Google My Business (GMB) can transform how you acquire customers online.
“For many businesses, I’ll go as far as saying that GMB is more important than their own website.” – Shawn Joshi
If you’re in charge of helping your company get more customers, this article will arm you with the know-how to turn GMB into a revenue-pumping machine.
(While 10x-ing your own value in the process.)
I’ll be using real world data from my own campaigns and third-party sources to illustrate just how powerful GMB has become in 2019.
Google is getting greedy with its own traffic.
They don’t want to send people to your website if they don’t have to.
About 8 years ago – so a million in internet years – Google gave people ten blue links, along with some ads when they searched for something.
Things have changed in a big way since then.
Google has been de-prioritizing organic search results in favor of ads and what are known as “No Click Searches”.
No Click Searches: Instances where people are searching on Google, only to get the information they need without needing to visit any websites.
Google understands that it can only get so aggressive in terms of prioritizing ads over organic search results.
What they’ve gotten very good at is getting people to stay on search results pages until they actually click an ad.
They’re doing this in many ways that you’ve already seen – and it’s happening more frequently.
Here are some examples:
This may not seem like a huge deal at first, but the growth of No Click Searches is no joke.
And it’s affecting local businesses.
No Click Searches now account for 47% of all search queries.
Google’s intent is to offer users as much value as possible directly within search results – so when people do something that Google can’t directly answer – the chances they click an ad (so Google gets paid) increases.
Rand Fishkin, one of the key leaders in SEO, recently held a presentation about this at a conference. Here’s one of the slides that refers to this:
Business owners who rely on traffic from search engines previously just had to worry about the growing prominence of ads – as Google pushed organic results lower and lower on the page.
From the data above, it’s clear we’re now fighting against these ads, and the rapidly growing instances of No Click Searches.
No Click Searches on mobile: The real kicker is how No Click Searches work in combination with mobile devices. Due to the small screens, No Click Searches account for over 60% of searches in some cases.
The small screens mean that ads get even more priority on mobile.
When ads are followed by Google’s efforts to keep users from clicking on organic results (answer boxes, etc) it turns into even more No Click Searches.
Here’s an example of what we see when we search “mortgage rates Calgary”. Normal organic results aren’t even shown until the bottom of the third screen.
This illustrates the lengths Google is taking to offer people information directly in search results – so they can keep them on their pages longer – instead of having them visit your site.
That bright shiny site you paid a ton for – and are paying someone truckloads of cash to optimize for search engines?
Even if it ranks first, it’s now buried on the second half of the page.
This is why so many sites are seeing decreases in their search engine traffic – even when their rankings haven’t decreased.
Here’s what a well respected agency owner had to say on LinkedIn.
Let’s look at the math.
The effort (cost) needed to rank first hasn’t changed between then and now.
But the ROI has.
Let’s assume your website converts visitors to customers at a rate of 5%.
And each customer is worth $100 in revenue.
Let’s say you’re paying an agency $1,500 a month to manage your campaign.
Here’s how things looked before the spike in No Click Searches:
Ranking = #1
Total monthly searches = 3,000
Percentage of visitors that click on the #1 ranking = 27%
Website visitors = 810
Customers (5% x 810) = 41
Revenue (41 x $100) = $4,100
Revenue – Expenses ($4,100 – $1,500) = $2,600
Previous ROI = 173%
In 2019, you’re still paying an agency the same fees, but No Click Searches now account for 47% of all search queries:
Ranking = #1
Total monthly searches = 3,000
No Click Searches (47% x 3,000) = 1,410
Total monthly searches, excluding No Click Searches (3,000 – 1,410) = 1,590
Percentage of visitors that click on the #1 ranking = 27%
Website visitors = 430
Customers (5% x 430) = 22
Revenue = $2,200
Revenue – Expenses ($2,200 – $1,500) = $700
ROI in 2019= 47%
Keep in mind this example does not account for other expenses, like your overhead or cost of goods sold (COGS).
Moral of the story?
Your costs aren’t yielding close to the returns they used to.
But many agencies and consultants would never tell you that.
Because your campaign is how they make their living – even if it’s slowly causing you to lose your shirt in the process.
The rise of Google My Business
Google My Business has been around for quite a while – before No Click Searches were even a thing.
Here’s some of the other names it’s gone by:
- Google Places
- Google Maps
- Google+
- Google Local
- Google Business
It’s grown in prominence in terms of how and when these listings appear in search results.
Everything we’ve covered to this point is about how Google is getting greedy with its traffic.
They don’t want to send people to you unless they have to (or unless you pay for it with ads).
But the fact is – people will always want and need to speak to local businesses at some point.
Google knows this (they know a lot, after all).
So rather than having people go to your site when they reach that point – they built an entire platform for people to connect with businesses – one that they own.
