A GMB listing is extremely beneficial to any business. By creating a profile, you may reach more prospective consumers, raise brand recognition, improve website views, and even increase phone calls.

A verified business profile

I would always advise you to verify your GMB listing. This is a rather easy procedure that must be followed when adding a new listing. This ensures that you can enter all of the necessary information for your listing and, more significantly, that no one else has access to your listing and changes its information.

When creating a listing, the simplest way is to get a postcard from Google including a verification number. When you have the postcode, all you have to do is input it and your listing will be confirmed.

Changes to your GMB listing will need a ‘Google Review,’ which is where Google’s bots will validate the change. Most reviews are completed within a day, if not a few hours. However, if you significantly modify the name or address of your business, Google may demand you to verify it again with a new code.

Online exposure

According to BrightLocal’s Google My Business Insights Study, a local business obtains an average of 1,260 views each month — 943 on Search and 317 on Maps. That’s a lot of individuals looking at your company’s information.

Google has changed the way it displays GMB listings, now focused mostly on location. So, if you want to reach more prospective clients in your region, having a GMB listing is a huge benefit.

Increased calls

According to the same BrightLocal survey, 16% of companies receive more than 100 calls per month from their GMB listing — and, even better, a separate report indicated that 64% of customers had used Google My Company listings to obtain a local business’ location or phone number.

Aside from your contact information, you may use your listing to promote events, goods, and even have your customers upload an image to your profile.

Free reviews platform

You may gather reviews for free on any GMB listings. People may go straight to your GMB listing and write you a 1–5 star rating with a message and even images. These reviews will appear right on your listing, providing a strong trust signal to anybody reading it.

You may now utilise a custom review link for your GMB profile, thanks to recent improvements. You may send this link to clients or customers directly.

You may also respond directly as your company to each favourable or negative comment on your listing. It is usually preferable to respond to unfavourable evaluations. Consumers who read reviews read answers 97 percent of the time, so why not show both sides of view?