ICBM Media, Inc.

07/13/2018

CAN ANYONE MAKE CHANGES TO MY GOOGLE MY BUSINESS LISTING, EVEN MY COMPETITION?

It hardly seems fair, but the fact is that anyone, even your competition, can suggest edits to your Google My Business listing.

Worse yet, these surreptitious changes can be made live on your listing without any notification to the business owner. And that includes changes to a business’s physical location.

That’s why it is our practice to log into your Google My Business dashboard daily as part of our Google My Business curation service.

To review recent changes to your listing, open the Google My Business dashboard, and click on “Google Updates.”

This is where you will find a box that allows you to review updates that were published or suggested.

It is not uncommon to find changes by Google based on new information they found about your business from another directory, Google Maps, or a trusted Google user.

Google is supposed to notify the business owner, but don’t count on it. So it’s best to log in to Google My Business frequently to check your listing to ensure that all of your information is correct and accurate.

05/23/2018

FOR LOCAL BUSINESSES, it is clear that webmasters need to rely more on Google platforms and less on their company sites. As we like to say, “Don’t fight the beast, feed the beast.”

There is no question that a typical query on Google Search today is more likely to display Google products than it does organic page results. From paid listings, Local 3-packs, and Knowledge Panels, to review URLs and news and image carousels, more and more of the information users see in search res...

05/14/2018

THE STRATEGY HERE, according to Google, is that if a business owner knows their response will be seen by the reviewer, it might impact the type of response they leave.

Google announced today that the company will begin notifying users who leave reviews on Google Local result pages when owners respond to their reviews. Initially, the reviewer will receive an email notification, but there are plans to offer push notifications too, at a later date. The business’s r...

04/26/2018

THERE IS A RIGHT AND WRONG WAY to claim a Google My Business listing, which is especially true if you are delegating the task to an employee and working with an agency like ICBM Media.

To start with, we think that it is best for our clients to claim their Google My Business page themselves, and then assign us “manager” permission so that we can optimize and curate their listing. For our clients that are not comfortable claiming their Google My Business listing themselves, we w...

04/25/2018

For members of the Cobb Chamber of Commerce, contact us to get a FREE SEO audit of your website.

If your website is missing needed structured data, we will provide that to you as well.

Call us at 770-280-5702 or email at [email protected].

Google “near me” searches have doubled in the past two years, which means if your business does not appear in the Google Local-3 Pack or on Google Maps, you are giving away sales to your competition. In addition to our curated Google My Business service, we offer local business SEO support that ...

04/24/2018

HERE'S WHAT WE CAN DO WITH YOUR GOOGLE MY BUSINESS LISTING - DRIVE CUSTOMER TRAFFIC

Google is getting behind Google My Business with a host of capabilities that blur the lines between search results and social media.

Here's what we can do for your Google My Business listing:

1. Make sure that all of your business information is accurate and consistent. Google My Business powers Google Knowledge Panels, Google Maps, and Google Local-3 Pack; and all three are essential to any local marketing effort.

2. Interact with your customers directly from a search engine results page. We post stories and photos about your business, products, and services that help your local search ranking. We also collect and respond to customer reviews, which boosts your Local-3 Pack ranking.

3. Attract new customers by improving the way your business looks in search results, especially on mobile devices where 68% of all local search happens. Only 30% of all business websites are mobile-friendly, but Google My Business listings are optimized for mobile.

Give us a call to learn more about our Google My Business service.

04/24/2018

GOOGLE MY BUSINESS POSTS ARE A POWERFUL WAY TO ENGAGE CUSTOMERS, AND HERE'S WHY

Google My Business features much of the functionality you would expect from a social media platform, and Google My Business Posts is one of the best ways to engage your customers.

Google My Business Posts is valuable in that it presents a new place for customers to learn more about your business, but it also gives you leeway to deliver content in different forms. Think of Google My Business Posts as existing somewhere between search engine results and social media posts.

As brand journalists, we muster the right blend of digital marketing and authenticity to put a human face on your business. We create posts that communicate the attributes of your business that are satisfying to you and to whom you are specifically trying to appeal to.

One of the benefits of Google My Business Post that we like most is that it provides your business with a highly agile way to reach potential customers that are actively searching for products and services that your company provides.

When someone searches your business or your industry, they are going to see your newest Google My Business Post— even if they are not digging any deeper at the moment. That is the power you can leverage to promote upcoming events or highlight new specials.

04/12/2018

WE'VE GONE LOCAL and we couldn't be more excited to share our 20 years of internet marketing experience on the national stage with small businesses in the greater Atlanta community.

The way your customers find your business online is evolving in a way that is decreasing the value of your business website.

Through our work with national brands and their nationwide network of retailers, we've created an award-winning local marketing service that marries local Google search results and social media to more effectively present your business online, in a way that your customers prefer.

Visit us at www.googlemybusiness.biz to learn more, and we look forward to introducing ourselves to you in person soon.

A professionally-curated Google My Business Knowledge Panel is the solution to the search problem you may not know you have. The way consumers search for local information is evolving in a way that is leaving your small business website behind.

04/12/2018

ACTIVE GOOGLE MY BUSINESS LISTINGS MAKE YOUR BUSINESS LOOK MORE REPUTABLE

We make claiming your Google My Business listing easy for you to do. When people find your business on Google Maps and Search, we ensure that the information, like your hours, website, and street address, is up-to-date and accurate.

Professionally-curated Google My Business listings are twice as likely to be considered reputable by consumers.

That’s important because consumers are more likely to see your Google My Business Knowledge Panel before they visit your business website if they visit your business website at all.

Apologize for the redactions, but here is an example of Google My Business listing that has not yet been claimed and boosted with valuable content. Unfortunately, we find more Google My Business listings like this than ones than ones that are optimized.

Does this look like a company that you want to do business with? Visit our website www.googlemybusiness.biz to learn more about how we can help you increase your retail store traffic.

04/12/2018

YOU CAN'T REQUEST OR PAY FOR A BETTER LOCAL RANKING ON GOOGLE, BUT...

If you find that your business is not appearing in relevant Google search results in your area, optimizing your Google My Business listing should be your priority.

Here's what we can do for your Google My Business listing:

1. Make sure that all of your business information is accurate and consistent. Google My Business powers Google Knowledge Panels, Google Maps, and Google Local-3 Pack; and all three are essential to any local marketing effort.

2. Interact with your customers directly from a search engine results page. We post stories and photos about your business, products, and services that help your local search ranking. We also collect and respond to customer reviews, which boosts your Local-3 Pack ranking.

3. Attract new customers by improving the way your business looks in search results, especially on mobile devices where 68% of all local search happens. Only 30% of all business websites are mobile-friendly, but Google My Business listings are optimized for mobile.

Email us at [email protected] to learn more about our Google My Business service.

04/12/2018

A PROFESSIONALLY-CURATED GOOGLE MY BUSINESS KNOWLEDGE PANEL IS THE SOLUTION TO THE SEARCH PROBLEM YOU MAY NOT KNOW YOU HAVE

The way consumers search for local information is evolving in a way that is leaving your small business website behind. In fact, in the past two years, online traffic to local business websites that appear first on Google is down 37%.

The reason is that consumers can find the local business information that they are looking for quicker and more conveniently in other places online. On top of that, more people use their mobile devices to search online than desktop computers, and only 30% of small business websites are mobile-friendly.

Google My Business and Google Knowledge Panels, that visually dominate a search engine results page, are now the best way to engage your customers online; combining Google search and social engagement in one marketing platform.

Visit us at www.icbmmedia.com to learn more about how we can transform your Google My Business into a powerful retail sales traffic driver.