Dec 15, 2020
Okay. We are on video number four of our eight-part series. So, we are halfway there. This is a journey that's going to put you as a GMB pro. So, what we got going on today, so in today's podcast and same thing on the video, we are going to get into more of what we need to be doing as ongoing maintenance to build that strength.
So, we can have your GMB ready to do battle. And when I say battle, yes, exactly what it is. Uh, you may have another time have a competitor in your market, and you need to beat this guy or a couple of them, or you could have some guys out there spamming and you can't. You're fighting to get them out of there.
So, you need to have a strong enough GMV that you're going to stay on top anyway. So, uh, let's go, let's get your GMB ready for battle. So, what are some of the things that we need to be doing here? Okay. You're going to hear me say this a lot. Whether it be in videos, podcasts, blogs. If you read anything, some of the most important things that you need to be doing with Google is telling Google who you are.
What you do and where you do it. And that is an extremely good court because if you don't do that, how on earth is Google going to ever know? Right. So, you do that in your GMB, and you do that on your website. So how do you do that in your GMV? Well, first and foremost, you need to make sure you've got your primary categories set up when you're doing your maintenance, uh, or your optimization rather.
In your GMB. So, if you say you got a construction company and I've, I've got some that are pure construction, the companies that even though they do construction. Yeah. Their main thing is they're after the roofing. So, if you're construction, that's great. But if you're after roofing leads, you need to make sure you set your primary category to Ruben, or it's going to cost you.
Google is going to think you're in construction and that's exactly what kind of lays they're going to send you. They're not going to send you the roofing leads. Now you can do all kinds of things as far as content on your website and that'll help, but you really need to make sure that if you're after roofing leads, you put roofing contract and then you subcategories down under that is as far as skylights and.
Uh, some of the other things, Oh, I see a lot of guys using waterproofing skylights definitely makes sense, but there's, you know, your subcategories are not going to coordinator joy Hawkins. And I told you guys last week; I think who joy Hawkins is a to joy. The subcategories are not going to have any bearing on your primary category in what are going to do.
For you, as far as pulling in those prospects and leads, let's make sure that we get that primary category set up properly and you know, your subcategories, do whatever you want to do there. I mean, if, even if you're a hardcore Rover, you're still probably goanna want to put skylights in there and maybe waterproofing, if you do any of that, if you don't do it, my best advice is don't put it in there if you don't do it.
And here's why. You're going to, at some point, get some of those leads. And if you're going to say no to it, to begin with, and then don't worry about it. Let's focus on what you're doing. That's just like, I got some clients that don't do metal, so we don't have metal in their Google ads, campaigns, nor do we have it on their website because they don't, they don't want to do it.
So don't, don't put things out there and how people calling you if you have no intention to do it, it just let's just keep everything nice and tidy. And so after you get. Your primary category set, then we're going to go through and we're going to make sure that we have everything optimized. And, um, well, I'm going to go a little bit deeper than I did in the video as a typical, we do on a podcast and explain it.
Anything's a little bit different or deeper. So, you get that primary category sick. Get your subcategory set. Uh, we talked last week about your services and your products. And of course, you know, Google, you know, when I talk to Google about products, they told me that products should not be in a roofing contractors’ dashboard anyway.
Alright, well, it's in 90% of my, my client's dashboard. So again, careful of what information you get and use when you're talking to somebody from Google because they got all levels of. Support there from great to just downright awful. And that's probably somebody that's brand new and just doesn't even know, or either they just don't care.
So next we want to talk about our hours. Now, I'll say a lot of rovers putting 24 hours per day in there. And you know, very seldom is this actually true? You can get away with this right now on Google, but we're going to talk just a second about maps connect, which is Apple maps, which is the default for Siri when somebody is using Siri or Safari.
So, it's also important that we optimize maps connect and let's jump back over to Google your GMB and ours. So, when you're setting up these 24 hours, You know, you can get away with that and Google right now. But what everybody is after here is when your office is open, not the fact that you are getting your phones answered 24 hours a day, but now, since COVID.