Before you start yelling at the sky and condemning Google, it’s important to realize two things…
1. We need to play nice with Google (you’ll see why shortly).
2. Google My Business actually generates more customers than your website does on its own.
Resist Google at your own risk
We have two choices.
We can take our ball and go home – crying about how Google is evil, agencies are evil, and we’re not going to play with either any more.
We’ll debate the ethics of Google’s desire to keep their traffic. We’ll argue over the usefulness of agencies and consultants.
Or, we can choose to be rational problem solvers, survey the digital landscape, and let the results drive us towards better decisions.
And honestly, that’s what I love about digital marketing:
At the end of the day, the data is all that matters. Data tells us what’s working, what’s failing, and where we should invest our time and money.
Why Google My Business is so important for your business.
(Using data from third party sources and my own confidential campaigns.)
I don’t want you to just take my word for it.
The internet is filled with unqualified opinions – so let’s not add to that dumpster fire.
Here’s what the data says:
1. 46% of all Google searches have a local intent. [Source: HubSpot]
That’s about 1.6 billion searches per day where people are looking for products, services, and information in their location.
2. 93% of local searches now feature Google My Business listings. [Source: STAT Analytics]
There’s a lot of people using Google every day for local purposes.
And now we know that virtually all of those searches feature Google My Business listings.
3. 68% of people contact a business directly from search results. [Source: Search Engine Land]
If they’re on a mobile device – which we’ve established is already 50% of all web traffic (and growing) – all someone needs to do is tap a link…
And they’re calling you – or your competitor – directly from search results.
These three data points show the importance of Google My Business – especially when we already know that Google wants to send people to a platform they own.
But we haven’t even covered the most important one…
“88% of people trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations.” [Source: Forbes]
Welcome to the Review Economy
Reviews from trusted third parties – like Google – are at the core of buying behavior in 2019.
There’s no way to escape it.
People don’t want to hear you toot your own horn.
They want others talking about how great you are – on websites they trust.
This is the single most important piece of data which speaks to the usefulness of Google My Business.
When used correctly, your Google My Business listing can become a high octane customer acquisition engine.
That’s because the people viewing your listing are being pre-sold on doing business with you, because of one of the most persuasive assets a business has…
Social proof.
Let’s look at another example of how traffic from Google My Business differs from normal search engine traffic – previously known to be the best quality traffic in terms of converting visitors into customers.
Important: As this is based on real data from a client, I am not going to share the industry to protect their confidentiality.
I will say that the numbers are significant (analyzing millions in revenue).
Revenue per lead (search traffic): $197
Revenue per lead (Google My Business traffic): $679
Leads from Google My Business are worth 245% more than regular search traffic.
Google is investing BIG in Google My Business because they failed with this other thing…
In April 2019, Google started shutting down their failed social network, Google+.
This was at least their third attempt at trying to build a competitor to Facebook. The other two:
- Google Buzz
- Google Wave
It’s pretty clear what’s going on here.
Google knows they can’t compete with social networks like Facebook and Instagram in the same way.
So they’re building a platform based on what their users are already doing – searching for information, products, and services in their location.
Over the last 12 months, here are some of the new features that have been added to Google My Business:
- Posts (like a blog)
- People can ask questions (which anyone can answer publicly)
- Messaging (think of Facebook Messenger – but by Google)
- Customers can book appointments directly on the listing
See how Google My Business is slowly turning into a social network all on its own?
But more importantly…
Notice how Google My Business allows people to take actions they used to only be able to take on your website?
People don’t need to visit your website anymore to:
- Call you
- Message you
- Ask questions
- Post reviews
- Find your offers and pricing
…all the core functions of a company’s website.
Now, you’re probably wondering:
“How *exactly* can I take advantage of Google My Business?”
“I already have my listing claimed – so am I good?”
Most businesses will just claim their listing
Maybe they’ll pay an agency $750 to $1,500 to “optimize it” for them too – while that agency just copies and pastes information from their site and calls it a day.
And then it’s forgotten about.
Maybe they’ll visit their listing every now and then to respond to a review – but that’s it.
If you haven’t guessed, that’s the wrong way.
A shift is coming. Whether we like it or not.
Your best prospects – the ones using Google to find your products and services – don’t need to visit your site to decide if they want to do business with you.
The smartest companies know this and they’re doing something about it.
Here’s the catch:
In order to thrive on Google My Business, you have to stop thinking about it like a generic Yellow Pages listing. Handling it like a Yelp page isn’t good enough, either.
Because if you’re still thinking along those lines, you’ll never be able to make Google My Business work. I mean really work.
But if you’re ready to give Google My Business the respect it deserves, it will change everything for you:
- More new customers.
- More returning customers.
- And a plump bottom line.
ARTICLE SOURCE: https://www.shawnjoshi.com/google-my-business/p1#greed