Key Findings
-
82% of the local marketing experts say that Google My Business optimization is “very effective” in improving local pack rankings
-
68% of local marketing experts believe Google My Business is more important than it was a year ago
-
Experts' most valued Google My Business tasks: 1) Growing Google reviews 2) Spam fighting 3) Keeping information up-to-date 4) Responding to Google reviews 5) Writing Google posts
-
100% of local marketing experts use Google posts, photos, and business descriptions for their local business clients
-
According to experts, Google My Business needs to focus on improving spam, GMB Insights, and support for users
In 2020, Google My Business optimization is one of the key skills a local marketer needs. But, while we know how important an optimized Google business listing is, we were curious – what do industry leaders really think of GMB?
We set out to discover how some of local SEO’s leading voices are using Google My Business for local business success – and whether it’s as much of a blessing as it seems. We reached out to 22 local SEO professionals to find out how they use GMB, and to hear their expert opinions on what could be done to make this even more useful.
As with our previous Expert reports on link building for local businesses and citations, we’ve collated quantitative data on the importance and usage of Google My Business, and collected quotes from our esteemed experts. We hope this information helps the wider community understand how GMB is used and valued by those who know it best.
Thank you to the expert panel for sparing their time and sharing their expertise with our readers. A further thank you to Claire Carlile for lending her brain to ensure the questions were as accurate and illuminating as possible.
Questions
- How effective is Google My Business optimization to improving local SEO rankings?
- Is Google My Business optimization and management a task you prioritize for clients?
- Why is Google My Business an important tool for local businesses?
- Which Google My Business listing features do you use for clients?
- Which Google My Business tasks have the most value to local marketing success?
- Which tasks do you handle, and which are handled by the client?
- Compared to 12 months ago, how important is Google My Business to local marketing success?
- Over the last year, which Google My Business change has had the biggest impact on yours and your clients’ businesses?
- Which parts of Google My Business are in most need of improvement?
- What could Google do to make Google My Business even more useful for local businesses (and, to make marketers jobs easier!)?
How effective is Google My Business optimization to improving local SEO rankings?
82% of the local marketing experts surveyed say that Google My Business optimization is “very effective” in improving local pack rankings, with a further 18% stating that it’s “fairly effective”.
However, Google My Business is far less valued as a ranking factor for localized organic results. 18% of our panel see GMB as ineffective for organic search, while 45% see it as not very effective.
This correlates from the finding of Moz’s 2018 Local Search Ranking Factors Survey – which estimated that 25% of local pack ranking factors are made up of Google My Business signals, while 8% of localized organic factors come from GMB.
The primary focus of Google My Business optimization should be achieving local pack results – so it’s important that local business clients understand that GMB isn’t the sole solution for ranking their websites.
Expert Insights
"Blake Denman"
RicketyRoo
"Nikki Mosier"
Two Octobers
"Joy Hawkins"
Sterling Sky Inc
"Steve Wiideman"
Wiideman Consulting Group
"Dan Foland"
Postali
Is Google My Business optimization and management a task you prioritize for clients?
Nearly all of the experts view Google My Business optimization and management as an important task for their clients and businesses.
Google My Business has many benefits beyond search visibility, with many useful features for businesses and consumers to use, so it’s clear to see why it’s a priority for so many of our experts. And it’s not just a tool for researching businesses – it acts as a direct point of action for many consumers, with 64% of consumers using Google My Business to find contact details for local businesses.
Expert Insights
"Ben Fisher"
Steady Demand
"Andrew Cock-Starkey"
Optimisey
"Colan Nielsen"
Sterling Sky Inc
"Kyle Goodchild"
Walmart Canada
Why is Google My Business an important tool for local businesses?
Experts were asked to share their thoughts.
Expert Insights
"Dana DiTomaso"
Kick Point
"Greg Gifford"
SearchLab Digital
"Claire Carlile"
Claire Carlile Marketing
"Amy Toman"
Digital Law Marketing
"Tom Waddington"
Wachae
Which Google My Business listing features do you use for clients?
When looking at the most commonly-used features of Google My Business, every expert surveyed uses business descriptions, photos, and Google posts for their clients’ listings.
It’s interesting to see such a high uptake for posts among the experts. In our latest Local Search Industry Survey just 69% of local marketers were using posts – suggesting usage is higher among experts than the wider local marketing community right now. There’s plenty to be gained from regular informational and promotional posts, but it feels like this feature hasn’t hit its potential quite yet.
While not technically a feature within the Google My Business dashboard, Q&A is a useful part of Google business listings – and widely used among our expert panel. When Q&A launched, Mike Blumenthal wrote a great post for us explaining how to use Q&A for local businesses – well worth a read!
As well, three-quarters of experts utilize Google My Business Insights. While there is plenty of data to be gleaned from GMB Insights, it’s by no means perfect, with some in the industry questioning its accuracy.
Overall, many of the features of GMB are widely used among the experts – but by no means are all of its capabilities necessary for every local business. Test which features work best for your clients, and don’t feel tempted to use features that don’t fit into your local marketing strategy just because they’re there!
Expert Insights
"Crystal Horton"
Accelerate Marketing
"Dana DiTomaso"
Kick Point
"Krystal Taing"
Rio SEO
"Tom Waddington"
Wachae
Which Google My Business tasks have the most value to local marketing success?
