to evaluate their success at reaching targets and GMB makes that analysis accessible and straight-forward.
Here are some important KPIs that can improve with GMB:
Phone Call Volume
According to Chartmeter, 48% of business owners voted phone calls as one of the important KPIs for their business. You can tell a lot about your customers and what they are looking for by tracking this data. Your customers can also tell a lot about your business by interacting with your employees, allowing them to form valuable relationships and getting valuable feedback.
Click-To-Call Rates
This unique GMB feature allows you to track how many customers are clicking your phone number before they even visit your website. This, combined with other information, helps you analyze customer behavior in your area, which ultimately helps you make more informed decisions about how to use your marketing budget.
Search Rankings
If your business isn’t listed close to the top of the page of search results, then you are losing a lot of potential customers. Most users don’t go past the first page of search results. Your search ranking can translate into actual sales, and it’s something that will improve with GMB.
Website Traffic
Obviously, if your business ranks higher in local SEO, then that ranking should translate to more visits to your actual website. This could be the first opportunity for a potential customer to interact with your brand, and it’s important that your website accurately reflects your messaging.
Online Customer Reviews
You already know how important positive reviews are for your business and that negative reviews can cost you customers – as many as 30 per negative review. But half of the people who read a positive review will visit your website and take the next step in their customer journey. According to CallRail.com, “Knowing the role user-generated content plays in attracting potential customers to your business can help you take the steps you need to get more positive reviews on your GMB listing and more frequent positive mentions on social media.”
Requests for Driving Directions
This is one of the metrics that other tools like Search Console and Google Analytics don’t track. GMB tracks this data and delivers it to help you understand your target audience, where they are coming from, and more about their consumer behavior.
Photo Views
GMB allows you to upload photos into your listing, and a photo is a clear way to increase engagement. You can track how effective your photos are and make different choices based on the metrics.
Discovery vs. Direct Searches
With GMB, you can track when your business appears in general search like “appliance stores” or a more direct search for the name of your business. This ultimately gives business owners insights that help them more effective choices.
If you haven’t already, it’s time to claim and update your Google My Business account. According to Google, customers are 70% more likely to visit businesses that have complete GMB accounts. Once your listing is accurate, you need to monitor and analyze the information that is collected. “Because many of your customers will first encounter your business in these places, maintaining an accurate, up-to-date listing wherever consumers are talking to one another is crucial, as is being ready to fix any problems that may come up,” says CallRail.
At Riley & You, we know how to navigate GMB and have helped many clients improve and maintain their online presence. Let us do the maintenance and the analysis for you so that you can stay focused on your growth and start making more informed decisions for your business. We can help you stay on top of your online presence and optimize your results.
