Mark At what point does Google My Business (GMB) just become worthless and a waste of time? I've been slammed with business. I go from one job to another and there's no end in sight to our business. In fact, I am predicting 2022 to be even busier and more profitable than the last 2 years. This is a screenshot of our recent GMB monthly performance after Google changed its algorithm. Convince me why we should invest another dime into Google when they pull the rug from under our feet every few years. All of the time, money, and energy put into Google go down the drain. Call me a crazy conspiracy theorist but Google is an advertising company. They make their money by selling ads. They have no incentive to help you generate organic search results for free. Honestly, is GMB even worth your time, money, and hard work? 16 👍🏽1 😢1757 💬🗨📰👈
John Cody 🎓 It 100% is still. Roofing companies seem to be all slammed. Haven't met one in the last year where their biggest issues was leads (it's been workers). I have zero idea what you've done/been doing, but there are many ways people are still killing it in maps. Pivots can happen, and different things can become important with each major algo adjustment. If you're beyond slammed with work, then that is a call you need to make on whether you want to capture that demand and scale, or just keep at the current pace (which has still been good).
Mark ✍️ » John Cody We've been in business for over 15 years. We've never made it to the front page of Google yet we've managed to last longer than some who have made it to the front page only to go out of business. I've never made any serious money from a Google lead. I've made tons of money from LinkedIn, NextDoor, Yelp, and Facebook. John Cody 🎓 » Mark I mean good for you my man, all that is impressive for sure. There has always been more than one way to skin a cat. You've done it successfully doing X. At the same time, I've been able to do Y for hundreds of companies (including in roofing), via the Search Engine Optimization (SEO) route. That continues to be via Google My Business (GMB)+Websites. If after 15 years, that entire spectrum of Google hasn't worked for you, the probability would dictate something is either wrong on the SEO side, or the messaging side via the website. That includes how well things convert when someone actually comes across the site. I know from basically the 10 years I have in helping small businesses in the local space, that close to 98% of them, who never had any assistance by any professional in this industry, have always missed the mark on many levels (which would equate to tens of thousands of dollars worth of revenue)…Even by just simply missing the mark on basic keywords or intent of the customers, the compounding loss on that can be massive. Especially in the roofing space where jobs typically can average around $10k. That's big cheddar in play. Other than that, I don't know what else to tell ya. If you're happy with your growth, keep on trucking and dominating.
John Didn't quite get your story, you invested into Google My Business (GMB) but you never got anything from it?? Was that a bad investment or "they" never managed to position you to some top spots where you can get most of the leads?? You are 15 years in business and doing great, why you want to invest now if everything is so good?? What is your industry, maybe you don't need Google 🤷♂️ If those channels are working so great for you, why not invest more in them?? To answer your question, for most businesses is more than valuable to have top spots for their GMB and website.. Smith Hi mark I remember you posting a few weeks back – did you action the changes I recommended in the comments? Will attach as a thread to this comment incase you missed it. If you're finding lead generation to be at a high for your business, I wouldn't waste your time worrying about Google My Business (GMB). As long as you do the basics and have a profile, occasional updates to it is better than nothing.
