Changing Primary Owner for Your Google Business Profile

If you just sold your business, or need to change your Google Business Profile manager, you’ll need to change the primary owner. Changing the primary owner will enable the new owner or marketing team to have control over the Google Business Profile account.

Before you proceed, ensure you have primary user access to the Google Business Profile account – and five minutes of your time.

Follow these steps to change the primary owner:

1. Sign in to Google Business Profile

On your computer, sign in to Google Business Profile to access the manager tools page. Remember you need to be the primary user of this account to access the manager tools page and make changes. If you aren’t the primary user, you may need to forward this tutorial to the primary user of the account.

2. Choose a location

This step is necessary if your business has several locations. Click on the location you wish to manage to continue. You have to be sure to manage the right location as you apportion a new primary user to your business. This could be important if you wish to transfer primary user status to a part of your business based on location.

3. Select users

The Google Business Profile location screen allows you to manage everything from reviews to users of that location. You can also add a manager to the location if you wish to upgrade existing users to manager status.

4. Invite new users

If you sell your business or a part of it (a branch in a certain location), you’ll need to invite a new user. This is because you can’t confer primary owner status to a user not already on the platform. If this is the case, click on Add Users and add the new user’s email address. The next step is to select a role for them before sending them an invitation.

Be sure to also notify the new users about the invitation so they can check their inboxes for the invite and accept it accordingly. The roles you can assign the new user are Owner Manager or Site Manager. They also take up the roles as soon as they accept the invite.

5. Choose the new primary owner

Once you have the user on your Google Business Profile platform, go to the right of their name to see a menu with options to change user roles. From this menu, choose Primary Owner.

If you aren’t selling your business, conferring Primary Owner status to users, you need to proceed with caution. A user with this status can lock you out of the account as well as initiate other critical changes to your Google Business Profile. This can include adding new users and making them Primary Owners. You may consider other user levels, such as Site Manager and Manager.

6. Transfer business owners

All that remains now is to transfer control to the new primary user. You’ve successfully sold the business or have vetted the new user sufficiently to trust them with the management of your Google Business Profile account.

Keep in mind that there’s no going back once you assign users the primary user status. They’ll have the power to change account information, add other users, as well as edit other users among other abilities. When you’re sure of everything, you can click Transfer.

Changing the primary owner of your Google Business Profile account shouldn’t be a big deal if you follow these simple steps. You can also partner with us at Toast Local for a comprehensive audit of your Google Business Profile account setup and advise you on what to do to ensure it ranks higher on Google Maps. For more information or if you need any help, please contact us today.

How to Add Your Social Media Sites to Your Google Business Profile

Having a Google Business profile (or Google My Business as it’s often called) is a must for every business. It’s a quick and simple way to let potential customers know about your business, the products and services you offer, where you are located, and contact information.  You can also include pictures of your business and a link to your website. When people search for your business on Google, it will be one of the first things to catch their eye. The profile fits nicely on the right-hand column of the list of search results. It gives them all the information they need about your business at a glance, before going further and exploring your business’s website and content. Best of all, Google Business is free to use. What’s not to like?

Google Business profile is an important tool in making sure your business is seen and promoted (a must for SEO). It is simple to put together, however, it comes with one major flaw. It does not have an easy way to link to your business’s social media, like your LinkedIn or Facebook page.

Even now in 2022, there’s no way to be able to link them through the dashboard like you’re able to do when linking your main website. It’s a frustrating aspect of the Google Business profile. Your social media sites need to be seen and accessed quickly by current and potential customers just as much as your website. In fact, you may be wondering what the point is if not everything about your business can be included.

Here’s the good news; you actually can add your social media sites to your Google Business Profile. Google does not forbid you from doing it. You may know this already if you’ve seen other Google Business profiles that manage to have their social media sites linked. It just takes a bit of extra work.

How to Add Your Social Media Sites to Your Google Business Profile

Before beginning this process, make sure your business’s website has the ability to add a script. The main way to add your social media sites to your Google Business profile is through a script code that you want to add to the head or body of your website, according to a LinkedIn article written by Viral Your Website.

First, copy and paste the following code somewhere in Notepad or Word.

{ "@context" : "https://schema.org",
  "@type" : "Organization",
  "name" : "Your Organization Name",
  "url" : "https://www.your-site.com",
  "<span class="spelling">sameAs" :</span> [ "https://www.facebook.com/your-profile",
    "https://www.twitter.com/yourProfile",
    "https://plus.google.com/your_profile"] 
}

From there, edit the code with your business’s information:

  • In the name section of the code where it says Your Organization Name, fill in the name of your business.
  • Next, in the URL section of the code, add the link to your business’s website.
  • In the same section of the code, add the links to all of your business’s social media sites.
  • Once you’ve edited the code to your liking, you can paste it in the header or body of your business’s website.
  • When you’ve done all that, test your code out here.

What’s the reason behind doing all of this? It will give further credibility to your business. It also helps Google to better understand what your business is and what it offers, giving you a huge boost in SEO. Also, it adds more information to your Google Business profile that customers can quickly access.

Perhaps someday in the future, businesses will be able to add their social media sites to their Google Business profiles as easily as they can add their main website. But until then, this process, while taking a bit of time, will work and net your business positive results. Contact us for more information about how to add your social media sites to your Google Business profile.

How to Share Your My Google Business Profile With Clients

Increasing your brand’s visibility on the internet should be your ultimate goal. You are a step ahead if you already have your Google My Business listing. But how can you leverage this progress and get more clients? Let’s find out how you can share your Google Business profile with your clients.

