7 Steps to Gain More Leads From Your GMB Listing

When it comes to getting more leads online, few things are more important than increasing the exposure to your Google Business Profile (GBP) listing.

Here are 7 steps that will help you lift your GBP listing to the top of the pack and drive more leads to your firm.

1. Completely Fill Out Your Google Business Profile

The first step in getting more clicks to your website is to completely fill out the information requested on the GBP Info page. In addition to your firm name, address and office hours, take time to write a thoughtful description of your business, add lots of quality photos and note any service or products you offer.

Be sure to complete a separate GBP listing for each location where you have an office and staff.

2. Add Regular GBP Posts

Google posts are, basically, mini articles about a business topic. Posts are a great way to increase exposure to a new blog post you wrote, update visitors about a change to your business, or highlight a service.

Consider adding related photos and a link to a relevant page on your website for more attention.

GBP posts can also add extra visibility to your firm. Google often finds creative ways to display your posts, depending on the search.

3. Encourage Reviews of Your Business

Google makes it very clear that having more reviews with better ratings will likely help the position of where your GBP listing gets displayed. A solid portfolio of reviews also helps with conversions. Which would you contact first, a business with 50 reviews or a business with 2 reviews?

How do you get more reviews? That’s easy, just ask! According to Bright Local, 76% of customers are willing to leave an online review… if you ask them.

4. Actively Engage Your Clients

Here is an opportunity for you to separate your firm from the competition. Google wants to present the best results for every search. That means providing useful information from firms who are actively engaged. What better way to do this than to respond to every review and answer questions? It won’t take long, but over time, you will be providing valuable feedback as well as building trust with potential clients.

5. Report Competitor Spam to Google

One inevitable truth you will face while attempting to maximize exposure from your GBP listing is that there is a lot of competitor spam.

Sometimes you will find fake businesses, other times, the name used on the GBP listing will be changed to include keywords which can help with ranking. This is against Google’s rules. Sometimes this is not done on purpose, but it can still take visitors away from you.

Google relies on searchers and local guides to police results and report inaccurate activity by suggesting edits to change a name and details, or to report spam. These edits are often implemented, but sometimes it requires persistence, or even elevating the matter by filing a complaint form.

It is important to thoroughly research and only report truly inaccurate information or risk getting your own account penalized.

Fix a few spam listings and watch your high-quality legitimate site move up!

6. Monitor GBP Reports Regularly

GBP Insights report provides valuable information on how you can get your listing noticed. 

Queries used to find your business – Use more of these exact terms and similar terms on your website and within your GBP posts to increase relevance on a specific topic.

Customer actions – If the number of calls and visits change, you will know if the work you have done is effective or not.

Photo views and quantity – Google wants your photos. So much so that they compare your firm to similar firms to show how you stack up. Use this as an opportunity to crush your competition by getting a steady flow of new relevant photos.

7. Build Your Reputation Across the Web

Another major factor in increasing exposure from your GBP listing is to build a presence on many other websites. In Google’s words,

 “Prominence is also based on information that Google has about a business from across the web (like links, articles, and directories).”

Having thorough listings on prominent directories, such as Avvo.com, Lawyers.com and Martindale.com, goes a long way to build an attorney’s reputation. Consider adding regular videos on YouTube, participating on social media, and using online engagement tools such as Ask A Lawyer.

Conclusion

Google won’t tell details of their search algorithm, but they give lots of clues as to what they are looking for:

Local results are based primarily on relevance, distance, and prominence.

By adding these 7 simple steps to your SEO strategy, your GBP listing can become a lead generating machine.

And if you need a little help, we can help connect you with over 120,000 legal consumers with our pay per lead services.