8 Common Questions Answered about Google My Business (GMB) Page

Initially the Google offerings for local businesses seem to be uncomplicated and simple. But as you go deeper, there will be a number of questions you will most certainly have. The following article will help you find the answers to these common questions. Additionally, you will get a clear understanding of the concept of local businesses listed on Google My Business (GMB) page.  

The current trend among the majority of the Internet users is to search for information on businesses around their local area. Businesses that provide complete and detailed listings about themselves are considered to be more reliable by online searchers. In this circumstance, making the concept clearer on Google My Business (GMB) listing for local businesses will help any local SEO company in London deliver better results to its clients. 

Questions about GMB from SEO experts

Here, I would like to share a personal experience with my readers. A few years back when I was a greenhorn in the SEO industry, the GMB appeared to me a very simple and easy-to-do task. You just need to fill it out with the relevant business’ information, post some images, claim and verify the listing and finally, include information about the company to have your job done. Now, after all these years in this profession, I know the actual game goes a long way than just what mentioned above.

Here are the 8 most common questions related to Google My Business that can help you drive your client project smoothly to success.

1. What or who is a Google Top Contributor and what is her/his relationship status with Google?

A Google Top Contributor is an online marketer, who possesses sound knowledge on Google Products. These experts voluntarily spend their time to answer questions on Google Product Forums (https://productforums.google.com/forum/#!home;lang=en). (By the way, it is relevant to mention here, a Google Product Forum is a particular forum for Google My Business. These forums enable users to interact with the relevant online community to get answers on questions related to Google products.

• Tips to become a Top Contributor: In order to be a Top Contributor, you should be on these forums as much as possible along with answering the questions and initiating or engaging in conversations. Remember that Google is constantly watching everybody’s activities and track everything going on the different product forums.
   
• The point to start: To start with, search the forums for questions and topics that you possess expertise upon. Then, start giving your own answers to those queries. This answering attempt will automatically make you eligible for joining the Top Contributor Program. Google will even acknowledge your attempt by bestowing the status of “Rising Star” at the entry-level.
   
• Your perks: What is your takeaway from voluntarily investing your time and effort on Google Product Forums? Your contribution will never remain unrecognised or unappreciated. Google will make you a part of its beta programs and invite you to Google meetings and groups. Gradually, you can be a Google thought leader. Moreover, this will provide you with the opportunity of making better access to Google. Thus, users will contact you directly with their problems and you’ll redirect those issues to Google for a faster solution. Becoming a Google Top Contributor is not easy, but is guaranteed to provide you with unbelievable mileage in the long run.

2. Is it the right way to create a separate Gmail address to claim my clients’ GMB account listing?

The best way is your client claims his/her GMB page and then assigns you the role of a manager for the page. This way, you can easily log in and do the needful to optimize their Google My Business listings.

In case, a client does not want to claim his own listing, follow the instructions below to be on the safer side.

• Get an explicit permission from the client to claim his GMT listing page on his behalf.
   
• Avoid creating a separate Gmail address and rather, use the client’s domain mail-id as the primary mail address. Then, add yourself as the listing’s manager. This way, both you and the client will automatically keep receiving all the mails and communication.
   
• Similarly, do not feed in your number while setting up a client’s GMB account. 

Always use the client’s contact number for this. This will prove convenient in future, when either your client will hire a different agency or you’ll move on to work at another office.

3. One of my clients runs a restaurant. Recently, when they updated their menu, we noticed an outdated menu on the GMB page. Where’s my mistake and how do I correct this?

Your mistake can be marginal. Single Platform is a site that enables restaurants and other similar businesses display their menus and service listing across many online platforms, like Google. It is possible that the menu information was accidentally scraped from this singleplatform.com portal.

To correct the problem, ask the client to approach Single Platform and request it to be removed. Then, the client will also have to request Google My Business support team to make the necessary update in their information.

4. A ex-employee verified the GMB listing for a client. Now that employee has left my organisation, I don’t know what eMail-id he used. What do I do now?

This is a very problem and there’s no need to be worried.

• Go to Google My Business portal.
• Sign in with the credentials that you guess was used to claim the     business listing.
• Search the name and address of that business.
• If you see the business in the search result, just click on the listing.

If a dialogue pops up, saying someone else verified this particular business, just try out one of the following options:

Use a different eMail-id: Try out with all your mail-ids, one or the other may hold the key to unlock your problem. Or, you may request access from the present owner of the listing. Google allows you to directly contact the present owner of the listing through Google My Business.

5. How to request access from the present listing owner?

• Log into Google My Business.
• Sign in using the Google account you want to manage the business with.
• Enter the business’ name and address and try to locate it in the search result.
• Carefully fill out the form with the relevant contact information. Share these details with the present listing owner.
• Now click submit.

The present listing owner will get email intimation, asking him to contact you. Similarly, you’ll get a confirmation mail on this. To check your status request, you can click on the link provided in the confirmation email.

If you do not hear anything from the present listing owner, go ahead to verify your affiliation with the business to access its business listing.

6. My business got fake reviews on its Google My Business listing. What can I do to remove them?

There’s hardly anything you can do to remove those negative reviews, even if they are fake and intentional. Google loves it when businesses ask for reviews from their customers. Just try to get more positive reviews from happy customers and satisfied former employees to counter the negative reviews.

The most you can do is you can mark the flag, positioned right next to the review, if you think a particular review has violated Google review policies (https://support.google.com/business/answer/2622994?hl=en). However, Google won’t just remove a review just because you marked the flag, unless it drastically violates the search engine’s policies.

7. How do I contact the Google My Business support-team?

You may place phone calls at the number given below:

• 1 844 491 9665 or
• Twitter access: @GoogleMyBiz

8. Which is the best place to get information about Google My Business?

If you’re new to Google My Business, I’ll suggest you to first check out the Google GMB Guide (https://support.google.com/business/answer/6337473). I’ll say, it is an excellent guide for the beginners.

Gradually, as you gain knowledge and experience in optimising your GMB listing, you should start consulting Search Engine Land Local (https://searchengineland.com/library/channel/local) for the latest tips and tricks.

When you face tough challenges, just post your question on the Google My Business Forum (https://www.en.advertisercommunity.com/t5/Google-My-Business/ct-p/GMB). Yes, as you’ve imagined, there exists a particular forum for Google My Business to help people, like you and me.        

Remember, in the Google-dominated online world, GMB is a very powerful tool, as your Google My Business listing will connect you straight to your customers. As a senior SEO expert, I’ll suggest you to leave nothing in the hands of luck than properly optimising this tool.