The experts were able to select up to five choices.
Experts’ Most Valued Google My Business Tasks
- Growing Google reviews
- Spam fighting
- Keeping information up-to-date
- Responding to Google reviews
- Writing Google posts
While there are plenty of tasks to be done when optimizing a Google My Business listing, experts shared their most valued tasks for local marketing success.
Managing your Google reviews presence is a clear priority among the panel…
Expert Insights
"Crystal Horton"
Accelerate Marketing at Accelerate Marketing
"Jason Brown"
Sterling Sky Inc
"Ben Fisher"
Steady Demand
Which tasks do you handle, and which are handled by the client?
Compared to some local SEO efforts, Google My Business is pretty user-friendly for local businesses, so we wanted to know how involved our experts’ clients are in GMB management. We asked experts which of the main tasks they handle for a typical client, where responsibility sits with the client, and when this workload is shared.
Some of the most common tasks that are solely handled by our experts include tracking local rankings, managing business information and edits, and spam fighting. Of course, spam is a key issue in the industry right now, but tackling it takes time, dedication, and know-how, so it’s no surprise the responsibility sits largely with the experts rather than local marketers. However, it can be useful to sit down with clients to run through the competitors that outrank their businesses – they may well spot inaccuracies that aren’t obvious to someone outside the business.
Clients are more likely to hold responsibility for setting up and responding to messages, as well as many assisting in growing and responding to Google reviews.
The best local marketing needs the involvement of the local business. For a start, they know their customers and niche better than an external party ever can. But also, many of the initiatives need buy-in from the whole company. Employees should be coached and encouraged to ask customers for reviews, while responding to reviews and messages is likely to need the context provided by the business itself.
Expert Insights
"Claire Carlile"
Claire Carlile Marketing
"Blake Denman"
RicketyRoo Inc
"Colan Nielsen"
Sterling Sky Inc
"Niki Mosier"
Two Octobers
Compared to 12 months ago, how important is Google My Business to local marketing success?
Two-thirds of the experts feel like Google My Business is now more important to local marketing success than it was a year ago.
None of the experts see GMB as losing value – which is no real surprise to us! Google launched many new initiatives for local businesses over the last year, not to mention the quick changes we’re currently seeing as a reaction to Covid-19. While it isn’t seen as perfect by the experts, it’s undoubtedly a useful tool that will continue to grow in importance over the next few years.
Expert Insights
"Colan Nielsen"
Sterling Sky Inc
"Andrew Cock-Starkey"
Optimisey
"Tim Capper"
Online Ownership
"Dan Leibson"
Local SEO Guide
"Jason Brown"
Sterling Sky Inc
Over the last year, which Google My Business change has had the biggest impact on yours and your clients’ businesses?
Experts were asked to share their thoughts.
Expert Insights
"Claire Carlile"
Claire Carlile Marketing
"Greg Gifford"
SearchLab Digital
"Dana DiTomaso"
Kick Point
"Steve Wiideman"
Wiideman Consulting Group
"Joy Hawkins"
Sterling Sky Inc
"Tim Capper"
Online Ownership
"Amy Toman"
Digital Law Marketing
"Sherry Bonelli"
early bird digital marketing
"Tom Waddington"
Wachae
"Gyi Tsakalakis"
AttorneySync
Which parts of Google My Business are in most need of improvement?
The experts were able to select up to five choices. The least chosen options have not been included in this chart.
The Google My Business Areas That Need The Most Improvement
- Spam
- GMB Insights
- Support
- Managing edits
- Multi-location management
Spam fighting is a common task among our experts, but there is plenty Google could do to limit the effect of this key issue. The panel also believe GMB Insights requires some attention from Google to be truly useful to local businesses and marketers.
Despite the introduction of the redressal form, support for the platform could still do with some improvements. Many of the experts in this panel work closely with Google My Business as Product Experts – volunteering their time to help users on the Google My Business forum, and guiding improvements where possible to make GMB better for everyone. Product Experts’ work really is instrumental to the understanding of Google My Business, and we’re in awe of their amazing contributions to making Google My Business even more useful for local businesses and consumers.
Expert Insights
"Andy Simpson"
Digital Law Marketing
"Andrew Cock-Starkey"
Optimisey
"Sherry Bonelli"
early bird digital marketing
"Dana DiTomaso"
Kick Point
"Dan Leibson"
Local SEO Guide
"Kyle Goodchild"
Walmart Canada
What could Google do to make Google My Business even more useful for local businesses (and, to make marketers jobs easier!)?
Experts were asked to share their thoughts.
Expert Insights
"Blake Denman"
RicketyRoo Inc
"Gyi Tsakalakis"
AttorneySync
"Joy Hawkins"
Sterling Sky Inc
"Amy Toman"
Digital Law Marketing
"Dan Foland"
Postali
"Sherry Bonelli"
early bird digital marketing
"Andy Simpson"
Digital Law Marketing
"Jason Brown"
Sterling Sky Inc
"Ben Fisher"
Steady Demand
Thank you again to the 22 Google My Business experts for sharing their insights and opinions with us. We hope the information provided in this report acts as a useful guide for local marketers to compare their own Google My Business usage and understanding with some of the biggest names in our industry.
