How to Get the Most Out of Google My Business

Your Google My Business profile is one of the most powerful free marketing tools you have, acting as a digital front door for anyone searching for you online. It's often the very first impression a potential customer has of your brand. This guide breaks down exactly how to optimize every part of your profile to stop being just another pin on the map and start driving real-world foot traffic, calls, and sales.

Your Business Profile: The Non-Negotiables

Before you get into the creative stuff, you have to lock in the fundamentals. Think of this as the foundation of your house - if it's shaky, nothing else you build on top will be steady. An incomplete or inaccurate profile doesn’t just look unprofessional, it actively hurts your visibility in local search results.

Claim and Verify Your Listing

This is ground zero. If you haven’t done this, stop everything and do it now. A claimed and verified profile tells Google you’re the legitimate owner, allowing you to edit information, respond to reviews, and access performance insights. Simply search for your business on Google Maps, click "Claim this business," and follow the verification steps, which usually involve receiving a postcard with a code at your physical address.

Complete Every Single Section (Seriously)

Google rewards completeness. An account that is 100% filled out provides a better user experience, so Google is more likely to show it. Go through your profile's "Info" tab and leave no field blank. Pay special attention to these:

• NAP (Name, Address, Phone Number): This is the holy trinity of local SEO. Your NAP must be perfectly consistent everywhere it appears online - on your website, on social media, in other directories. A slight variation like "St." instead of "Street" can confuse search engines and dilute your authority.
• Categories: Choose a primary category that best describes your core business (e.g., "Italian Restaurant"), then add secondary categories that are still relevant (e.g., "Pizza Restaurant," "Caterer"). This helps Google understand all the different ways you can serve customers.
• Hours of Operation: Keep these updated religiously. Nothing frustrates a customer more than showing up to a closed business. Remember to set special hours for holidays or events.
• Business Attributes: These are quick tags that give people important information at a glance. You can specify things like "Wheelchair accessible," "Outdoor seating," "Identifies as women-led," or "Offers online appointments." Tick every box that applies.

Level Up: Optimizing for Maximum Impact

Once the basic information is set, it's time to add personality and detail that persuades searchers to choose you over a competitor. This is where you transform your listing from a simple directory entry into a compelling marketing asset.

Write a Compelling Business Description

You have 750 characters to make your case. Don't just list what you do - tell people why they should care. Your business description is your elevator pitch.

• Lead with value: Start the first sentence with what makes you special. Are you family-owned and operated for 50 years? Known for the best cold brew in town? Say that first.
• Use keywords naturally: Think about what a potential customer would search for. If you’re a plumber in Dallas, make sure words like "plumbing services," "emergency plumber," and "Dallas" appear in your description, but weave them into sentences that sound natural.
• Focus on the customer: Instead of "We sell handmade ceramics," try "Find unique, handmade ceramics to bring warmth and style to your home." Frame your business around what the customer gets out of it.

Upload High-Quality Photos & Videos

Humans are visual creatures. Profiles with plenty of high-quality photos get more clicks, more direction requests, and more engagement. Generic stock photos won’t cut it, people want to see the real you.

Recommended Photo Types:

• Logo & Cover Photo: These are your brand identifiers. Make sure they are crisp and well-formatted.
• Exterior Shots: Show people what your building looks like from the street so they can easily find you. Take a few from different angles and at different times of the day.
• Interior Shots: Give customers a feel for your ambiance. Show off your clean cafe, your organized shop floor, or your welcoming office lobby.
• Team Photos: People do business with people. A friendly photo of you and your staff builds trust and makes your business feel more personal.
• Products/Services in Action: Don't just show a picture of a coffee cup, show a happy customer enjoying your latte. Don't just list "roof repair", show your crew working safely on a roof. These photos tell a story.

Aim to add new photos regularly. It signals to Google that you are active and keeps your profile looking fresh for returning visitors.

Treat Your Profile Like a Community Hub

A static GMB profile gets ignored. An active one becomes a go-to resource for customers. The key is to treat it less like a set-and-forget listing and more like an active social media channel.

