How do I list my business online?

Creating a listing on Google is an essential part of any business’s marketing strategy. Companies should also set up profiles on Microsoft’s Bing and on directories such as Yell and Thomson Local. Here we discuss what should go into a profile and how to make it as effective as possible.

How to list your business on Google

Google’s business profile contains an individual business’s photographs, contact details, location and so on.

The profile is free to create [https://business.google.com/en-all/business-profile] and the step-by-step listing process is very straightforward; however, writing an effective business description is key and make sure you have some attention-grabbing pictures to upload – as ever, first impressions count.

Optimising your business profile

Extra time and effort spent on optimising the business profile that appears in search results will translate into more customers. So, what should you be doing?

• Make sure you complete every section of your Google Business Profile (GBP).
• Make sure contact information is consistent with your website and, of course, accurate.
• Choose your primary and secondary categories.
• Publish Google posts every week.
• Upload new photos every week.
• Deal with questions promptly.
• Encourage customers to review you and answer any questions in reviews.
• Set up messaging.

Many new customers will get in touch based on your business profile in search results and won’t necessarily click through to visit your website – what is known as zero-click searches. This trend has accelerated dramatically thanks to AI and many businesses and publishers are reporting significantly fewer site visits as people can get all the information they need from the search engine results page (Serp).

It is important that your business name online exactly matches the offline name, even down to things like ‘st’ or ‘street’ or ‘ltd’ or ‘limited’. Consistency equals credibility to Google; and this goes for everything in your NAP profile (name, address phone number). Do not add a place name or keywords to your online name as Google’s algorithms will consider this to be spam and down rank you.

Make sure your opening hours are accurate and take into account public holidays when you might be closed.

Choosing your categories is important as most people search using keywords (known as discovery search) – not many will be typing in the name of your business as a search term.

Completing the secondary categories, that is, category-specific features, open up new options on the GBP, such as menu or collection or delivery buttons for restaurants.

Your customers are able to add photographs to your GBP so make sure the best ones are on top and review all the pictures regularly to delete repetitive or unsuitable ones. And don’t use stock photos or manipulated ones: Google wants your business to appear as it is. Do geo-tag the pictures as this helps with local search.

Reviews, Google Maps and social media

Customers’ reviews are the number one influence on customers and are a key ranking factor so don’t be backward about asking for reviews. It can be worth reminding customers that they don’t just benefit the business; they are helpful to other people with the same needs. We all know how grateful we feel to find a reliable and fairly priced tradesman or mechanic. And, of course, do respond to reviews – politely. Bickering between customers and vendors can be a real turn-off for potential purchasers.

Quotes from reviews can be put in the box at the bottom of the GBP or you can use the space to alert customers to special offers and new product lines.

The aim with your GBP (formerly known as Google My Business) should be to get over the 4.0 mark for reviews and having hundreds of reviews is vital for getting into the crucial three pack (or occasionally four pack), the more detailed listing of the top handful of businesses in search results.

Using Google Maps effectively

First of all check you are on Google Maps by means of searching for your business as if you were a customers. If you are present but as an unverified existing listing then you need to claim this listing. If you aren’t on Maps you can get yourself added by means of the GBP.

Another tip is to embed an interactive map in the footer of your website, which as well as being helpful for customers is also likely to improve rankings.

Social media

Having a variety of social accounts is likely to improve search rankings and is often expected by customers. As well as Facebook, X, LinkedIn, Instagram and so on, entries on directories such as Yell.com will also add to credibility. This topic will be covered in more depth in another article.

How to list your business on Bing

Bing has a modest 4% of global search traffic compared with Google’s approximately 90%. However, given the size of the search market even this tiny share translates to 900 million search queries a day so the Microsoft platform should not be overlooked. Furthermore, while Bing’s local search performance is inferior to Google’s, it is the default search engine on Windows devices and it powers Yahoo’s search function. And heavy investment into artificial intelligence by Microsoft ought to improve how it works in future.

Bing Places for Business [https://www.bing.com/forbusiness/] is the Microsoft equivalent of GBP. As with GBP users can select from a range of segments and categories to describe their business.

It should be possible to import data from your GBP profile to speed up creating your Places for Business account.

Directories

While not many people use the likes of Yell, Yelp or Thomson Local, companies should still list on a range of directories as having the citations will improve their search ranking by improving their ‘domain authority’. 118 Information, which evolved from the directory enquiries service 118 118, now only remembered for a series of irritating advertisements featuring two runners, is not itself a listing service but rather supplies directories with verified information about companies.

The Beefound site has a comprehensive listing of directories aimed at businesses [https://beefound.agency/business-listing-and-directories-in-the-uk].

A link from a directory listing to your website (known as a back link) is also good for rankings as the search engines deem a link from a larger, authoritative site to be a positive. And always make sure your NAP profile is consistent across sites.

It is worth slightly rewriting your business description for each directory as the algorithms tend to bump up original content over that which is copied and pasted.

Many directories offer a paid-for premium listings service. Given that the main value of having a directory entry are the link to your site and the effect on search rankings, having a premium listing is unlikely to be value for money.

As well as the general directories, there are industry-specific ones that may work better for some businesses. There are also tools that will list a company on lots of directories at once.

Conclusion

An effective business profile is only one part of a online marketing strategy so look out for other articles on the Finsbury Robinson site about marketing your business online, in which we will cover topics such as creating your first website, the top 10 SEO improvements and which social media platform is right for your business.

And if you would like any other advice about setting up or running your business please contact Finsbury Robinson.

We are a full-service tax, accountancy and business advisory firm, and our friendly and highly experienced team is available on 020 8858 4303 or via email at info@finsburyrobinson.co.uk