Google My Business Post Guidelines
Google My Business is one of the most powerful SEO strategies a business can use to improve their local search rankings. It is also a great way to connect online with potential customers and clients. Since its beginning, Google has worked hard to provide new features to help local businesses. One of the more recent of these features id the use of GMB posts.
Posts on your GMB listing in the business’ Knowledge Panel. When a visitor clicks on the post it expands into a larger box to grab the users attention and increase your click through rate.
Some tips when creating a post that will overall help your GMB listing performance:
- Keep your posts clean and concise. 80-100 word posts are whats recommended, but if you use the full 300 words keep in mind that not all of the description will be displayed.
- Make sure to keep keywords and important information towards the beginning of the paragraph. This helps with Search Engine Optimization.
- Stick to images without text in them in case the image gets cutoff.
- 750 x 750 px is the recommended size for images and cant be smaller than 250 x 250 px.
- Make sure the landing page you’re sending your customers to is relevant to the post and meets the potential customer’s expectations.
The knowledge panel of your listing takes up a lot of the page when users search for your business. Use this as an opportunity to create great, engaging posts that grab your viewer’s attention.
Your GMB post speaks directly to your viewer so make sure your message is worthwhile. Do not waste your post space with hashtags as this doesn’t help your listing’s SEO, and looks spammy to the viewer. Instead focus on good information that would be valuable to the reader.
Scheduling and Timing
Timing and scheduling are important when it comes to posting. By creating a scheduling plan you can ensure you are consistently adding content to your listing.
The timing is relevant for other posts like events or upcoming promotions. If for example, you’re having a Veteran’s Day sale, it would be a good idea to publish your post a week before the promotion to make sure you get plenty of attention before the promotion occurs.
Get Creative with Images
If you have a design team, get them involved on creating content for your posts. Use your teams to create an eye grabbing product image. Out wow the competition by making your contact more than just a typical camera taken image. Set up proper areas to take great images, utilize proper lighting and use image editing software if you need to.
If you do not have a design team Google is there to help. Google’s Small Thanks with Google helps small businesses use reviews to create design materials you can download and use on your GMB posts and even social media.
Even though your posts aren’t active after 7 days, they will still be visible in a carousel format where viewers still see your awesome images.
Content Selection
Along with your images, your content is also important. Sometimes it is hard to come up with ideas for what types of content to post. Some quick ideas to get you started:
- Highlight one of your favorite employees and what makes them stand out.
- Mention upcoming trade shows or events your business is participating in.
- Highlight a new product or a product that has a special offer.
- Run a contest or giveaway and promote it in a post.
The possibilities are endless. The biggest component is staying relevant to your brand and building your business. Content can be awesome but if it is off the wall than it wouldn’t benefit you or your business.
Track Your Posts
Your GMB Dashboard is a good starting point to track to activity of your posts but its also a good idea to use custom URLs with Google Analytics to track deeper information and find trends between the types of posts you publish. Some types of posts or keywords could perform better than other and information like this is important in connecting with your users.
Tracking your posts can help you with finding how customers search for your business, actions they’ve taken on your page, where customers view your business as well as other information like how many views you have on photos.
Conclusion
All of these factors can help your business be more successful and benefit your SEO. Be sure to create great quality content and images to really grab your viewers attention. Always take advantage of the tools that are available to you. Always learn more about the importance of GMB.