The Importance of Google My Business Pages
Claiming your restaurant’s Google My Business page is an easy way to make sure your customers are finding up-to-date information about you online. In today’s blog, we’re going over the basics of Google My Business, and why it’s important.
Getting Started
To get started, you will need a Google account. You can create a Google account with an email address from a different platform (like Yahoo or AOL). Having a Google account allows you to claim and access your Google My Business page, and other resources, like a YouTube account. Once in your Google account, you can access Google My Business. If your business (or the address of your business) has an existing listing, you can claim it.
The Benefit
There are many benefits of claiming your Google My Business page, like tracking analytics on search results, collecting reviews, and posting updates. We’ll go through each and discuss how they can benefit the restaurant industry.
Tracking analytics. When you claim your Google My Business page, you then have access to a dashboard with analytics on your listing. How many times in the last month has your listing been viewed? How many people clicked on your website from the listing? How many got directions to your restaurant? This information can be extremely useful in determining how your customers are finding you, and how they are interacting with your restaurant online. In tracking this data, you can clearly correlate it to customers in the seats of your restaurant.
Collecting reviews. Perhaps the most popular feature of Google My Business listings is the ability to collect reviews right on Google. Your listing will show your average star rating, along with the number of reviews your restaurant has. In 2015, 60% of diners read online reviews before picking a place to eat, meaning that customers are more likely to pick you over competitors based on your reviews. Having these review results on the front page of Google makes them all the more convenient and accessible. In your Google My Business account you are able to track and respond to customer reviews.
Posting Updates. A chronically under-utilized feature, creating posts is a great way to keep your guests up to date on your restaurant, especially in the age of COVID-19. Updates allow you to share offers, new items, and upcoming events, directly on Google. This is especially convenient for COVID-19 updates, and any holiday closures. It’s yet another way to engage your audience, and bring in foot traffic to your restaurant. Plus, if you run an offer only through Google My Business, you can track the efficacy of your offer with how many customers utilize your discount, and the overall analytics of your Google My Business page.
How we can help
We recognize that managing your Google My Business listing is an important part of your restaurant’s reputation management strategy, and we are here to help. Sherane Chen LLC offers full service reputation management, reviewing and responding to your customers each day in real time to ensure each customer is satisfied and has their voice heard. Contact us today or call (386) 627-3628 for a consultation!