These are one-time activities for web properties you don’t own.
Action Item
Priority
Description
Resources
Define Company's Data
Priority
Establish this information at the outset so you can use constent informaiton in every corner of the internet.
Official Company Name
It is extremely important to have your business's name correct and consistent everywhere around the internet. It should be the official name in government records and stay the same every instance it shows up.
Year Company Established
Company Owner
Address
This is the address that has to be used consistently everywhere it is displayed.
Address line 2
Unit or Suite Number
City, State Zip
Main Company Phone Number
This phone number needs to be the main company line and needs to represent the company or an individual location everywhere.
Website Address
Exact web address, including http:// or https://. This should be the exact same address used across every instance the web address shows up on the internet. For instance, don't use www unless it has been part of your website address for a long time.
Geo Coordinates
Search engines like it when the business is in the same location every time it is referred to on the internet. The geocoordinates should be taken after the Google map indicator is properly placed.
Public Email Address - Company Inquiries
Email address for customers to contact the business. Many companies use this sparingly accross the web because it invites spam. On the website, forms can be used instead.
Logo – image and URL on website
This is the URL for the company's logo on their website. Some directories require this.
Official hours must be consistent across the internet.
All Old Phone Numbers
Any phone numbers other than the official main phone number used by the company either currently or in the past.
All Old Company Names
Any company names other than the current official name used either currently or in the past.
All Old Company Addresses
Any alternate or old address for the company.
Review Acquisition Strategies
Priority
Develop System to Acquire Reviews
Reviews become more important to a business's online presence every day. They influence your ranking on Google and potential customers use them to qualify your quality of work and responsiveness to both happy and unhappy customers.
During Customer Interaction
The most effective way to gain reviews is to make it part of the interaction of every employee and customer. Casually asking pointedly for a review when the customer is happiest drives results. Also, it instills great customer service, worthy of a positive review, into the background of all your employee's customer interactions.
Homemade Email
An email can be sent to customers if you routinely get their address or ask for it. It can be a template you send to one or a list of recent customers periodically or a personal email to individual customers with a link to your "leave-a-review" web page.
Text Request
A text message with a link to your "leave-a-review" page can be an easy option. One drawback to this strategy is that reviews from a phone tend to be less thorough than reviews left on a computer since they take longer to type.
Paid App
There are many great apps to streamline the process of getting reviews.
Postcard/Flyer Handout
Pass these out to each customer, giving them a passive request with directions on how to find places you want reviews. You can add a QR code leading phones directly to the reviw section.
Employee Reward System
Many of my customers have set up a reward system for positive reviews left about the company when thier name is mentioned on a review. This, of course, encourages great service by each employee. Keep in mind, businesses are not supposed to influence what the customers says in their review on Google.
Review Response System
Every review site allows responses from the business owner. The advantages to this: Higher conversions by showing potential customers that you are engaged, the ablity to further sell your company, SEO benefit from adding keywords, looking less defensive when responding to negative reviews (since you respond to all reviews).
Government Websites
Priority
Make sure the company's information is the same on all places it shows up on governmental and agency websites. Google looks for consistency. Many of these are particular to one type of business.
Federal Tax ID Compay Name
Is the company's name on Tax ID the "Official Company Name"?
Federal Tax ID Address
Is the company's address on Tax ID the "Official Company Address"?
If the business is governed by a state license, the name, address, and phone number of the company on the license should be the same as the one used to conduct business.
State Bar Website
Law firms should confirm all attorneys show the same firm name, address, and website on their state bar pages.
Permits for projects done by contractors such as plumbers and electricians sometimes show up on the internet creating access by Google. These should use the correct NAP for the company.
Listing on basic National Data Warehouses
Priority
InfoUSA/Express Updates/Data axle
Another prominent company that gathers and then sells its data to businesses and web properties.
Foursquare gained importance to local SEO recently when it merged with Factual. Now it is one of the main directories/listings services to get right. If no listing exists, it cost $20 to submit a new one. Details of a Foresquare listing are below.
Google Business Profile (Formerly "Google My Business")
Priority
Claim and Verify
1
Claim the business with a Google account set up by the owner of the business so they can maintain primary control over the Google profile for the life of the business.
1
Eliminate previous brand listings
Find any other listings that repreent the company and get rid of them. Duplicate listings can wreak havoc on the performance of a company's Google listing.
Eliminate previous listings based on old phone numbers
Try to find instances of Google listings other than the main one with all alternatives of old phone numbers. Get rid of them.
Eliminate listings for all previous names of company
Find Google My Business listings based upon previous names of the business. Get rid of them.
Eliminate all previous addresses of company
Find Google My Business listings based upon previous names of the business. Get rid of them.
