How to Add Keywords to Your Google My Business

What is Google My Business?

Before we get started, I need to do my job as your go-to SEO guru and give you a bit of a heads up: our old mates at Google HQ have officially changed the name of “Google My Business” to “Google Business Profile”.

But let’s be real, 99% of people still call it Google My Business, so that’s what we’re going to do, too.

Now, what is this Google My Business thing and why do you need to care about it?

Google My Business is basically just a free business listing on Google.

You know those little business listings that pop up when you search for a “café near you” on Google Maps? Or those profiles that pop up on the right side of search results when you plug in, “local café opening hours”?

Those business listings are the Google My Business profiles. They highlight essential info that can improve your customer experience, build your authority and help get customers in the door. From housing Google reviews to sharing your opening hours to providing direct links to your phone number, website, address and more, Google My Business is a must for businesses big or small.

But what does a Google My Business profile have to do with keywords? Let’s find out.

Why should you use keywords in your Google My Business profile?

As we’ve already covered, keywords are the bread and butter of SEO. They tell Google what your business is about and helps Google show your website to the right kinds of people.

When you add keywords to your Google My Business profile, it does the same thing.

Google uses the keywords you give it to determine relevance, distance and prominence.

Relevance is all about how well a Google My Business profile matches the queries a user is searching for online. The more detail you can add to your profile, the better Google can understand your business and match you up with the users who are looking for you.

Distance simply speaks to how far your business is from the searcher’s location. The closer your business is, the more likely you are to show up in local search results.

And lastly, prominence is all about how well-known your business is. The longer you’ve been in the business game (and the longer you’ve had a Google My Business profile), the more likely it is for Google to show your business in search results.

Why? Because prominence is all about brand authority. It shows your business is trustworthy. And a trusty, experienced, well-loved business always looks better in the eyes of Google.

Keywords make it easier for Google to determine your relevance, distance and prominence, but only if we use relevant keywords for your business.

How do you find relevant keywords for your business?

It’s way easier than you’d think.

It all starts with a brainstorm. Sit down with a pen and paper and list out all the words and phrases related to your business and the products or services you provide. Write down as many as you can possibly think of – this will make it a lot easier for you to start your keyword research with a bang!

Next, using a keyword research tool (my go-to is SERanking), plug in the words and phrases you brainstormed to find related keywords. This research process may just reiterate that you have the right words on your original brainstorming list, but it might also help you uncover extra topics and pain points you weren’t even aware of.

Now, you won’t be able to go after ALL of the keywords, so spend some time refining your keyword research list and choosing the ones that are most relevant to your business.

How do you add keywords to your Google My Business profile?

You’ve got your keywords, but how do you actually add them to your Google My Business profile? Just like keyword research, it’s a lot easier than it sounds, and I’ve made it even easier with a list of places you need to add keywords to.

Business description

Adding keywords to your business description is the easiest way to boost the relevance of your Google My Business profile. And if we’re talking about boosting relevance, you want to include keywords that relate to the products and services your business provides.

Products and services

There’s a section within your Google My Business profile for your products and services, which is the perfect spot to drop your product-and-service-related keywords, but make sure they are specific to your offers. For example, if you’re a photographer, wedding photography, family photography and newborn photography are great keywords to include here.

FAQs

Yep, you can even add FAQs to your Google My Business profile. While you absolutely want to add keywords into this section, you need to remember to still dish out answers to your frequently asked Q’s! Keywords are important, but dishing out a fab customer experience is even more so.

Reviews

In an ideal world, all your reviews would be jam-packed with keywords that would boost your ranking. This isn’t always (or even often!) the case, but you can add your own well-researched keywords by responding to these reviews.

If you received a review for your wedding photography but there was no mention of your services in the review, you could include a, “I’m so glad you chose me as your wedding photographer!” in your response.

It doesn’t have to be lengthy, complicated or overly stuffed with keywords, but it makes a big difference to reply to reviews with these keywords.

My final two cents

Before I let you go off and pack your Google My Business profile with keywords, I have one final thing for you to keep in mind…

Please, for the love of SEO, don’t be spammy.

Make sure you use keywords naturally. Change up the keywords and phrases you use to add variety.

And, most importantly, if a keyword doesn’t fit naturally, don’t try to force it in. Sounding natural and providing a great customer experience is more important than adding one more keyword, so if it doesn’t fit in, leave it out!