Google has a wide variety of products that aid in our professional as well as private lives. The Google “ecosystem” if utilized to its full potential can be quite advantageous. Google My Business is a platform provided by the tech giant for local search visibility. It helps businesses promote them on Google Search and attract new customers.
Why is Google My Business so important?
Let’s say you are visiting Paris and want to explore all the historical sites. You are looking for an experienced guide or an affordable tour that makes your trip memorable. You search on Google and a couple of tour companies pop up. The listings show name, address, timings, and the most important customer reviews. You will most probably go for the company with the most positive reviews instead of the one which has missing information because that seems a bit unreliable.
Google My Business enables companies as well as small businesses to promote their Business Profiles and website on Google Search and GoEverythingws business owners to connect with customers, post updates to their Business Profile, and see how customers are interacting with their business in local search. Obviously, everything comes with a downside and GMB is no exception.
It is quite possible that due to a human error you or a colleague may have forgotten that you had previously made an account on Google My Business or perhaps you moved locations and made a new account instead of updating the listing.
Consequently, you will now have multiple or duplicate listings. When you have complete singular listings on GMB, the chances of customer trust increase significantly.
Making information accessible?
After you have made an account on Google My Business, consumers will be able to see how and where to visit your store. This will include vital information about your business such as its name, address, operating hours, etc. It is extremely essential to keep the details up to date as customers will find it inconvenient to guess at details.
Managing and editing GMB
You can access your Google My Business via your phone or your laptop. Simply search for your listing and you will be able to easily edit the listing. If you have changed locations, you can update them efficiently through your account.
The importance of deleting and merging your GMB listing
As a result of miscommunication or an honest mistake, you may end up with multiple or duplicate listings. While multiple listings are discouraged, duplicate listings are flagged by Google and will affect your local SEO.
In the case of duplicate listing, Google has the authority to rank the listing that is incomplete and has no reviews rather than the up-to-date one. This will have a major negative impact on your potential customers.
How to duplicate/multiple listings can impact a business negatively
As mentioned before multiple/duplicate listing can become a serious problem since it provides conflicting information to the customer who will be directed elsewhere if the information is conflicting. Secondly, Google may show the listing which is out of date and missing information resulting in loss of potential customers plus if the duplicate listing is left for too long on Google My Business these may end up at Yelp, Trip Advisor, and Yahoo sites where you do not have the power to edit.
How to merge listings?
Follow these simple steps to merge your Google My Business listings;
- In the case that both listings are verified, you will have to unverify the listing that you want to merge.
- Make sure your business address matches exactly
- If the address matches then Google will let you merge the two listings via the contact form
- However, if addresses do not match the use the “suggest an edit” feature in Google to rectify the location. Edit the address, name, location, etc
How to delete a duplicate listing?
To delete a listing from Google My business, refer to the steps below.
- This is applicable when you do not wish to merge your account
- According to Google, “Before you remove a duplicate: Make sure that you’re not removing the location that’s already been verified, or else you’ll need to verify it again, and update the location that you want to keep with any crucial information from the location that you want to remove. Once a location is removed, it can’t be recovered.”
- While removing the listing make sure it is the one that is not verified otherwise you will have t dot it again
Update all your business profile location - Once the listing is removed, it cannot be undone.
- Sign in to Google My Business
- Go to the Info tab.
- Click Remove Listings and the Google My Listing will be deleted.
Google My Business is a vital tool to improve your business and promote it to attract new customers. Hence make sure your business profile is always updated and develop a strong trust between your customers but provide them with all the relevant details.
