Gorodenkoff / Shutterstock.com How ‘Google My Business’ Can Boost Your Promo Business SEO Why you need it, how to set it up and what to do to get the most value. by Gloria Lafont Google My Business is one of the most underutilized platforms by promotional products distributors. It’s easy to set up and manage, and can increase your online visibility and SEO. Every distributor should take advantage of this free tool. If you don’t have a Google My Business profile or are not quite sure what to do with it, read on. It will help you a great deal with building your online presence and, I promise, it’s very easy. Google My Business is a program that Google provides for businesses to create their own profile and it’s one of the most underutilized online tools by distributors. There are many advantages to having your own business profile on Google My Business. It’s important to note that it does provide many more advantages to local B2C businesses where proximity is a factor because it’s tied to Google Maps and it picks up the results based on the map location, but there are definitely worthwhile advantages for B2B distributors as well, where Google doesn’t factor in the location and distance in the same way, as buyers will want to visit your website and not go to the business. A Few Things To Know About Google My Business Some people confuse Google Maps with Google My Business. Appearing on the Maps doesn’t mean you have a Google My Business account. Because Google wants to have as much information as possible on every business for their maps, they will add your business to the maps based on information they collect through the internet. As crazy as it may sound, Google lets anybody create a profile for your business and even leave reviews, with you having no access to your own profile. That’s why you want to take control of the situation by creating your own profile or claiming it if there’s a profile already. Benefits Of A Google My Business Account It helps your SEO. When you create your profile, you are basically adding your business to Google’s directory of businesses. This validates your business and adds credibility in the eyes 32 | JANUARY 2022 | INNOVATE
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