Is Google My Business Important?

What is Google My Business? Mike & Dan sit down to talk about the basics of GMB, and why it's one of the most important tools in your Marketing Mix.🤖

Mike: Welcome to another edition of Tech Files. My name is Mike, I’m here with Dan. And today, I want to ask you about Google My Business. What is it?
Dan: Right, so, as we were talking before, off-camera, you know, if you’ve ever just literally Googled your business’ name- just put your business name into Google, and see what comes up, there’s usually going to be something in the right-hand side that comes up as a result. It’s going to be your business, and it might have some basic information about the business, or where it’s located, or maybe a picture of something. That is Google My Business in the most general form…
Mike: It’s almost like your profile, for your…
Dan: Right – It’s a business listing on Google that has general information about your business name, the address of your business, the website of your business, yours hours, any social media links…
Mike: Yeah, and from what I’ve seen, they seem to be adding more content, more categories… We actually watched a Google livestream a week or so ago, about some things that we didn’t even know – some newer features, like setting a status? 
Dan: Yeah.
Mike: Like an update? Which, we kept looking at each other like ‘is this Facebook’? (laughter) But really, what it comes down to, the importance of it, is – if people know your business name, and they Google you, it’s, like, the first thing that could potentially pop up…
Dan: Right.
Mike: …before they even click on your website.
Dan: Right.
Mike: So, that’s why I think it’s extremely important, because they could be grabbing, like you said, those, that vital information – you know – website, store hours, location… That, like, super important, very quick information that people are trying to find.
Dan: Right.
Mike: And it also carries over to Google Maps, I believe.
Dan: Right. It’s incorporated into the map function, yeah, on Google Maps, so that you can find the location, you can get directions to that location, right.
Mike: So, say somebody, they Google their own business… we type in ‘Quadsimia’, this thing to the right pops up, but it’s not really accurate, what can people do next?
Dan: Right, so if you’re doing that, and your business comes up, and there is a bunch of information that is blank, or is just not there… you should see a little button, or a link that says “Claim this Listing”… and that’s your opportunity to claim that as the business owner, and give you the ability to edit all of that information, like your hours, and your website, and photos, and things like that.
Mike: Right. All you need is… an e-mail and password. It doesn’t necessarily have to be a Google e-mail. I think you can edit it… just set up an e-mail and password and you can go in and start editing. And the other cool thing- this is actually where, if people start rating your business, you know, out of 5 stars, to get your Google reviews…
Dan: Mmhmm. Very important.
Mike: So, the more content that you have in there, in terms of like, updated photos, updated social links…
Dan: Mmhmm.
Mike: …The better it is for people to find you, leave reviews, hopefully good reviews…
Dan: Right, right.
Mike: But it’s also a way for you to kind of monitor, you know, your social profiles online. Like, what are people saying about your business? And then, once you’ve claimed your business, you can go on and reply to, you know, those reviews, and say something like “thank you so much for your review”, you know, “we’d love to hear more from you – here’s a phone number, here’s an e-mail to get in touch with us…”
Dan: Right. And a nice thing too, is that a lot of the information can be, I don’t want to say edited, but, users or customers can make suggestions…
Mike: Yes!
Dan: If they’ve been to your business before, and maybe you didn’t note on your Google Business profile that you’re cash only, or something like that.
Mike: Right.
Dan: Or if you have an ATM on location. People that have been there before can suggest that change in there, and you can accept or reject that change.
Mike: Right.
Dan: So it’s a constantly updating, evolving, profile, based on the experiences of people that have been there before.
Mike: Right, and for example, we moved from New York Mills to Downtown Utica. One thing we’re still trying to figure out is getting rid of the old photos? 
Dan: Right.
Mike: Because I think you can still see…
Dan: The non-submitted… yeah, they were photos not submitted by us.
Mike: Right. 
Dan: By users.
Mike: Other users’ submitted photos. But if you go on Quadsimia’s right now, you might see an old, like a picture of the old building we were in. But I think what Google is trying to do is just, you know, provide information as quickly as possible…
Dan: Yes.
Mike: … to people, before you even get to somebody’s website.
Dan: Right.
Mike: And I think, you know, one thing I guess we didn’t mention yet is – this content’s free. You know, you don’t have to pay for this service. It’s a Google service. And I’m sure they’ll get some advertising out of you somehow. (laughter) But, yeah – we definitely recommend that you go and update your Google My Business profile. And then – there’s actually, like, the insights. The Google My Business insights, afterwards. So you can do – you can do things like, you can check the last month, how many people called you based on that link.
Dan: Mmhmm.
Mike: Or how many people visited your websites based on your GMB profile.
Dan: Right.
Mike: I don’t know if you had any other…
Dan: No, basically all of that…
Mike: I love insight. The Google My Business insight is so cool. Like, how many people searched for your business on web or mobile, how many search for it on Maps, if they, you know, tried to get directions to your location, using, you know, Google Maps… so it’s just a very easy way to provide information for your customers.
Dan: Right, and it’s useful information too, like you said, because you can see if people are really struggling to find your location, or you know…
Mike: Right.
Dan: If something is very important to them, like your phone number, as opposed to your website, or your hours, or something like that. 
Mike: Yeah, so – if you find yourself Googling your business, and you just can’t figure it out, feel free to reach out to Quadsimia – we know pretty much everything about it. (laughter) And we can help you out. And you know, go to our Contact page – quadsimia.com/thrive, or reach out to us on any of our social media platforms, and we’d love to help you out. And teach you everything we know about Google My Business. And for now, we will see you next time, on Tech Files. Take it easy.