Advertise on Google for free and promote activity on Maps

by Digital Marketing E. Online Marketing Professional

Promote your business to get you on Google Maps for free with Google Business

Google MapsTechnology is now within everyone's reach, and when it comes to advertising for companies, we need to be able to take full advantage of the technological advantage in order to re-emerge on competitors.

One of the most effective tools to make your business known, be it an online activity or any type of service, is called Google My Business , which servers to promote a business on Google maps and, consequently, on the page of Google search (in the event that the research carried out by users is consistent with the activity carried out by our activity). It then becomes possible to advertise for free on Google within Google Maps, to be easily found on the maps by registering with Google My Business, a sort of modern Yellow Pages , where you go to register the commercial activities, the shops or any person who wants to do know others where and how to contact them. Let's see then togetherhow to add activities in Google Maps and how to use Google My Business .

What is Google My Business

As mentioned in the introduction, Google My Business allows you to manage all information relating to our activity on all Google services, including Maps and Web Searches . In addition to basic information, we can also use credits (which can be purchased separately) to advertise the company in related searches and provide quick information directly under the search bar, so users don't even have to open the information sheet (as in the photo here down).

Search for information

This type of integration with searches helps potential customers find us when they perform a simple Google search or when they use the Google Maps app from their smartphone to find us. Not taking advantage of this type of opportunity is deleterious, so it is better to equip ourselves immediately with a Google account and prepare to also manage the online activity.

How to promote the business

With a Google or Gmail account already in our possession, we can start managing our activities from the Google My Business site , by clicking on the Login button and, after logging in with the Google account, on the big + bottom right.

 

We will be asked about the type of activity carried out and the address in which the activity is present, so that we can check if it is already present in the Google indexing (which is based on the shots taken with the Google Car and the information available on other sites or from information shared by other users). If there is no reference to our company (perhaps because we have recently opened), it is time to fill in the form with all the useful information on the activity.
To do this quickly we can also access the card already present on Google regarding our activity (automatically created by Google for Maps) and click on the text Are you the owner of this activity?

Activity information

In this way we will immediately become the owners of this information sheet and will be able to enter exact information about the activity (in addition to the photos and the map preview). Google will obviously carry out checks to check that we are actually the owners of this activity, so as not to leave anything in the hands of users unrelated to it.

 

Information to be entered

But what information do we need to enter to create a nice summary of the activity? Here below we have collected what we consider indispensable, which Google My Business recommends to fill out in detail:

Name - We insert the name of our business, avoiding superfluous information like the complete company name. To take advantage of it we can also insert a small reference to the type of activity carried out, so as to facilitate the search .

Category - On Google My Business we find over 2,000 categories available, with all types of activities that can be opened in Italy. Let us examine them carefully and choose the one most consistent with the activity: there is nothing worse than a customer who comes to us by mistake!

Description - We insert important information on the activity carried out, avoiding unnecessary propaganda slogans (completely useless!). For the description we have 700 words, useful to describe the history, the peculiarities and the qualities that reflect your activity compared to the competition.

Address, telephone, opening hours - These are undoubtedly the most useful information for customers: we check that the address is correct, that at least one phone number is always available and we fix the opening hours with maximum precision (signaling also the possible days of rest when we are closed). If the hours of your activity change over time, remember to update them promptly also on the card: another very unpleasant thing for the activity is finding customers outside the door convinced that we were open on a specific day or time.

Web Links - If in addition to the card we also have a dedicated website for the activity, we can insert it in the information, so that the user can always access it (especially if it is an integral part of the activity).

Peak hours : we can also indicate (obviously in a completely theoretical line) what the hours with may number of people are, so as to leave the possibility for customers to come and visit us in more convenient times for us.

Additional attributes - Some special categories (for example catering and hotels) can show information about the services and products offered (for example Wi-Fi Gratis, outdoor seats, air conditioning, wardrobe, child-friendly, family-friendly etc.) . By adding this type of attributes to our activity, users will be "guided" in their choice, which will lead them straight to us!

Let's not forget to include a nice cover image and add at least 4 photos related to the activity, so as to convince even more customers to choose us. If you are wondering if it is possible to deactivate or pilot the comments , desist immediately: Google does not provide you with this "power", which therefore remains in the hands of customers (who can evaluate our activity in absolute autonomy). This is the price to pay for online advertising: if your business has only 4 stars or less, do your best to improve the service or products, so bring judgment to the level of competition (good activity always has at least 4.3 stars out of 5).

Statistics to check

After creating our information sheet, from Google My Business we can check all the statistics relating to the card and the visibility of our activity.

Management

From the page of the site we can see the number of views on Maps and on Google, take advantage of any advertising credits offered or purchased by Google, add new photos, create an AdWords ad, add a post on Google+ (which remains available to companies) or check more advanced statistics on the type of users searching for the page (PC or smartphone), on the time when more research is carried out related to the activity and the most sought after information about us.

Conclusions

In this guide we have given you just a smattering of the potential offered by a powerful tool like Google. To learn more we can always consult the complete guide to Google My Business .

Sponsor Ads

• Ad Space Available - Rent it Now!

Created on May 22nd 2019 10:26. Viewed 434 times.

Comments