Master Google Posts

Google Posts are like mini-blog posts or social updates that appear directly on your profile. They are perfect for sharing timely information and have a huge impact on engagement. They expire after seven days (unless it's an event), so consistency is important.

A Strategy for Winning with Posts:

1. Post Once or Twice a Week: Regular posting keeps your profile fresh and shows Google you’re actively managing your listing.
2. Use Strong Visuals: A bright, clear photo or short video will grab way more attention than a text-only post.
3. Always Include a Call-to-Action (CTA): Each post should guide the user to do something. Google gives you buttons like "Call Now," "Learn More," "Book," "Sign Up," and "Order Online." Use them every time.

Example: A local bakery could create an "Offer" post with a picture of a fresh croissant, a headline like "20% Off All Pastries This Friday!", and a "Redeem online" button that links to their ordering page.

Encourage and Respond to Reviews

Reviews are the lifeblood of your local credibility. Google sees a steady stream of positive reviews as a massive signal of trust, which directly influences your rank. And it's not just about getting them - it's about engaging with them.

• How to get more reviews: The easiest way is to just ask happy customers! Send a follow-up email after a purchase or complete a service call with your direct GMB review link. You can find this link in your GMB dashboard.
• Respond to EVERY review: Acknowledge both positive and negative feedback promptly. Thank happy customers by name. For negative reviews, stay professional, empathize with their concern, and offer to resolve the issue offline. A thoughtful response to a bad review can often win over more future customers than a dozen five-star ratings.

Answer Questions with the Q&A Section

This feature allows anyone to ask a question about your business, and anyone - including you or other customers - can answer it. This can be a source of great information or a painful hub of misinformation if left unmanaged.

Your Q&A Strategy:

1. Be Proactive: Don't wait for people to ask. Seed the section yourself by asking and answering your own Frequently Asked Questions. What are the top 5-10 things people ask you about? Parking? Pricing? Pet policy? Post them here.
2. Be a Monitor: Set up notifications so you’re alerted when a new question is posted. Jump in and provide an accurate, official answer before a well-meaning (but incorrect) customer does.

Advanced Strategies and Tracking Your Success

If you have all the above dialed in, you're already ahead of most of your competitors. These next steps will push your profile even further.

Leverage Product and Service Listings

Instead of just mentioning what you sell in your general description, use the dedicated "Products" and "Services" features. These structured listings appear in their own dedicated sections on your profile, often with images and pricing, creating a sort of mini-catalog. For service-based businesses, this lets you detail each service you offer. For retailers, it lets you showcase specific products that users might be searching for.

Enable Messaging

Turning on the GMB messaging feature allows customers to send you a text message directly from your profile. In a world of instant gratification, this low-friction contact method can generate leads you would have otherwise missed. Just be prepared to respond quickly. Google tracks your average response time and displays it, so a poor response rate can work against you.

Use Google My Business Insights

Finally, you can’t improve what you don’t measure. Your GMB dashboard has an "Insights" tab with valuable data about how people are finding and interacting with your profile. You can see:

• Search Queries: The actual keywords people used to find you. This is pure marketing gold.
• How Customers Find You: “Direct” searches (by business name) vs. “Discovery” searches (by category or product).
• Customer Actions: The total number of website clicks, direction requests, and phone calls driven from your profile.

Review this data monthly. If you see a lot of people requesting directions, make sure your exterior photos are clear. If you see people searching for a service you offer but don’t highlight, create a Google Post about it.

Final Thoughts

An optimized Google My Business profile is not just a necessity for local presence, it’s a powerful, dynamic channel for acquiring and engaging customers. Shifting your mindset from seeing it as a static listing to an active communication tool is the difference between simply being found and actively being chosen.

Managing your Google presence is a huge part of your local marketing, but keeping your brand story consistent across all your channels is just as important. That's why we built Postbase, a social media management tool designed for how marketing works today. Our goal is to make planning and scheduling your social content, especially short-form video, so straightforward that you save hours every week - time you can pour back into running your business.