Search engine optimization (SEO) is one of the digital marketing gears that drives more quality traffic (patients looking for a new provider) to your website. But within SEO there are many moving parts, and Google Business Profiles (formerly known as Google My Business) and Google Maps are a part of what is called local SEO.
“Does Google My Business help SEO?” Yes, it does, and this article will explain how you can leverage business profiles on Google to not only attract more leads, but to also be more competitive in your local market.
Why The Google Business Profile Is Important for Your Local SEO
As mentioned before, SEO has several moving parts that generally fall into two categories: “on-page” or “off-page.” On-page SEO are techniques applied to a business website to raise its quality profile while off-page SEO tackles influencing factors elsewhere on the internet. Google Business Profiles (GBP) is part of off-page local SEO.
“Does Google Business Profiles help SEO?” naturally leads to the question, “How does GBP help local SEO?” Consider what a patient sees when they are actively seeking information using Google search. When Google detects intent to get medical help, search results will often contain a high-visibility section of the GBP feature accompanied by Google Maps. This is a local SEO opportunity for healthcare businesses.
Introducing the “Local Pack”
The “local pack” in GBP search results are those top three businesses that rise to the top based on relevance to the user – such as proximity – and quality perceived by Google algorithms. These businesses will get the most search visibility, giving them a competitive advantage.
Is Google Business Profiles’ boost of SEO fixed? No, it’s not. Businesses who have discovered that they do not rank well in search results featuring GBPs can employ SEO best practices to better compete, possibly even gain one of the limited spots in the local pack. The strategy to boost your local SEO rankings includes optimizing your GBP and applying SEO techniques across the board, both on-page and off-page.
Does Your GBP Impact Local Rankings in the First Place? (Yes, It Does)
With the frequency that Google Business Profiles appear in local search results, businesses who neglect to claim and optimize their profiles are missing out on a chance to increase online visibility. With GBPs being completely free to businesses, there’s no reason not to get in on this local SEO opportunity.
GBP and SEO have a symbiotic relationship where having a GBP profile helps your overall SEO, and overall SEO can factor into your GBP ranking. Other primary ranking factors for GBP – with the “local pack” especially – are distance, relevance, and prominence.
- Distance: While controversial, Google can track mobile users. This allows the search engine to serve search results based on the exact location of users, and so it impacts what GBPs appear.
- Relevance: Google aims to serve the most accurate results for user queries. The better Google understands what your healthcare business provides specifically, the better your chances of appearing in relevant searches. Adding certain keywords to your GBP can help!
- Prominence: The longer a business has an online presence, the more it will build trust and credibility with Google as a reliable source of products or services. Building up a great rating and collection of reviews attached to your GBP also gives your business more prominence.
Bear in mind that Google’s algorithms are not always easily decipherable and are always subject to change. This is why SEO experts put effort into all search rank factors.
Google Business Posts for SEO: Do Google Business Profile Posts Help SEO Rankings?
As you delve deeper into the intricacies of SEO, questions of what aspects of local SEO may come up such as, “Do Google Business Profiles posts help SEO?” Some businesses use the “posts” feature where they can add real-time updates to your profile.
So, does posting on Google Business Profiles help SEO? It remains to be seen if these additional GBP features help local search rank significantly. It doesn’t hurt to add posts and other regular updates to a GBP as it could communicate an active presence that helps you stand out from other competing businesses listed.
GBP Posts: Best Practices and Tips
Should you decide to make interactive features of Google Business Profiles – like posting regularly – part of your local visibility strategy, here are some best practices to keep in mind.
- Engage with your audience: Posting on your GBP is somewhat like posting on a social media account with the goal of garnering engagement. What can you post that your audience will be interested in? Content can be special offers, motivational content, photos or videos, frequently asked questions, etc. You can get an idea of what your audience interacts with most via your GBP analytics dashboard.
- Post regularly: Though daily internet users generally have a short attention span,; they do tend to notice details such as how old posts are. If you go months or years without a new post, it may leave a false impression that your business is derelict of duties. If you begin posting, it’s best to keep creating fresh posts.
