Google Business Profile: What You Need To Know
What is a Google Business Profile?
A Google Business Profile (formerly called Google My Business) is the information box that appears in the Right Rail (right hand side) when you do a desktop search on Google. It could also be called a Google Local Business Listing, as it represents the information Google has about a local business.
These panels are part of Google Maps (see the map above right), and this is the on-SERP representation of that listing in Google Maps.
So when a user uses Google Search to look up a particular business by name, they will see a panel like this on the right.
A Google Business Profile (Google My Business) is primarily intended for local businesses that operate locally. The goal is to provide helpful factual information about the business, such as hours of operation, popular hours, reviews, phone number, etc. – Information that is practical and helps the user decide if this is the local business that can solve their problem (get a coffee, get money from ATM, buy shampoo, play in the park…). These local panels are especially useful when the searcher is likely to visit the place/office/shop.
As you can see, these panels can contain a LOT of information. In some cases the Right Rail is longer than the Left Rail.
What Information Can the Local Business Control?
Google Business Profiles (formerly known as Google My Business) are basically local business listings – Google’s Yellow Pages. The business can claim its profile (or create one if it does not already exist) and can control some elements, but not all. Examples of elements that the business can edit are the name, hours of operation, services offered, accessibility, phone number, and description. Examples of elements that the company cannot control are social profiles, reviews from the Internet, popular times.
Do Major Corporations Have a Google Business Profile?
Here is Kalicube’s Google Business Profile.
Kalicube is not a local business, it is a large marketing agency that serves clients worldwide. The Google Business Profile represents our offices. All major corporations have a Google Business Profile for their offices (potentially multiple Google Business Profiles – one for each office).
How Do Google Business Profiles Fit into Brand SERP Optimisation and Knowledge Panel Management?
At Kalicube we consider a GBP as a Local Business Knowledge Panel. Although the business can control some of the information, increasingly Google is providing information that it gathers and evaluates through its Knowledge Algorithms.
Since they appear on Brand SERPs for bricks and mortar businesses, branches of major retailers, and also head offices of corporations, they are a huge part of Brand SERP optimisation, and need to be managed in much the same way as Knowledge Panels.
Local Businesses / Branches of Regional, National and International Chains
Some content on these Local Business Knowledge Panels can be edited directly by the business itself. Always remember that you only have partial control (see above). For a local business with only one or two branches, this is a simple task. For a chain of branches, management is complicated by the question of who manages it – each individual branch or a central team.
The common thread is that these companies are looking for walk-in customers and use the panel to make the shop attractive to potential customers and make it easier for them to get to the shop.
Corporations Without Walk-in Service
For a company that doesn’t have employees to deal with customers coming in off the street, the Google Business Profile is a tricky one. Deleting it always leads to massive complications (and is illogical since it is a physical location/office). If you keep it, you can manage certain aspects (e.g. whether the address is shown or not), but the business will have a panel on the Right Rail that makes it look like a “small local business”.
If the searcher is near the corporate office, they will naturally see the Local Business Knowledge Panel. Businesses often overlook what is displayed to a searcher who is further away. In another city, the user is likely to see the Local Business Knowledge Panel. Worse, in another country, this is often the case as well (and makes the company seem “small” and local).
The solution in this case is to set up a Corporation Knowledge Panel and over time (usually a year or more) make it dominate.
Kalicube Solutions
- You can browse our free resources (hundreds of articles, case studies and how-to’s to help you optimise your Brand SERP and manage your Knowledge Panel;
- You can sign up for the Kalicube Academy where we offer in-depth video-driven courses, resources and quizzes that make optimising your Brand SERP and managing your Knowledge Panel a relatively simple task;
- You can opt-for the done-for-you Brand SERP and Knowledge Panel solutions where we do the hard work, identify the solutions and ensure that you achieve your goals and get Google “dancing to your tune”.
Agencies are a Special Case
Agencies: the Kalicube Pro SaaS Platform is a unique solution that makes optimising Brand SERPs and managing Knowledge Panels for your clients easy, effective and efficient (even at scale). We would be super happy to discuss with you how we are leveraging Kalicube Pro SaaS as an agency to provide immensely valuable and highly visible results to our clients that is driving our profitability sky-high.
Agency Referral Programme
We know that not every agency wants to learn a whole new skillset, let alone integrate it into their process. And for many, this is a need that is limited to just a few clients.
At Kalicube we have a team who can take that burden off yous shoulders, and we’ll pay you to do that!
Managing Knowledge Panels and optimising Brand SERPs is HYPER niche and can add a huge workload to an already overloaded process. Plus it often presents issues and problems for which your team are not prepared… Or perhaps you simply know your strengths and want to focus on your core skillset with your client: branding, marketing, press relations, SEO…
In that case, please contact us and join our generous referral programme (10% throughout the client’s lifetime).
