The Time to Create Your Service-Area Google My Business Listing is Now.
Thought there was no point in creating a Google My Business (GMB) listing due to not having a physical address? Think again. GMB listings are crucial for improving local rankings for service area business and should be created and optimized ASAP. If you want to outrank your competitors, creating a Google My Business listing is a great starting point.
Google My Business is an excellent tool for showcasing your business online and is imperative for local, organic rankings. However, for the longest time, GMB was primarily for businesses that had a brick-and-mortar location as you needed to make your address publicly visible. Since many service-area businesses (like locksmiths and pest control services) don’t have a physical location that customers can visit, GMB was not a viable option.
Service-area businesses are not restricted to a physical location so they should not be restricted online either. Google has since updated their guidelines, allowing service-area businesses to create Google My Business listings without displaying an address publicly. The time to take advantage of this opportunity is now.
Drive more leads online with Google My Business
Local Listing for Service-Area and Hybrid Businesses
The service-area option on Google My Business tells potential customers the area your business services. If users are confused as to what areas your business operates in, you risk losing potential customers. You can easily remove this resistance to conversion by having a fully optimized GMB listing.
While the service-area option is technically open to anyone to use, it should primarily be used for service-area businesses or hybrid businesses.
Service-Area Business
A business that visits or delivers to customers directly but does not serve customers at a business address. It is important to note that you may create only one profile for the metropolitan area that you serve.
Hybrid Business
A business that serves customers at a business address, as well as directly visits or delivers to customers. This could be for a restaurant that also delivers food or a retail store that delivers purchased goods. Hybrid businesses can show their storefront address, set their hours for when they are staffed at that address, as well as designate a service area.
Let the Google My Business Experts Take the Lead
While the opportunities and rewards Google My Business brings for service-area businesses are large, there are still many rules and regulations that must be followed. If these are violated, you risk having your listing suspended or even worse, removed completely.
Let the Google My Business experts at Ontario SEO deal with all the technicalities while making your business more visible online so you can focus on what matters most, your customers.