When people search for your company online, the first thing they see is your Google My Business (GMB) account. This means it has the potential to be a powerful tool in shaping your brand’s online reputation, but only if used properly.

Here are a few things you can do in your Google My Business account to boost your credibility and gain customer confidence.

Claim Your Listing

While it should go without saying, not all companies know the reputational benefits that managing your GMB listing can provide. In reality, nearly half of all local businesses have yet to assert their free listings.

See this Google My Business help page for instructions on how to assert your listing. Be sure to fill out all areas. A complete Google My Business profile, according to Google, is approximately 40% more likely to attract potential clients. It also increases the chances of being taken seriously.

You’ll be able to advertise your company, monitor business analytics, and collect customer feedback once you’ve claimed your listing, all of which you can use to influence people’s perceptions of your brand.

Taking control of your listing also stops anyone from misrepresenting your company online.

Verify Your Information

Have you ever checked to make sure a business is open before driving all the way there to find out it’s closed? What would you think if an organization did this to you? Will you trust it again, or would you suggest it to others? Most likely not.

To prevent customer relationship disasters like the one described above, make sure your critical information on Google My Business is correct, up to date, and compatible with the information on your website, social media profiles, and other business listings.

Your Name, Address, and Phone Number (NAP) are the most essential details to get correct, and you can spell it out precisely the same way everywhere. You shouldn’t use “State Street” in GMB if you use “State St.” in another business directory.

Updates on any expanded services, special COVID-19 procedures, if you are temporarily closed, and when you plan to reopen (if you were closed previously) are all crucial pieces of information. You can also ensure that your business Category, Description, and Attributes are consistent with your other online assets. Having inconsistencies in this information across sites makes you seem untrustworthy and unprofessional.

Another reason to double-check your information is that someone can “suggest an edit” to your profile if they believe your information is incomplete or incorrect. Your rivals can edit the listing as well. To ensure that your account shows the correct details, do two things: enter your information correctly the first time, and review your GMB account regularly to ensure that every detail remains correct.

Use Photos

Photos are an excellent way to establish credibility with potential customers by demonstrating what your company is really like. Photo-enhanced listings get even more exposure. According to a BrightLocal report, the more photos a GMB listing has, the more clicks, directions requests, and phone calls it receives. You should take advantage of the additional publicity and tell more people about how fantastic your company is.

Verify that any photos you upload follow these criteria to ensure that they look their best:

• Recommended resolution—720 x 720 pixels
• Type—PNG or JPG
• Minimum resolution—250 x 250 pixels
• Size—Between 10 KB and 5 MB
• Quality— Exceptional quality; for instance, all photographs should be sharp and well-lit. Avoid images that have been heavily photoshopped, blurred, or stylized, as they can make you seem less trustworthy. People are more interested in how the company operates than in how nice your editing software is.

It’s also worth noting that you don’t have complete control over your business profile photos because users can upload their own. As a result, it’s critical to keep an eye on your photos to ensure they represent the picture you want to project. If you come across any images that are inappropriate or offensive, you should report them to Google.

Having a large number of photographs can also act as a buffer, shielding your name from unflattering or misleading customer images. As a result, you should upload photos frequently, especially of the following three types:

• Your business’s logo—This will help customers remember you.
• A cover photo—the key picture that appears for your GMB listing is chosen by Google, not you. When you select a cover photo, you’re telling Google that you want it to be the primary image on your profile, but there’s no guarantee that it will be the first photo on your listing.
• Other images—Adding more photos to your account allows you to show your company’s various features.

Ask for Reviews

More than 63 percent of people say they’ll look up reviews on Google before visiting a company, making Google the most popular review site. As a result, your GMB reviews are an excellent way to gain customer interest.

It’s a simple formula: the more ratings you get, the more reliable you appear—and the more likely people are to purchase from you. This is because the majority of Google reviews are positive. In this study from Womply, you can see the strong connection between a business’s number of reviews and its sales.

Although you might be tempted to pay for fake reviews, there are several reasons why you should not. One of the most noticeable is that someone would spot your fake reviews and call you out on them. It’s even against the law.

Instead, it would be best if you inspired more people to leave genuine feedback. A simple way to do this is to build a special connection that directs people to your GMB profile’s review page. This Google help page explains how to do it.

This connection can then be placed on your website, email correspondence, and social media posts. You may also ask customers for feedback when speaking with them on the phone.

Respond to Reviews

Nearly all consumers who read reviews do so to see how companies react to them, mainly to see how they handle their customers. Furthermore, when a company responds to customer feedback, 80 percent of customers believe the company cares more for them. This is why you should react to all positive and negative feedback; doing so demonstrates to customers (and potential customers) that you care about their experience with you. It’s also never a bad idea to respond to one-star ratings. “Thank you for taking the time to review us!” is all that is needed. “We hope to see you again” is a brilliant way to demonstrate your responsiveness.

Additionally, it has been shown that responding to feedback improves your local SEO.

The following are some excellent guidelines for responding:

• Express gratitude to the author for taking the time to write a review for you.
• Being courteous.
• If the reviewer had a bad experience, apologize and then take the conversation private.
• Offer them details about your business that they may find helpful, but don’t try to sell them anything.

After reacting to comments, if you believe it violates Google’s review policies, you can mark it for removal.

Conclusion

Google My Business is one of the best ways to boost your online reputation. When your customers can find you, then you will get more business. More business leads to more reviews. The cycle continues from there. Good luck with your new page!