Fill in all Name, Address, Phone (NAP)
1
All fields must be consistent with the name, address, phone number, & website established in the first section.
1
Enter Service Areas for non store business
Service contractors and businesses that do not receive customers at their place of business should based upon Google recommendation, enter a service area instead of an address.
Website Landing Page
Make sure your Google Business Profile landing page is the best one you can use. For multi location businesses, the individual location pages are best. For single-location businesses, the page that ranks for your main keywords may be best.
Referral Tracking with UTM
4
Add UTM tracking to your website url to track visits to your website from your Google business listing. (https://yourwebsite.com/?UTM_source=GMB_listing&UTM_medium=organic) This page will show up as an independent page on your analytics report.
4
Confirm map marker is correct
1
You can zoom in to drag it to your doorstep.
1
Hours of Operation
2
Google allows many different sets of hours offered if you have different parts of your business.
2
Use closest category keywords for business type
1
Find the closest business type that represents the business. This could be the #1 item that influences ranking. If this is wrong, it is highly unlikely you will not show up on the map.
Describe the business with keywords, bullets, links, location references. This content should be unique (only place it is found, not simply lifted from the website "About" page.
3
Enter Service Categories and Descriptions
4
This is in the "Information" section of the Google Business Profile. This might or might not show up on the maps listing knowledge panel, but it is a very important opportunity to tell Google what your business is about using all keywords relevant to your business. This should be unique content. Studies show this does not affect your Maps ranking, but someday it could.
4
Enter Products
Enter all your products with description, picture, and price.
Upload 250x250 Logo
Company logo, size is 250 x 250 pixels.
Upload Profile Image/Cover Photo
The main hero image on the profile. this image is used across many Google applications and has very strict dimension requirements to accommodate many devices. Google currently recommends a size of 1024 x 575 pixels. The resource article goes in-depth to explain.
At Least 20 Total Pictures
2
2
Keyword Rich Name on All Pictures
4
Uploaded image need to be named properly with keywords and relevant
4
Keyword Rich Title on All Photos
4
company information. They should be geotagged with company
4
Geo Tag all Photos
3
Coordinates. It is impossible to tell if this was done except to upload new. Recent tests have shown that this is not as effective as many have claimed.
3
Keyword Tag All Photos
versions of the images after manually tagging them all.
Description on all Photos
Include a short description and company information (NAP) in the description of every image.
Produce & Upload Video
Upload company overview video and every video you produce. Even if you upload to Youtube, upload it into your Google Business Profile too.
360 View Photos Uploaded
Have a Google Trusted Photographer take 360 degree pictures of your place and upload to Google Street View. These will show up on the search results knowledge panel. The photographer can transfer right to the company so the pictures will be considered "owner generated."
360 Virtual Tours Uploaded
3
A string of 360 photos can be connected together to form a virtual tour so visitor can walk around inside the business.
3
Add "Menu" if applicable
Add a menu to Google Business Profile if your company is a restaurant.
Install Google Beacon
5
Google gives a Bluetooth beacon to some businesses. it is always a good idea to participate in anything Google offers.
5
Enter Opened Date
Reply to Any Unanswered Google Questions
Google allows anyone to ask questions of a company directly on its Google business listing. Additionally, anyone can aswer the questions, even if they are not part of the company. It is very important to asnwer the questions correctlly as the business owner. Google indicates the answer if from the owner and frequently shows it as the first answer. This is also a good opportunity to use keywords and do some subtle selling of the business. it also shows visitor and Google that you are engaged, great signals for conversion and SEO.
Seed and answer common FAQs
Since Google gives everyone the opportunity to ask a question to businesses directly on their listing, why not add common FAQs yourself. This is a great way to increase conversions by giving potential customers the information you want them to know about your company as they browse Google, without even going to your website.
Publish GMB Website
Google now offers a free "Webstie" that snythisizes all the information in a company's Google My Business page into a website. You can modify after it is created. It could work great for a company without a website.
Create Shortname
Google allows you to enter a shortname for your GMB listing.
Attributes
Indicate the attributes you can claim for your business. These can be marked either "Yes, No, or "Not Indicated" no asnwer and won't even show up on your listing). These are different for every business type and constantly changing.
Enable Messenging
You can now get messages directly from your Google listing. If you enable this feature, make sure you know who is getting them and have a system for answering.
Google My Business Video Maker
Google released a platform to create a video by entering basic information like taglines and photos.
Go to this site with an Apple ID: https://www.apple.com/business/connect/
Make Company Owner the listing Owner
Apple wants to develop a relationship with business owners, so they want the owner to claim the listing and then delagate the management to an agency as a "contributor."
