How to Manage Google My Business (GMB) Account?

To efficiently manage your google business account, you have to maintain prompt customer engagement. To get the most out of Google business profile, you have to keep posting the latest update, offer, additional product, services, and more; respond to customer queries and messages; take a note on client reviews and improve your services. 

Freelancers manage google business account of their clients and help them build their brand value. 

You will find this article helpful if you are a business owner who wants to manage google my business or a freelancer offering gmb management services. 

Note: While reading this article, please match the numbers in the list with the numbers in the images. 

The Overview of Google Business Profile

Business owners often wonder 'how do I manage my google business account?' To manage my business, you have to completely understand the gmb management portfolio which is elaborated in this article. 

Once you have created a google account to manage my business (GMB), you can view the home page of your profile. Let me explain the tabs one by one. 

1. You can view your business name in the top left corner. 
2. The home page has got the following tabs: home, posts, info, insights, review, messaging, photos, products, services, websites, users, create an ad, get custom Gmail, add a new location, manage locations, verify location, linked accounts, settings, and support.

• Home - the home page provides an overview of your profile. It shows all the statuses such as pending verification, details required to manage google listing, options to connect with your customers eg via messaging, link to create a custom email id, option to share the news with your clients, etc. 
• Posts - in the posts tab, you can find links to create new posts related to your business. I will explain this tab more in detail at the end of this article. 
• Info - this tab shows the complete data you have fed to your profile. You can review the profile details here and make the necessary changes. 
• Insights - in this tab, you can check visibility, engagement, audience details, and more. 
• Reviews - you can check the customer reviews here. The higher the ratings are, the better your service is. To efficiently manage my google reviews, you have to respond to every customer review and scale your google my business management service to the next level.
• Messaging - you can enable messaging options here to allow your customers to communicate with you. 
• Photos - using the photos tab, you can add/edit the logo, cover, photos, and videos. You can also categorize your brand images according to the requirement. 
• Products - this tab allows you to showcase your products and new stocks for your customers. 
• Services - you can add your business category and customized service details in this tab. 
• Website - using this tab, you can create a free website for your business profile. 
• Users - in this tab, you can view the primary and secondary users of your business profile. You can also edit users who can manage the account.
• Create an ad - this tab directs you to create google ads for your business. In case you are interested in advertising your products on Google, you can go for it. 
• Get custom Gmail - this tab takes you to G-suite to create a customized email id for your business. Again, you can opt for this if you need it. 
• Add new location - you can create/add a new business location by click on this tab. 
• Manage locations - this is where you can add, remove, and transfer locations. Also, you can mark any specific location as open, temporarily closed, or permanently closed. I have explained the procedure with screenshots in the article 'How to Add Business to Google My Business?'
• Verify locations - you can enter the 5-digit verification code here and get your business profile verified. 
• Linked accounts - here, you can get your other Google products such as AdWords linked to your business profile. 
• Settings - in this tab, you can mark/unmark services based on the requirement of your business. For example, if your business requires a booking service you can get this marked. Otherwise, you can unmark the booking service.  
• Support - here, Google provides supporting documents for easy use and management of business profiles. 

Google My Business Posts

The features of google my business posts allow you to improve customer engagement. While adding product photos and details, make sure you add relevant keywords to optimize your posts. Online business necessitates search engine optimization for a higher ranking on Google. Let me explain the features of Google Business posts:

3. The posts tab allows you to create new posts for offer, update, event, and product.
4. To add an offer, open the link given for adding an offer, upload photos, add title, feed start and end date, add offer details. Also, add optional details such as voucher code, redeem offer, and terms and conditions. 

5. To add an update, you need to add photos, a description of the update, and relevant buttons such as 'Book,' 'Order online,' and more. Adding buttons is an optional feature.
6. To add an event, you have to upload photos, add title, start and end date, event details, and buttons (which is optional).
7. To add a product, upload photos, add title, include category, add price details, product description, and button. Here, the product description and button are optional features. You can also use the products tab to add a new product. 

How to Add Services?

Google allows you to choose the category and services from the drop-down list while creating the account. What if you want to add more specific service details to your profile? 

8. In such a case, you can use the services tab to create another business category and custom services (as shown in the image).

How to Verify Google Business Account?

Google gets the business profiles verified by three different methods - by sending verification code to your mobile, email, or postal address. You can follow the method google suggests for your business profile. For postal verification, you need to wait for 12 days to receive the 5-digit code.

Once you have received the code, go to the 'verify location' tab, feed your code, and get a verified google business profile with which you can manage google my business locations.

Benefits of Verified Account

You have to get the account verified to get complete access to your business profile, which helps in prompt management of the account.

The complete view of insights, reviews, and options for messaging are the remarkable benefits of verifying your account. 

How do I Get in Touch with Google My Business?

Google offers customized support services to help you in managing the business profile. Even after going through the help section, if you need any further help, you can contact Google via two different means.

9. Click the support tab to open the Help pop-up, scroll to the end of the Help section to see the 'need more help?' where you can find options to 'ask the community' and 'contact Google.' 
10. While contacting Google, you need to explain your query. In the confirm issue section, choose the category of the issue. Then, provide a contact option, which is mostly your Gmail id. 

I have presented the screenshots of the Google Business profile of the University of Michigan for your reference. 

Conclusion

An online business profile is necessary for the era of the internet. Google provides you the ultimate platform for exploring the options and expanding your business online for free. I have presented an overview of Google My Business in the article 'The Handbook of Google My Business Account'. Make use of the business profile and develop your business. Let me know your queries and share your comments.