We have prepared for you a guide to a Google My Business audit. Now, let’s start with the basics – do you have a Google My Business listing? You need it if you want to make an audit. So, start by registering your business on the site. After you do this we will show you all the following steps. Of course, we will also show you where to get more information on this topic so you can continue research after reading this and who can help you to achieve everything that your business needs (in this field of course). Sometimes finding adequate help is the key component to your success. Now let us begin.
Location, location, location
The three locations – previous location, current location, and other location are what you need to focus on your attention now. You must run an audit based on those locations. Here is how you can do it:
- untick the “Search on Current Location” option
- enter the criteria you want to search
- select the location you would like to audit and that’s it
Doesn’t seem hard at all. Well, this is only the beginning. But if you want to know more about basics check out the AZ Citation Services website and get more information there. This is also a great place for you to continue your research.
Competition
While you are auditing locations you need to review your competitors’ listings as well so you can make sure that you have the best listing you possibly can. Start researching your closest competitors after all they are your true rivals. You need to know everything about them, especially their strengths and weaknesses. If you conduct a Google local search you will see which businesses are in the top three (so you can check out businesses competing in your area). Now you can start working on improving your listing and learning more about why are citations so important for your brand.
Pro tip
- Don’t forget to add your photos to your Google My Business!
Guide to doing a complete Google My Business Audit
If you want to do a complete GMB (Google My Business) audit you need to understand exactly what your competition is doing. This is the key. You simply must know how they rank in the local market. So, what can you do? You can study their listings and see how they can improve listings. Are you wondering why do I care about their listings? Well doing so will improve your search presence and that can only bring you more customers and that’s the whole point, right? We need higher search visibility.
The information needs to be correct
Now that you created a full Google My Business audit you need to do a thorough review of all your listings in order to verify all the information you have listed on the website. Don’t worry, there are tools you can use if you can’t prove everything. But it’s important to know which pages are performing well and which aren’t doing so well.
Second Pro tip
- If your citations are a mess you can always hire professionals to do a citation cleanup.
Local SEO – NAP
Do you know what the website’s NAP is? It’s short for name, address, and phone number. This is something you need to make sure is optimized correctly. You must ensure that your GMB listing is complete and accurate and that your NAP is correct, otherwise, you can send potential buyers to the wrong address. Having a proper Google My Business listing can be a very important part of your local SEO strategy. Global SEO is a different story.
Before conducting a Google My Business audit
Now you know that optimizing your website’s NAP can improve your local SEO rankings and of course your business’s visibility. That means half of our job is done. This is something you need to do before you conduct a Google My Business audit – ensuring that your listing has been verified. There are businesses that create a GMB listing with their account. When the process of verification is completed your next step will be filling out a form that is completely unique and made for your business. The form will be later on sent to the owner of the account. Don’t skip this – check all the details in case you have to correct anything.
Third pro tip
- If you encounter some fake reviews or fake listings you can use Google’s form to report fake reviews and you need to do this.
Reviewing listings data
This review is very important because it can ensure that you’ve submitted the correct information to Google and you want Google to have correct and current information on your business. Your customers find you easily if they have all the necessary information like address or phone number. This will help your business succeed in local search and if you are selling something (and not shipping it worldwide) local SEO is very important. Once you have a complete audit, you’ll be satisfied that you took all that time and made an effort to optimize your listing. In case you need some help with building citations you can find reliable professionals to do this part for you, in fact, you can hire people to do pretty much everything for you – keep reading.
Outsourcing is a great way
Outsourcing any aspect of your business is much better than doing everything on your own. If you are overworked you will encounter problems on every front and your business will suffer. See what you know least and hire professionals to help you with that part of your business. This can be a great investment and help just like we helped you now with more information about the Google My Business audit. Good luck!