- Create a keyword opportunity: SEO is powered by keyword research and implementation. If there are competition-heavy keywords related to your services that are also specific to local search, these are ones to include in your GBP posts for extra SEO power.
Busy medical practices often do not have the time to update social media accounts nor post on GBPs regularly. This is why such tasks are usually outsourced to experienced digital marketers.
Quick Tips to Optimize Your Google Business Profile
Does Google Business Profiles affect SEO when businesses optimize their listings? Yes, having a complete GBP is essential for local SEO. Here are tips for optimizing your GBP.
- Claim your profile: The Local Marketing Institute reports that more than half of local retailers haven’t claimed their GBP, and other sources have reported similar findings. You cannot begin to have the local search visibility that comes with GBP until you claim your free profile.
- Populate your business information entirely and accurately: Name, address, and phone number (NAP) will need to be entered perfectly. This is because Google continuously matches business information to other sources on the web (including your website), and the better all sources match, the more well-known your business will be perceived (which helps SEO). Fill in as much business information as you can including your website, hours of operation, etc.
- Write a compelling description: Your business description is a great opportunity to introduce your business to the public and differentiate your medical practice from competitors. Why would a patient choose you? Answer that question in your description. This is also an ideal place to include select SEO keywords.
- Add visual interest: When your competitors have photos on their GBP while yours does not, this can steal attention away from your business listing. An optimized GBP for medical practices will have a high-quality business logo, photo of the facility exterior, photos of the interior, and photos of your team members either on the job or doing off-site events like charity work.
- Build up ratings and reviews: Because of business profiles, Google search will expose consumers to the online reputation of local establishments regardless of whether the user intended to look up reviews. Your star rating and reviews are attached to your GBP. Not only can building up your reviews improve your local search rank in GBP, but it can also differentiate your medical practice from the competition. While you can’t control whether patients leave reviews or not, you can be proactive by requesting reviews through a variety of techniques including automated messaging through your EHR.
Summary: Does Google Business Profiles Help SEO for My Local Healthcare Business?
Why is Google business Profiles important for SEO? Search engine optimization (SEO) is a facet of digital marketing with several mechanisms to manage both on-page (your business website) and off-page (outside web sources that influence your search visibility). When it comes to local SEO, Google Business Profiles (formerly known as Google My Business) is a core component of search visibility because of how frequently this feature appears in any given user’s local search results.
With Google Business Profiles (GBP) being so prevalent in search results where users are actively looking for products and services, every business targeting local patrons should have an optimized GBP. Having and maintaining a GBP listing is free, so there’s no reason not to have one.
Google Business Profiles does help SEO. To leverage the free GBP feature for its power to improve your local search visibility, follow these steps:
- Claim your business profile on Google: Google provides clear instructions on how to claim your free profile by a variety of communication methods.
- Fully complete your core business information: The more details you provide, the more your profile will make your business look legitimate, active, and ready to serve the public.
- Keep name, address, and phone number (NAP) consistent: While some SEO experts have doubts that it still matters that business data matches, it’s better to err on the side of caution. When your business data matches across multiple sources – your website included – this signals to Google that your business is well-known (which helps your SEO).
- Optimize your profile: At the very least, add photos and an attractive business description to your GBP. While using profile enhancements like posts and enabling direct messages may not help your SEO in any significant way, it can help your medical practice stand out from competitors.
- Keep your profile updated: As with on-page SEO, Google’s algorithm considers recency to be a quality factor, and the same applies to your GBP. Regular and timely updates of your profile maintain an active online presence that helps your SEO.
Google Business Profiles and Local SEO Done for You by the Experts at iHealthSpot
As much as they want new patients, busy medical practice managers and providers lack the time to manage aspects of their online presence that effectively attract consumers. For this reason, many medical practices partner with digital marketing agencies to grow their patient base. iHealthSpot works as an extension of your team, staying on top of new patient acquisition efforts while you focus on critical operations. Our proven methods help medical practices gain better online visibility, more effective target audience reach, and nurture online reputations that greatly influence patient choice. Contact us to learn more.
