Many optimizations are being made by Google My Business; There are already too many resources on this subject on the internet. In order not to lose your potential customers, I would like to mention some common mistakes on Google My Business.
1. Unowned Accounts
Your business is listed in Google results, and if you haven’t taken ownership of it yet, it is among the first mistakes made. Because you do not take this possession, you cannot edit your GMB account or respond to user comments.
If you do not claim your GMB business property and there is no activity on your account for an extended period of time, users may suggest an edit that this listing does not exist.
It is also possible that Google accepts this regulation and deletes the entry and it may reflect negatively on your Local SEO works. If you haven’t taken over your own business account yet, you can initiate verification immediately.
2. Forgetting the message part clearly
One of Google My Business features that allow businesses to respond to their visitors like live support is the Message section. If you leave the messaging feature turned on and do not look at the notifications, you may experience a loss here too. If you are actively using this feature, definitely focus on responding to your visitors’ messages.
3. Unclosed Business Accounts
If a branch is completely closed in your area, you can mark it as “completely closed” on GMB. In this way, those who previously called or visited your business will be able to easily detect that your business is no longer serving in that area.
Marking the business as still open on Google even though it is closed will result in a bad user experience and may cause bad reports, especially by those who get directions and come.
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4. Missing Information
If you have a GMB account and your dashboard should not be missing parts from which users want to reach your business, such as the phone number, website, or working hours. These fields are very critical for your business and you should fill in the missing information as much as possible.
Of course, you may not need a website; however, it is very helpful to provide a phone number, and especially the working hours and working days.
If you want to outdo your local competitors in this area, I suggest you make sure these missing areas are completed.
5. No Response to Investigations
One of the most common problems of many businesses is not responding to positive or negative comments and ignoring them. Not responding to your customers’ comments can suggest that you don’t value them. Also, when you answer the answers correctly, other users will know that you are an active operator.
Respond to not only positive but also negative reviews. How you can turn negative reviews into positive again, consider ways to do this.
For example, you can contact him and ask if he will correct his comment. Of course, when responding to these comments, you should not respond in a polite and angry way.
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6. Incorrect Information
Your working hours are for example between 08:00 – 17:30; but on Google, if this does not match correctly, such as 9:30 am – 4:30 pm, this can be a very bad experience. If users who want to plan and come to your business see you closed, they may disrupt their plans and leave you negative comments.
In fact, if groups with many more people encounter this situation, your business may receive multiple negative reviews and your average rating may decrease.
On GMB, you can see editing suggestions in orange.
7. Location Marks (Pins)
One of the common mistakes when creating a location is that the pins showing your exact location on the map point to the wrong places. Especially people who come with directions are highly likely to go to the wrong locations due to this incorrect marking. Again, you may lose customers due to this wrong positioning.
8. Photos
If you don’t have a photo of your business taken by you, then add photos of your customers or malicious people are likely to appear in your business account.
You can’t even edit here if you haven’t verified your business yet. Therefore, you can include high-quality photos that clearly show your business information from outside, inside, or from many other areas.
In addition, my suggestion is to take photos at different times of the day, so you can create a more optimized account.
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9.Questions and Answers
Many visitors can even add their comments from the Q&A section now. This part was added to the business accounts in recent years. You can see users’ questions from this section and answer them.
One of the mistakes that many businesses make is to ignore these parts. Other users may also answer your visitors’ questions and give false information because you do not answer them.
By creating your own questions and answers in the questions & answers section, you can ensure that your customers are already informed to find the answers to the questions they are looking for.
10. Spam!
I recommend that you do not violate the guidelines in both your business name and other parts of GMB. In fact, you should not look at your competitors’ spam movements and do not think anything will happen to me, and do not take actions that will cause your business account to be suspended.
Conclusion
If you have a Google My Business account, I strongly recommend that you make the arrangements mentioned in this article. You should avoid these mistakes in your Google My Business account. If you see a mistake that comes to your mind and is often made, I am waiting for your comments 🙂
