If you’re trying to boost your local SEO, it’s time to give Google My Business a chance. For a majority of businesses, a Google My Business listing is just as important, if not more, than social media and other content marketing. It’s an easy way to boost your online presence.

Once you’ve set up your profile, as a local business, you need to optimize your Google My Business profile. By doing so, you’ll rank higher in local searches and show up in more searches overall.

Here are a few tips to help you optimize your profile and improve your local SEO.

1. Verify Your Business

Google wants to make sure you’re operating a legitimate business, so it’s important that you verify yours. Most local businesses verify by mail but others have different verification options such as email or phone. It just depends on the type of business you’re running.

2. Complete Your Profile

Once you’re verified, you need to complete your profile. This will help improve the ranking of your profile once you have all of your information gathered. Ayesha Ambreen of Right Solution explains the importance of completing your business profile.

“If you want to improve the ranking of your profile, start with the basics. Populate all the fields with relevant and accurate information, write keyword-rich descriptions, and add visuals.” –  Ayesha Ambreen

Including your products and services is a great way to improve your local SEO ranking. Filling out your products and services will not only tell potential consumers what you offer, but it’ll also keep them on your profile longer. This will make Google see your profile as more important than that of your competitor!

3. Include Pictures

A picture is worth a thousand words, right? Be sure to upload new pictures regularly to your profile. While your business description is important, pictures allow potential customers to actually visualize their experience with your business. This will help them determine whether your business is a good fit for their needs.

Plus, businesses that have more pictures tend to receive more clicks, calls, and direction requests. Unlike other insights metrics, pictures can directly influence customer actions as they’re more likely to be visible in the same place as the call-to-action buttons.

4. Reviews

Google loves reviews. One of the most important things you can do to help boost your local SEO ranking on Google is to get more reviews. Reviews will help you rank on Google Maps and improve your click-through rate in the search results. According to MOZ’s Local Search Ranking Factors Survey, online reviews are thought to make up 10% of how Google decides to rank search results.

Not only will these reviews boost your credibility, but they’ll leave a lasting impression on visitors. When your business receives a new review, good or bad, it’s important that you respond to it. This simple action not only shows visitors that you’re listening to them, but it also shows the Google algorithm that your business is engaged, responsive, and actively using the platform.

5. Share Posts Regularly

By default, posts are live for 7 days after they’re published and can be set to be visible for up to 14 days. This doesn’t mean you should be ignoring your Google My Business profile. Adding regular posts enhances the user experience and adds value to your Google My Business profile, so it’s important that you treat it like other social media platforms and share posts regularly.

When creating posts, try to use keywords associated with your business. If you’re a marketing company and you want to show up in searches for “marketing,” then you need to be using content-rich keywords in your posts. The best part about these posts is that you can share the same posts over and over again since they have an “expiration date” to the public.

Get Going on Google My Business

There are some other things you can do in order to improve your Google My Business profile, but these tips are essential to optimizing your profile and improving your local SEO ranking. For now, Google My Business is free to use, so hurry and set up your profile! Go get your business found.