Today we are discussing the\u00a0Top 10 GMB Conversion Factors<\/strong>\u00a0that experts agree are critical from the latest\u00a0Local Search Ranking Factors study<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n<\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Video Transcript<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Hi there, Darren here with another Whitespark Weekly video! These videos are to help you understand local SEO, give you new optimization strategies, and keep you up to date on all the latest in local search. If you\u2019re new here, please subscribe to our <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/c\/WhitesparkCa\">YouTube channel<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/mailchi.mp\/whitespark\/local-insider\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">sign up for our newsletter<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>How you can crank up conversions on your Google My Business listing? The main thing I really want to get across here is that if you get your Google My Business listing right, fully optimize and enhance it, then ranking in the fourth, fifth, sixth position, or even a ninth position ranking can outperform the number one ranking. You can actually be driving more leads from your listing even though you\u2019re not rank as high as another listing. The greatest way to demonstrate this is by example.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"515\" src=\"https:\/\/whitespark.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/image-141.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-5466\" srcset=\"https:\/\/whitespark.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/image-141.png 1024w, https:\/\/whitespark.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/image-141-300x151.png 300w, https:\/\/whitespark.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/image-141-768x386.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>This example here illustrates this point. I did a search for <em>Drain Cleaning Edmonton<\/em> and the number one result is All About Drain Cleaning. You can see that they\u2019re at a P.O. Box. The only photo they have is this picture of an industrial complex on street view, it\u2019s not even a photo added by the business, Google automatically pulls it in from Streetview. They don\u2019t have any business hours listed. They\u2019ve got one questionable five-star review. I\u2019m not going call that business, they do not look like a legit business. They\u2019re very sketchy, they might have ranked number one, but they have not earned my trust with their listing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Now on the other hand, take a look over here on the other side, Mr Rooter. They\u2019ve got this amazing little box that\u2019s related to my search. This is pulling\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/whitespark.ca\/google-posts\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Google Posts<\/a>\u00a0where they\u2019ve mentioned \u201cdrain cleaning\u201d, so anything related to my search term is showing up here. They\u2019ve got their hours listed. They\u2019ve got an appointments URL. They\u2019ve got this nice Q&A section that talks about specifics related to the business. They\u2019ve got nice photos. There are 628 Google reviews with a 4.8 star rating. This business just looks legit \u2013 they look trustworthy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"960\" height=\"540\" src=\"https:\/\/whitespark.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/This-Biz-is-Legit.gif\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-5467\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>They\u2019ve got a bunch of stuff on here that is speaking specifically to my search query. So, this listing is going to get the call. And I can tell you that it gets the call because I actually was looking for a drain cleaning service a couple weeks ago, I ran this search and I called Mr. Rooter. Even though they ranked #4, I\u2019m like, \u201cOh, they\u2019re #1!\u201d That\u2019s the business I\u2019m going to call, they definitely earned my business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This question of Google My Business conversion rate optimization (CRO) is a new concept and important to Local SEO. I wanted to include it into the <a href=\"https:\/\/whitespark.ca\/local-search-ranking-factors\/\">2020 Local Search Ranking Factor survey<\/a>. I asked the survey participants,<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>what individual factors do you think have the biggest impact on conversions from Google My Business?<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>These were the results.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>(Want to see all of the top highlights and takeaways from the 2020 study?\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=CJ5-iaCoOgU&t=10s\">Check out this presentation from the Whitespark Local Search Summit<\/a>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"577\" src=\"https:\/\/whitespark.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/image-142.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-5468\" srcset=\"https:\/\/whitespark.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/image-142.png 1024w, https:\/\/whitespark.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/image-142-300x169.png 300w, https:\/\/whitespark.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/image-142-768x433.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>These are the top 10 factors. I want to work through them with you and look at each one individually.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">#1. High Numerical Google Ratings (4-5 Stars) + #2. Positive Sentiment in Review Text + #3. Quantity of Native Google Reviews<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>The first thing that you\u2019ll note is that reviews are the top three factors that will drive conversions. That makes so much sense. If you\u2019re looking for a business, you\u2019re going to look at their reviews. Do they have good ratings? Is there positive sentiment? Are people talking about the reviews? What is the total quantity of reviews?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"793\" height=\"810\" src=\"https:\/\/whitespark.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/image-143.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-5469\" srcset=\"https:\/\/whitespark.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/image-143.png 793w, https:\/\/whitespark.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/image-143-294x300.png 294w, https:\/\/whitespark.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/image-143-768x784.