Make EyeQuest Listing Contributor
NAP
Set Map Marker
Logo - 1040 x 1040
This is a huge logo. At this point, there is no reason for it because a smaller logo blown up looks fine, but eventually, it may matter so do your best to do a larger version.
Cover Photo
This is very hard to get right because Apple only shows the middle of the photo. Better to use more of an abstract photo that doesn't look bad when the edges get cut off.
Website with referral tag
Set a UTM tag on the website URL so you can see referrals from Apple Maps in analytics.
Hours
Categories - Up to 3 if they exist
Enter your main category first, then you can add two more.
Description - Up to 500 Characters
Photos
Call to Action
Menu
If you are a restaurant.
Other Maps Listings
Priority
Bing
Logo Image
Yahoo
Yahoo has all but disbanded its local business listing service and it is hard to get or edit one. If you are very adamant about getting all your listings correct, you can either pay for a Yext account or claim a basic listing through Yext. Read details on the resources link.
Write a short description of the company. It should be unique to everything else on the internet.
Impressum (2000 Characters)
In certain countries, online business are required to provide a statement of ownership. This is an optional section, but another chance to tell people and search engines about your business.
Correct Business Category
Search the facebook database of categories for the closest one to your business.
Virtual Tour
Add Products/Services
Facebook now allows companies to enter all the services they offer. This is, of course, good for visitors to your page from within facebook, but it also serves as great keywords and SEO for search engines since a company's facebook page is public, indexed by search engines. Since facebook is such a powerful website, company facebook pages generally rank just below their own website in search results.
Add "Our Story"
"Our story" is another great way to introduce visitors to your business. Again, it is also seen by search engines so could affect how they see your company and what keywords to associate it with.
Hours of Operation
Same hours shown everywhere.
Bluetooth Beacon
Facebook offers a Bluetooth beacon to pages with enough followers and visits. Companies should pursue this if it is an option.
BBB Accreditation Plugin
This option is available if business is accredited by BBB.
Wifi Netword Info
You can give customers your wifi information on your facebook page.
COVID-19 Updates info
Temporary Service Changes
Your Covid related status, marke "operating as usual", "Temporarily Closed", or "Open with Changes."
Privacy Policy
Add a link to your website privacy policy.
Messaging Preference
QR Code
Upload a QR code to your website.
Price Range
From $ to $$$$
Add Action Button
Other Accounts
Enter links to many other social properties in including Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, Linkedin, etc.
Upload Existing Photos
Upload Existing Videos
Videos can be uploaded directly to faceboook so facebook hosts them. They will automatically be shared your feed.
Other Social Sites
Priority
YouTube
Logo
Cover Image
Tags on all videos
Transcripts on all videos
Email Address
Location
Social Media Links
Twitter
Claim
Cover Photo
NAP
Website
Logo
Description
Date Joined
Instagram
Claim Page
Designated as Business Account
NAP
Website
Logo
LinkedIn
Core Business Directories
Yelp
Priority
Claim
NAP
Website
Services
Check-in Offer
Virtual Consultation
Description
Logo
Hours
Special Hours
Images
Verify Contractor License#
Eliminate Duplicates
COVID Safety Measures
Better Business Bureau
Priority
Claim and enter NAP
Make sure your BBB listing exists and is correct. You have to email BBB to claim and edit. Even if you have no plans to obtain accreditation, it is still prominent. You can also still get and respond to reviews in a place highly regarded by Google and visitors.
Enter Website
Gain Accredidation
The impact of BBB accreditation varies across business categories. It helps contractor types the most. It usually costs about $600/year for a small business, depending on the number of employees and annual revenue.
Embed linked BBB logo to webiste
If you do get accredited, be sure to add the dynamic seal to your website to get the maximum impact.
BBB Logo on company email signature
Add the seal to your email signature
Logo on BBB Listing
Images Uploaded to Listing
Categories
Business Overview/ Details
Business Hours
Business Management
Additional Contact Numbers
Facebook Link
Twitter
Linked In
Products & Services Description
Upload Company Video
Superpages
Priority
Claim
NAP Correct
Website
Description/Details
Logo Upload
Image Uploads
Products & Services
Specialties
Hours
Certification & Affliiations
Categories
Social Medias
Payment Options
Accepts Insurance
Years in Business
Industry Listings
Priority
All business industries have a set of dedicated directories. Here is a list of the most important to popular types of businesses.
Every city has directory listings focused only on that city. These can be for both the greater MLS area or any smaller city within. These important listings send strong signals to Google about your targeted geographies.
Research Listings
A simple Google search for "business listings [your city]" will uncover many opportunities. You can also search your competitors or other business with a strong digital presence to see where they are listed.
Chamber of Commerce directory listings are fantastic. They are usually followed links and carry a strong link value and geographic signals. Unfortunately, they usually require membership.