Uh, Google did add a section called more hours and it's right below your normal hours of operation. So that's something that you can put in there. If you want to keep your hours of operation clean on your hours of operation. Why is that? Because think about it. If somebody comes up and pulls on your door, at six o'clock and you've got 24 hours and they expect somebody to be there.
You just picked up an opportunity to get a negative review. And Google's point is, you know, they're not pulling these reviews, these negative reviews down anymore because they, their stance on it have enough good reviews that it does it yeah. Matter. And you don't really even know when you take off a client, to begin with.
Okay. Well, they're not in my system for enough. Uh, I just gave you an example of somebody that could have been in your system. Had they not been put off by your hours, whatever, and this is just an example. So that's why you want to be careful there. You can use that. Google's not going to kick it out, at least not right now, but maps connect.
You can bet your behind. They're not going to do it. It's hard to get through and get approved with maps connect. As it is much less when you've got something. Yeah. They're not going to let that go. You're going to have to prove that you've got a legitimate office. You're going to have to show signage.
You're going to have to prove to them that that is legitimate, or you can believe you will not be on maps connect. So, so hours of operation, it is important. Uh, it seems simple, but here's the thing about Google. Google loves a well-optimized, fully optimized, Google my business, your primary category, your services, your products, your hours of operation.
Now we're going to get on down to things like. A good description of your company. Now, here is where you can put 750 words of good content. So, you want to have a really good description of your company. Again, this is not a ranking factor. I see guys that will keyword stuff. This thing to death, they'll put the city, they're working five times or six times, and they'll put roofing 20 times.
And, uh, you know, all you're going to do is put off the person that's reading it. So you want a good description. You want descriptive, if words in there you won't add to those in there. True enough. But the first thing you want to remember is Google's a different animal than it used to be in the past. I mean, they pick up on a lot of things, you know, people think that they're getting over on Google.
Yeah. You're not really getting over on Google. They, they, there's a lot of things that they're not kicking out just yet, but you know, you want to talk to your prospect and your lead first. Google second, but you want to do it all at the same time, but remember, we're talking to humans, Google is just like a human, they read top to bottom left to right.
Just like we do. And they like, well-structured sentences and paragraphs, just like a human does. They can follow a story now better than they could back in the day. So these things are really important. Take care of your clients and your clients will take care of you. It's the same thing with Google. If you take care of your clients, Google will see you doing that.
Okay. So, let's, let's put on this podcast down talking about optimum of your GMV, you know, primary category, how important that is services, do a good description of each and every service that you do. If you do skylights and gutters by George, do a good description, put it in there. Make sure you got your hours of operation, right?
Your phone number, right. I would suggest and recommend that you use a tracking number there. Google does, you can track to a, a degree, uh, phone calls coming out of your GMB, but if you're going to be able to get a lot more granular with it, if you'll use something like call rail for a tracking number, make sure you've got a short name chosen.
Uh, Google's just all over that and make sure you got your, uh, year of. Incorporation in there. Google likes a well-optimized GMB. So, take those things one at a time and don't try to do that whole thing at one time. I don't even try to. Uh, optimize, uh, a GMB all at one time. And I've been doing this for a long time.
The reason you want to be nice and fresh when you're widening this content, it won't, it needs to be good. So, you want to, any time you're starting to write about your services, write about your products, write about your company, make sure you do that first. Make sure you do it early in the morning. You want your mind to be fresh and do a good job on those things.
So, hope this is a. Some more good information that you can use. And this stuff is important, even though this part right here might be a little more boring in my day, talking about spam and how we're going to go get some guys and get them out of there and all that kind of this stuff right here is really important.
Trust me, this is what makes and breaks roofing companies or anybody else. That's got a GM Baker room. So, look forward to talking to you next week. More about GMB.
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