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 793px) 100vw, 793px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>If we look at Mr. Rooter, you can see they have 692 reviews, lots of positive sentiment, lots of responses from the business owner. The business owner is taking the time to respond. That\u2019s an important factor that you see that they\u2019re active. You can tell that they care. They\u2019re also showing review attributes in the reviews. Positive attributes, professionalism, responsiveness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/whitespark.ca\/blog\/convert-local-searchers-into-customers-with-reviews\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Reviews can play a huge role in your conversions<\/a>, so make sure you\u2019re getting lots of good reviews. A couple things you should do to grow your reviews: ask every customer, ask them to mention the service that they had performed that will help you to get keywords in your reviews (which can also drive that \u201crelated to your search\u201d box results) and make sure you\u2019re responding to all your reviews.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">#4. Proximity of Address to the Point of Search<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>The next thing is proximity of address to the point of search. The trouble with this one is you can\u2019t do anything about it. You can\u2019t pick up your business and move it to whoever is searching and so there\u2019s nothing you can do about it. But it does make sense as a conversion factor, because if you\u2019re looking for a dentist, you may want to find one that\u2019s closer to you or if you\u2019re looking for a coffee shop, you want to find one that\u2019s close. That\u2019s why this ranks high as a conversion factor. But it\u2019s not actionable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">#5. GMB Messaging Feature is Enabled<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"584\" src=\"https:\/\/whitespark.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/image-144.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-5470\" srcset=\"https:\/\/whitespark.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/image-144.png 1024w, https:\/\/whitespark.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/image-144-300x171.png 300w, https:\/\/whitespark.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/image-144-768x438.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>You can turn on messaging in the Google My Business app (and since recording this episode, <a href=\"https:\/\/whitespark.ca\/blog\/gmb-messaging-desktop\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Google has enhanced messaging functionality on desktop<\/a>). In the GMB app (and in the GMB dashboard on desktop), you\u2019ll get a notification if someone sends you a message. The message can either come through the Google Maps app on a mobile phone, or through desktop (there\u2019s a request a quote button that shows up for searchers). People can message you directly and of course, that makes perfect sense as a conversion factor. Because if you can provide an instant means for person to ask you a question, that\u2019s a lead, and you\u2019re driving conversions and leads directly from a good listing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you don\u2019t have that turned on, make sure you turn on the messaging feature, and start getting those direct leads. You might as well get them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">#6. Proper Hours Set on GMB Listing<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Next thing is making sure you have the proper hours set in GMB. \u00a0Google has expanded the hours options and you can actually turn on special hours or more hours. You can share hours for specific areas of your business (brunch, online service hours, senior hours, etc). You can also add special seasonal hours.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"812\" height=\"311\" src=\"https:\/\/whitespark.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/image-145.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-5471\" srcset=\"https:\/\/whitespark.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/image-145.png 812w, https:\/\/whitespark.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/image-145-300x115.png 300w, https:\/\/whitespark.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/image-145-768x294.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 812px) 100vw, 812px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">#7. Completeness of GMB Listing<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Another conversion factor is completeness of your Google My Business listing. This is important because the more enhanced your listing is the more likely people are to convert.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"511\" height=\"964\" src=\"https:\/\/whitespark.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/image-146.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-5472\" srcset=\"https:\/\/whitespark.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/image-146.png 511w, https:\/\/whitespark.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/image-146-159x300.png 159w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 511px) 100vw, 511px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Our example of All About Drain Cleaning vs. Mr. Rooter really illustrates that. <a href=\"https:\/\/whitespark.ca\/business-information\/\">When your listing is complete<\/a>, you have all of these great features \u2013 there\u2019s just more for the searcher to consume on your listing, more areas for them to understand your business. You\u2019ve got a description, <a href=\"https:\/\/whitespark.ca\/photos-videos\/\">you\u2019ve got photos,<\/a> you\u2019ve got <a href=\"https:\/\/whitespark.ca\/products-services\/\">Google products<\/a>, you\u2019ve got lots of images, you\u2019ve got <a href=\"https:\/\/whitespark.ca\/reviews-2\/\">great reviews<\/a> \u2013 really building out your listing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The action item here is, if there is a field in Google My Business make sure you fill it out! This will help you drive more conversions. Because it\u2019s just more for people to understand your business. It\u2019s like if you had a website, and one website just had name, address, and phone number on it, and then the other website had like lots of sections and services and photos and talked about all the different things the business does. Then you know which business we\u2019re going to call. It\u2019s the same kind of thing with your Google My Business listing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Another benefit of this is that you can trigger the \u201cRelated to Your Search\u201d panel through enhancing your listing. You can actually help drive this related to your search panel, and\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/whitespark.ca\/questions-and-answers\/\">that panel can pull in information from the Google Q&A section<\/a>, it can pull in information from your Google reviews and from your\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/whitespark.ca\/google-posts\/\">Google posts<\/a>. \u00a0By making sure that you complete your listing, you can help trigger that extra little panel with related search queries, which is it\u2019s fantastic. That\u2019s actually the thing that really caught my eye when I called Mr. Rooter: that \u201cRelated to Your Search\u201d. I was like, \u201cOh, they\u2019ve got lots of stuff related to drain cleaning, this is probably a company that specializes in that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"950\" height=\"957\" src=\"https:\/\/whitespark.