Did you know that for most local businesses, their Google Business Profile (previously referred to as Google My Business or GMB) provides most of their leads at the highest ROI? Many businesses don’t realize this until they pay an expert to optimize their profile and subsequently begin tracking those specific leads.
Here are 5 common myths about Google Business Profiles (also referred to as map pack results):
Myth #1 – If I have the most reviews, I will show up in the top of the results. Or, I don’t have the most reviews, so why even try?
Although having many positive reviews does help, it does not guarantee high ranking. This is because there are many other factors and variables at play when it comes to which profiles appear at the top and which do not. Factors such as, the searcher’s actual keywords, the searchers search history and intent, the searcher’s location. And most importantly, when it comes to ranking, the active profiles always get higher rankings than stale and inactive profiles.

Myth #2 – I don’t need to worry about local SEO if I can just focus on the map pack instead.
Studies and tests have shown a direct correlation between websites that rank and online profiles that rank. These two go hand in hand. No matter how optimized your Google Business Profile is, if your website doesn’t rank, neither will your profile (unless you have very low competition).

Myth # 3 – I can’t have a Google Business Profile if I operate my business from home.
If you work from home, you can setup your profile as a service area business using your residential address and telling Google not to display this address. The only issue you may run into is some directory and citation listings don’t allow this. So, you will either have no choice but to display your home address on the directories or you will be limited to directories that also allow you to not display your home address. And some directories won’t accept the home address. If you are super serious about your local rankings, I would go ahead and find a small inexpensive office to operate your business out of and just count it as part of your SEO expense. But, again, this is not entirely necessary. Also, if you go this route, you’ll have to avoid co-working spaces or any offices associated with virtual addresses for the time being. It is getting harder and harder for businesses to get their profiles verified at these locations, unfortunately.

Myth # 4 – I must pick one primary category and I can’t change it.
Whichever category you choose, you will get most of your leads from this. For instance, if you offer numerous services you must choose which of those services is the most profitable for you. But, many people don’t know that you can change the category if you want. For instance, if one category is more popular at certain times of the year, it might make sense to change the category to get more of those types of leads. Just be careful not to change it too frequently because every time the category is changed, it will disrupt your current rankings. And it will take a few days to adjust. So, it will need to be worth the switch. It’s also important to remember to switch it back when the season ends.

Myth # 5 – Optimizing my Google Business Profile has no effect on my SEO.
An active and optimized Google Business Profile does have an impact on your website rankings, as well. Just like I pointed out earlier, these two things are directly related to each other. For the most impact and visibility, you must optimize both your website and your Google Business Profile.
In addition to Google’s online profile, you want to also make sure you have a Bing Places profile and an Apple Business Connect profile. When we manage your Google profile at King Digital Marketing Agency, we include both Bing and Apple, as well.
If your website and Google Business Profile are not showing up in the search results, contact us for a quick and free consultation. We can provide you with our recommendations, as well as a proposal to get you where you need to be. As local SEO experts, we know exactly how to optimize your profile so that search engines see you as the authoritative and trustworthy option.
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Former copywriter and blogger, current entrepreneur, now providing full service digital marketing for clients in her hometown of Albuquerque. In addition to local clients, she also serves niche industry across the United States for the cleaning industry. Bernadette has extensive knowledge in both B2B and consumer marketing (B2C) strategies.
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