Your customers should always seek out references and reviews before purchasing.
I was a part of a small agency in the U.K. that served 600 businesses, many of which were florists. One of the following can be the intent of a flower shop customer:
- Look out for seasonal arrangements (Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day etc.). ).
- Types of flowers you can buy for a dinner date
- Learn how to make a Christmas wreath.
- Wedding flower services.
Two things can happen when a potential customer has a clear intention:
- They will begin their influence journey on TikTok or Instagram. You can look at videos to find inspiration for flower arrangements and the best flowers for certain occasions.
-
To type the following queries, go straight to Google
- Flower Delivery + Location
- Same day flower delivery
- Same day flower delivery + location
- Wedding flower services
- Subscribe to flowers
It is here that a well-optimized Google Business Profile can be a significant source for influence due to its reviews, information and products.
Even though your listing isn’t ranked as high as others, an enhanced GBP can drive more leads to your listing. To make your Google Business Profile a revenue-generating channel, optimize the following elements.
1. Info section: Categories
The local rankings will be affected by the category you choose. The primary categorization of your company explains the function it performs (e.g., law firm dentist plumber hair salon etc). This will also be the only category that is accessible to the public.
The example below shows that the primary category is Florist and the secondary category is Flower delivery.
2. Reviews
According to BrightLocal’s latest survey, 77% of consumers read online reviews whenever they are looking for local businesses.
Reviews are a key ranking factor and a conversion factor. Local businesses need reviews to be noticed and to establish credibility.
Google will highlight reviews for branded search results and display them prominently in your company profile.
Another important aspect of reviews, is to always reply. This encourages customers leave reviews and increases your credibility.
Reviews can bring in additional customers, offer insightful criticism, and reveal successes or problems in the customer service department.
Google’s guidelines for restricted and prohibited content and best practices to get reviews are available here. Joy Hawkins, a fellow contributor, offers more insight in her piece, 1-star reviews plague restaurants on Google.
3. Products
The Products section can be a powerful tool to generate revenue if it is regularly updated. It is located higher than the Services category, making it more prominent.
This section can contain:
- Images.
- Call-to-action buttons.
This allows you to match customers’ search intent to relevant products, making it easier for them to make a purchase decision.
Did you know that you can add products to the top of your map and local listings? Find out how to do this here.
4. Images
Customers are heavily influenced by images during their research phase prior to purchasing. Google is making information more useful by allowing users to search with images and text to find relevant results.
It can be difficult to add images, especially logos, to the Image section of your GBP. Make sure the images you upload for products, logos, or general imagery are high-resolution.
Make sure that images are added to your Product section comply with Google’s guidelines regarding Business Profile photos.
5. Posts
Publishing posts on your Business Profile is a great way to promote new products or events, workshops, or special offers.
To increase sales and profits, you can include call-to-action buttons to your posts. This will make it easier for your customer to complete a sale.
Posts should not be used as a way to convert keywords into topics or create unhelpful content in order to influence search result pages. This is spam and it will not work.
Your posts should be concise, concise, informative, and useful for your customers.
6. UTM tags
UTM tags are essential to track exactly how many visits, transactions, and revenue your Google Business Profile drives towards your website.
Here’s how to add UTM tags on your website URL.
Go to Google’s Campaign URL Generator (bookmark it), and enter the following information in lowercase
- Website URL.
- Campaign source.
- Medium for campaign.
- Name of the campaign.
Next, at the bottom, you should add a URL like this:
https://margaritasflowers.com/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=gbp-listing
Go to the info section of Google Business Profile. Copy the URL that you just created into the empty space with the earth icon (which is for a website).
If it isn’t having any errors, it should begin tracking. In a few days you will be able see its data on Google Analytics. Go to Acquisition > All Campaigns > To view its data on GA, click here
You will then be able to view all campaigns. Look for “gbp listing.”
Case study: A local florist
Magnolia’s is a beautiful flower shop in a charming village in Northamptonshire, the U.K.
Just before the big season (Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, and Easter), I helped them make improvements to their Google Business Profile.
- Improve their information section.
- Adding products and category based on the most popular products and most searched services.
- They are publishing posts to keep customers informed about new product launches, upcoming flower workshops, and other offers.
Magnolia generated EUR27.328.80 in sales from zero revenue at the start of January 2021. This is roughly the same as the amount in dollars.
What to Avoid on Google Business Profile
Keyword stuffing
If your business is already registered, you can’t add keywords or cities to your Google Business Profile.
Local rankings and organic listings will not be affected by additional keywords. Remember that any actions we take on GBP will not have an impact on other listings, and vice versa.
Important Note: If your business name contains keywords, please read this post about Google’s Vicinity Update. This update, which was rolled out in November 2021, is the biggest update to local search in five decades.
Significant fluctuations were seen in sectors such as lawyers, insurance, and dentists. Businesses that were ranked in distant areas and had keywords in the name were negatively affected.
It is widely believed that keywords in your business description (on information section) will affect visibility and local rankings. It is a spammy practice and false.
Your business descriptions should be concise and include information that is useful to your customers.
Hawkins shares additional details here: The Google My Business description doesn’t impact ranking.
Barry Schwartz also covered Google’s recent Business Profile spam policies.
Hashtags
Google is not Instagram and Twitter. Therefore, hashtags will be completely ineffective and look terrible on your content for GBP. They have no effect on local search and discoverability.
Search Engine Land’s first article was How to Turn Your Google Business Profile into a Revenue-Generating Channel.