The Importance of a Google Business Profile

Never underestimate what a Google My Business account can do if you adopt it as a marketing strategy. A Google Business profile helps your business grow by attracting potential clients – they will know what services you offer as well as how to get them.

Why should you give the GMB listing idea a thought?

  • Manage your brand’s information

Here is a chance to notify your clients and prospects about your business through regular updates. Updates about working hours, location, as well as contact details are what will boost your SEO ranking, increasing your brand’s visibility.

  • Establish a reputation

Google incorporates reviews and star ratings for services offered by various brands. Your clients will influence your business’s visibility depending on other people’s experiences. Prospects refer to reviews before deciding if your services are any good.

  • Convert prospects into clients

Google My Business has a book an appointment feature that helps prospects plan on visiting your company. Clients who are still scouting for services might choose your listing over the rest by checking your GMB profile.

How Does Google Rank Your Google My Business Listing?

Google analyzes all business listings and ranks them based on several factors, including:

  • Relevance – Does your GMB listing match the search intent?
  • Where is your business located, and how far is the searcher from the business?
  • Prominence – What’s the experience like when using your services? What do other people think? And what’s your SEO ranking?
  • Google Analytics – These features optimize your brand awareness, increase traffic, as well as attract prospects.

How to Use My Google Business Profile to Attract Clients

How can you use a My Google Business listing to gain more customers? Below are the areas you should work on!

1. Work on your profile

A complete Google Business profile compels potential clients to try your services. Accurate information also places you above competitors by boosting your relevance score. Google detects information like what your business is about, its location, and when you are open.

As a business owner with a GMB listing, update business hours when they change. Let clients know if you are available during holidays, weekends, and at what time.

2. Verify location

Google displays the most verified locations on search engines. A Google product with a valid location also improves the SEO score.

3. Include your business’s images and videos

My Google Business Profile has a logo and brand photo. Images that relate to the business, such as location photos, increase its recognition.

4. Don’t miss out on keywords

Your brand remains relevant with specific keywords. Google Analytics can help provide answers to search queries.

Work on your ranking by incorporating keywords organically. Don’t forget that the keywords should also match your brand’s description.

5. Reviews are magical.

Reviews are critical in determining a business’s credibility – prospective clients are likely to believe what other people think of your service. These will be reflected in your SEO score.

Always ask for reviews and ratings when you are sure that you gave an excellent service. Google usually has a link for customers to share their experiences interacting with your brand.

While positive reviews influence visibility, negative ones could be why your online presence is not tangible. Respond to negative reviews by empathizing and even apologizing for your shortcomings.

Your customers are the reason you’re still running your business; why not strive to make them happy? The idea is to connect with customers by paying attention to their concerns.

6. Update your business details regularly

If you ever change any details, update your Google My Business listing. For example, if you change location or working hours, update this.

Conclusion

A Google My Business listing can be worthless if it doesn’t attract prospects and clients. Customers will easily find you with these tips as well as improve your ranking. If you are unsure about how to use Google My Business to get more clients, contact us today for insights.

Google Business Profile: What to Know About the Google My Business Rebrand

Your business is unlikely to go far without a healthy online presence in 2022. With 87% of customers beginning their product searches online, establishing your business online is no longer a luxury. Google’s business listing platform, Google My Business, has for a long time been a key tool for businesses that are trying to get found online by a local audience. The platform allows you to include your business’ contact information on your profile and other important details like your opening hours and business pictures. You can also receive reviews from customers and even respond to their messages. It has simply been an essential tool for any business looking to thrive during the pandemic and beyond. That’s why any information on the changes made to Google My Business should matter to you. The company recently rebranded the site to Google Business profile.

Here is what to know about this rebrand and how it will affect how you manage your business profile:

What Changes are Coming With the Rebranding

Ideally, Google wanted to rebrand Google My Business into Google Business profile to make it simpler for businesses to manage their profiles. With the rebranding, you will be required to manage your profile directly from Google Search or Google Maps. You can do so both on the respective apps and a browser. Business owners have for a long time been managing their business’ profiles on these two platforms; it’s just that Google now prefers it moving forward. Google also added a few new features into the Google Business Profile, including:

  • The ability to claim and verify your profile directly in Google Maps and Google Search.
  • Ability to see your call history on both platforms.
  • Ability to message directly through Google Search.
  • The ability to control message read receipts on Google Search and Google Maps.

Claiming and Managing Your Google Business Profile

You can now directly claim your profile directly on Google Search or Maps. You just need to search your business name on either of the two platforms to claim your business. Once you claim your business, you can proceed to edit different aspects of your business profile.

For instance, you can start responding to client reviews and messages. You can also include business details like your contact and location details. Once you claim your profile, you just need to search ‘my business’ on your device to access, view, as well as edit your profile. Remember, the more optimized your business profile is, the better it establishes your online presence and attracts customers.

Managing Single Vs. Multiple Location Businesses

Google Search and Google Maps are the best platforms for managing your business profile on Google if you only have a single location. However, if your business has multiple locations, it could be tedious to manage every location separately. That’s why Google has renamed the old Google My Business interface to Business Profile Manager. This will act as a single dashboard where you can see multiple profiles for the different locations you manage. It can be beneficial to both multi-location businesses and agencies that run multiple Google Business Profiles for their clients. In fact, you will simply need to log in to the dashboard to access it.

Focus on Optimizing Your Profile

Your Google Business profile will work wonders for your business if you can commit to optimizing it. This includes updating your business details, from working hours to address to location details. You should also be keen on customer reviews by responding to them promptly. Positive reviews can act both as a trust signal to new customers and create engagement with existing ones.

If you need help managing your Google Business profile, feel free to reach out to us. We can help walk you through managing the profile to optimize it for your business customers.