Significant Next Steps with Your Google My Business Listing in the UAE

Google My Business Listing in the UAE

So, you have put your Google My Business Listing up for your business in your local area but results are still missing, what to do next to get the ball rolling? Optimizing your listings just according to the modern requirements of search engines following public’s patterns in your local area are just as important when you want to be visible locally.

They say that the devil is in the details, this one really comes true with digital marketing and search engine optimization (SEO). Getting the basics right is just the first steps in the right direction, even the smallest choices and decisions have huge impact when it comes to Google My Business (GMB).

Although GMB optimization is just a section of SEO but getting it right is just as important as some of the other major tasks included. Most of the readers will be well aware of keeping the listings straight in terms of phone numbers, addresses or store hours, these are some of the obvious ones and going beyond the cloud in the sky is the real set of starts to be acquired.  Tweaking your GMB listing exactly right through the smallest of changes can get the job done for you. Here are some of them:

Standardizing Your Address

Having registered your business at the right location can sometimes not be enough. Your address should follow accepted and recognized guidelines. Even the smallest irregularities can have a negative effect on your GMB listings. You should investigate facts like are there other similar businesses operating from your building address and if there are any, have they standardized the address with their listings.

There is an accepted address format that meets all the standard guidelines for the United States or any other regions like the UAE. Compare your UAE based business with the exact laid out address guidelines for the region and be sure to tweak the address accordingly. Bringing your address up to date with the local standards can make your appear on local searches and rank higher on them.

If like many businesses in the UAE, you operate from a big building with exactly the same businesses offering their services and having presence of GMB, basic techniques just won’t work and cause a conflict in the address confusing Google to think otherwise. Setting things in the right way is your best bet in that type of a situation.

Accuracy with Geocode

Accuracy with Geocode

GMB generates geocodes by using your address listing that puts your address on Google maps. This sounds very straightforward but in actuality, it

might not be such a hassle free process on some certain occasions. There have been cases and presently are and probably will continue to be where Google Maps pins your store or office at a nearby famous intersection and not exactly where you are, on few rogue occasions, you can be pinned on Google Maps several blocks or market away from your exact location in the case of a crowded market like the UAE.

For new customers, clients or consumers, finding you will already be a tough enough process, why make it even more problematic for them at all. This is why it is significant to get your geocodes right and especially for a business located in a crowded city area where others are providing similar services as well.

More populated and denser areas could confuse Google into generating slightly off geocodes that can be devastating for your chances to show up in the local searches. Always do confirm your location on the Google Maps and make corrections if there are any required responsibly.

Getting the Listing Right Categories

Getting the Listing Categories Right

Listing categories are just another significant cog in Google’s wheel. They just don’t change their algorithms to have fun with businesses, that just not how things work at Google. Every update that they push out is aimed at improving the search engine optimization strategies and sorting out searches in a better more reliable way than before. However, with each of the new updates, if you want to be locally visible, keeping your listing categories relevant has become very significant indeed.

Checking as many boxes with listing categories just doesn’t work anymore, you need to be as precise and accurate as you can in order to appear in relevant searches for your local market. Even if some of the business categories match yours slightly, leave them out and dig a little deeper to check the most accurate ones and you will start seeing better results as more searches will match your categories and boost your chances of appearing in the local searches highly than you have ever before.

Search Proximity

The other thing related to business locations is proximity accuracy. Similar to geocode accuracy, this has to be done precisely as well. Understandably all businesses are tempted to include that big city or metropolis in their address as well when they are located just outside of it, it does make sense to an observer when this is don’t but Google doesn’t work the same way. Its algorithms take location and proximity into account while allocating local page ranking to any business registered online.

You cannot confuse or fool Google into thinking that your business is located in both the suburbs and the metropolitan area as well. Misrepresenting your location proximity can actually hurt your chances of being visible in local searches. Being precise with your search proximity and including areas that actually are near you has the ability to direct searches towards you in your local area and that’s what you should be doing.

Responding to Google Users Reviews

Responding to Reviews

Utterly new businesses offering whatever types of services or products tend to not lay out an impressive image in general people’s minds, you wouldn’t want to dine in a newly open restaurant before making sure everything they serve is legit or you wouldn’t want to get a haircut either from a new barber shop in your local downtown unless someone tells you their authenticity. Similar types of circumstances also apply on online business websites as well. People will tend to look for other user’s or customer’s reviews before considering any particular website or business.

You should be encouraging people to leave reviews on your GMB listing that will get you the appreciation in your local search market that you need to get the ball rolling. As many reviews you can get will mean as much exposure your business will get in the local market. Getting 5 stars all the time and wasting a possible 3 or 4 star review worrying about that 5 star one is never a good idea. Even if you have a rating above 3.5 and a lot many reviews to back that up, you will build a trustworthy image in your online consumer’s minds.

The next major thing is responding to all the reviews that your business gets. It’s easy to think that you don’t need to respond to reviews and they are just there, especially in the case of bad reviews, however, that is nowhere near the truth and Google even recommends to respond to both negative and positive reviews to improve your local listings.

Significance of Engaging Content

If you know anything about SEO or have read any informative articles on it, you will be familiar with the term “content is king”, and there is reason for that. Engaging content has the ability to keep your existing audience interested while always getting the attention of new one as well. If your content is not engaging, your interactive site could easily be mistaken for a dead one. Filling your pages with engaging interesting content after you have put up your GMB listing is always a good idea and has the ability to get you the traction you need to be visible in local searches in the UAE.

Try to focus your content on local events wherever you are in the UAE, this has the ability to direct Google in the right direction towards your business website and give you the boost you need in your local searches.

Make use of Google Posts wherever you can to enable yourself publish events, promotions or other relevant business updates directly to Google search and Google Maps. Do the Google search in the knowledge panel. Google posts usage can have a big impact on local search rankings, use these carefully and responsibly.

Adding Relevant Images to the Content

Pictures and images are always easier to understand and process for the general audience regardless of the business industry and yet businesses ignore the whole idea of pulling more searches by adding a few relevant images to their GMB listing. Modern customers always do their research online before they visit any actual businesses and factors like parking, store interior, disabled access or range of products can be made so much easier to understand only by adding a few simple real time pictures of your business to the listing.

Additionally, adding pictures can have a huge impact on the local ranking, as they will be interacted with a lot by local people using local IP addresses. A study revealed that adding suitable relevant pictures can boost local traffic by up to 300% when done right.

These are little details that often get neglected. If you have a business in a big city in the UAE and you have done your Google My Business listing for it, make sure to add in a few relevant images that highlight significant parts of your business for them to be appreciated by your audience and give your business the traction it requires in the local market. If you can boost your local visibility and traffic in the UAE by something as simple as adding a few live images, why not do it!

Optimizing These Business Listings

Having discussed all the little details and next steps after your GMB listing, you would be pleased to know that all these things require very little time and effort and can have a profound effect on your local visibility. Optimizing your Google My Business listing and website is pretty easy and quick and has the potential to boost your online traffic manifolds enabling your business to become much more recognized in the local market.

Be sure to optimize everything as every little helps and in the Google Sea, every drop has significant baggage. Don’t ignore any of these optimization and gain all the adequate competitive edge over all the rest of the players in your local market.

We know that all these little steps regardless of how easy we may make them sound, can be difficult to execute for someone who is not an expert in Google of things. The SEO Company UAE and KSA is always there to offer dedicated SEO experts who can take care of every little detail and get your business just the traction it needs to be successful and recognized in local searches. Be sure to contact us on www.seo.ae whenever you like. Our friendly customer service agents are always happy to entertain any of your queries.