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/image-147.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-5473\" srcset=\"https:\/\/whitespark.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/image-147.png 950w, https:\/\/whitespark.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/image-147-298x300.png 298w, https:\/\/whitespark.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/image-147-150x150.png 150w, https:\/\/whitespark.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/image-147-768x774.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 950px) 100vw, 950px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">#8. GMB Booking Feature is Enabled<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>The next thing that you can optimize is\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/whitespark.ca\/bookings\/\">the booking feature<\/a>. This obviously would have a huge impact on conversions from GMB because if you turn on the booking feature, people can actually book an appointment with you right on Google. Not every business has this, so\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/maps\/reserve\/partners\">you have to be tied up with one of their partners<\/a>. The way you book appointments at your business has to be through one of the applications that Google has a partnership with.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"678\" height=\"582\" src=\"https:\/\/whitespark.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/image-148.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-5474\" srcset=\"https:\/\/whitespark.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/image-148.png 678w, https:\/\/whitespark.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/image-148-300x258.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 678px) 100vw, 678px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">#9. Frequency of Google Posts Posted<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Another one is frequency of\u00a0Google Posts\u00a0posted and making sure that you\u2019re posting regularly. You should have a post up there at least once a week that talks about either your services, has a special offer that you\u2019re promoting, if you\u2019ve just launched an online store, this is an example from one of our clients, CosaFina.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"792\" height=\"589\" src=\"https:\/\/whitespark.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/image-149.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-5475\" srcset=\"https:\/\/whitespark.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/image-149.png 792w, https:\/\/whitespark.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/image-149-300x223.png 300w, https:\/\/whitespark.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/image-149-768x571.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 792px) 100vw, 792px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Putting these Google Posts up there can really help convert because someone might be looking for a specific thing. As I mentioned earlier, Google can pull that content into the \u201cRelated to Your Search\u201d results. There are huge benefits \u2013 huge conversion benefits \u2013 to making sure that you\u2019re always posting with Google Posts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">#10. Comprehensive Google Questions & Answers Section With Owner Seeded Questions<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Finally, the tenth top factor is making sure you have a comprehensive Google Q&A section that has been filled out by the owner with specific questions. Here\u2019s a great example. This business, A.B. May Heating, A\/C, Plumbing & Electrical, has all these different questions like:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>How does your service work?<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Do you install garbage disposals? (That\u2019s actually a review of the company in there.)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Do you do furnace cleaning?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"751\" height=\"761\" src=\"https:\/\/whitespark.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/Questions-and-Answers.gif\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-5476\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>People that are coming to your listing may have these questions about your business. They might be wondering\u2026 Do you do this service? Is there parking nearby? What are your hours? All kinds of questions get put into the Q&A section. If you pre-emptively add those to your listing, any questions people have might be answered already. They\u2019ll be like \u201cOh, yes, they do drain cleaning. I\u2019ll call them.\u201d And so anything that you can answer in advance on your listing, you might as well put it in there. <a href=\"https:\/\/whitespark.ca\/blog\/gmb-study\/\">Very few businesses are taking advantage of this<\/a>. You should.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The takeaway here is to seed your own Q&A. Go into the front end of your Knowledge Panel (you need to be logged into your GMB account), then ask the question, and answer it. Do that on your listing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Another thing you should do is you should up-vote your favorite question, the one that you really want people to see. A great example is on the Whitespark listing, someone asked the question \u201cIs manual citation building better than Yext?\u201d We answered that question with a yes. That\u2019s the one that we love having highlighted on our listing. Take the one that you want to be highlighted, and make sure you upvote it and get two other people to upvote it as well. If it has three or more upvotes, and it has more than the other questions, it\u2019ll appear actually on your business profile when someone does a branded search.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Alright, so those are the top 10 factors. I hope it was helpful. If you need any help with this, we have an expert team that does this work through our <a href=\"https:\/\/whitespark.ca\/google-my-business-management-service\/\"><strong>Google Business Profile & Local SEO Services<\/strong><\/a>. That\u2019s all I have for you this week. I hope that was helpful and see you next week.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"Top 10 GMB Conversion Factors That Will Help You Grow Your Leads | Whitespark","_seopress_titles_desc":"Google My Business conversion rate optimization (CRO) is important in Local SEO. 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