Google My Business is an efficient, and often overlooked, way to effectively boost your online presence.
How?
- It’s free.
- It only takes a few minutes and clicks to set up.
- You can easily maintain and update your information such as contact details, hours of operation, and website URL as needed.
- It’s an easy step to establish trust between your business and target audience.
- And perhaps most importantly, it will help you stand out in search results.
The accuracy of your information on Google My Business directly influences Google’s ranking of search results. If you keep your information honest and up to date, Google will prioritize your listing when people search relevant information to your business.
As of November 2023, Google has become a little more specific about how they deem your Google My Business accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.
“Openness” Is Being Taken More Seriously
At first glance, you may think that refers to transparency, but it literally refers to the openness of your business, also known as your hours of operation.
Openness has actually been a factor in search rankings for a long time. It’s recently become a topic of discussion because in December 2023, Google SearchLiasion confirmed on X that accuracy of business hours has become more important for local search, specifically for non-navigational queries.
Non-Navigational vs Navigational Queries
To easily understand the difference between the two, here’s an example:
Navigational: mcdonalds near me
Non-Navigational: best fast food in Norfolk
The difference? Navigational refers to a specific location. Typically when searching a specific business name, Google will assume you may want to actually go there at the moment. Non-navigational refers to a generalized topic.
Now that you know the definition I’ll repeat: Openness is now a strong ranking signal specifically for non-navigational queries. This has been making marketers and business owners frustrated because it gives businesses that are open 24/7 a leg up in search rankings, backfiring on Google’s attempt to provide more accurate search results for users.
Another way this has backfired on Google is that companies have already begun attempting to cheat the system by falsely listing their businesses as open 24/7.
We strongly advise against this! Not only does it risk ruining trust with customers, it risks ruining your trust with Google, who will make it harder for potential customers to find you.
Moral of the story:
- Keep your business hours and all your other information on your Google My Business profile honest and up to date
- Come to us to help guide you through all of your digital marketing struggles, especially with Google! As a certified Google Partner, we are here to help!
Sources:
Joy Hawkins on X, @/JoyanneHawkins
Google SearchLiasion on X, @/searchliasion