Smith Hey Mark To save your time messaging me, I've taken the liberty of searching you listing and here are my key suggestions: 1. Image updates – From what I can see, you've only uploaded one image this year. As frequently as possible is important to ensure that you keep it relevant and current for customers. 2. Google Posts – Updates about the business, new services, offers, blog posts. Again a pointer that the profile is active and relevant. You have only posted 4 times year. You need to be posting at least once a week. 3. Company Bio/Description – This can be greatly improved to really showcase your business strengths. Add more keywords and specific service keywords here to assist with this 🙂 4. Products – Even if you offer a service, you can add these to the product feature. Its another way of getting your profile positive ticks from Google. 5. Address – It isn't a showing an address when I search. Make sure this is added for consistency across Google and for opportunities to appear for Local search terms. 6. Reviews – You currently have some great 5.0 reviews and its fantastic to see people have shared imagery too. The most recent review was a year ago. Maybe run an incentive for your existing customers, as a way of getting them to leave a review. You can even add a 'Leave Us a Review' in the footer of your website, that links to your profile. Again, Google loves to see a profile that is frequently update and stays relevant! 7. Service Areas – This will help you with appearing for local search terms. Just a few pointers for now. Happy to help with any questions you may have🙂 💟👍🏽14
Mark ✍️ » Mata Obviously. Simon » Mark Well if you're working with a company who's doing this for you, they obviously aren't doing a damn thing. If you're doing this yourself, then what you need to do is take the time to optimize it to the best of your ability. Google awards businesses that fill out description (keywords+ services included should be included whenever you have the chance, but be careful not to keyword stuff it), services categories, product categories, updates, posts (2-3 times a week or more), pictures (on the job, off the job, at the office) videos etc. You can't just make a GBP page and expect to fly up the ranks. It takes a lot of work. You could almost compare it to someone who's running a succesful social media business. They aren't posting once a month, they are active daily, weekly, monthly. They are always active. That's what Google wants to see. They want to see people who are being *CONSISTENT*. So like I said, if you're paying somebody at the moment you should stop haha. If you're doing it yourself, remember, there's much much much more that can be done. Mark ✍️ » Simon I think what Google is doing is unethical. It's a monopoly. They're holding your ranking hostage unless you help build on their product. I don't need Google. Google needs me. They're the ones who get paid from companies who run ads on Google when people search for us. I shouldn't have to be forced to upload my content on their profile to be ranked. It should be ranked based on where the users like to go most which is social media websites. Simon » Mark I never said Google was ethical haha, they sure as shit are not. I agree with you 100% on that. They could very well be holding rankings hostage, I'm only saying what I did because that's what's been working for me, as well as my clients. GPB also works on area based service search queries. It know where your phone is, your computer, your tablet, everything. I haven't paid a dime into advertising because we've managed to get good results by doing what I had previously stated. It's barely being forced, if you can or have time, to do things like post, upload photos, get reviews etc, you'll see great return. I also know you mentioned that you don't need Google because you're busy enough as it Is, and if that's the case honestly that's unreal and good for you!! I truly mean that! The problem is, businesses rely on it to showcase themselves, but not only that, it's to show customers what your business is all about. If someone sees a business with 100 reviews, but only 3 stars, they'll wonder over to see the review, see the bad ones and keep looking. That's on no one other than the business owner. People love transparency and Google allows you to do that at some level. Like I said though, if you're busy enough as it is that's really great my man, so update your profile for whoever might stumble upon it and peace out of there! Stick to what's working my guy👍🏼
Thomas Local Website, Google My Business (GMB), and Search Engine Optimization (SEO) are all related. Quick example, you rank #1 for a lot of long-tail "what is a soffit vent" type of queries. You also have a lot of backlinks pointed to the page that's ranking. That's one reason why youre#1. If you created more backlinks to the pages you wanted to rank higher like "roof replacement" etc. you would eventually see improvements there too. Your website looks good but things are missing IMO. Things are missing on your GMB too (I don't see products). Without everything being properly optimized you'll never rank in such a competitive category. If you don't 'need' more business now that's great but a strong SEO presence increases the value of a business IMO.
Mark ✍️ » Thomas I think you're missing my point. One, Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Google My Business (GMB) shouldn't be related. Imo Google is holding rankings hostage. They're forcing you to build on their product. They're data farming. And collecting personal information without a person's consent is wrong. But it doesn't matter even if I play by their rules. No matter how much k spend my competitors are going to outspend me. I'm just throwing money in the wind with GMB. It has no way to quantify a return on investment. Thomas I hear you and agree with a lot of what you say. I don't like a lot about big tech and wouldn't be on it for other than the fact that's where the customer is too. But you see my point on what you are ranking for – informational queries, nothing that drives business. I suspect anyone you've worked with on digital marketing in the past wasn't doing the right work on your behalf. It's absolutely a game of you outgunning your competitors but you've got to spend your budget on the things that matter.
Ankur 1. And add all the suburbs within two hours drive from your address in the Service Area section. 2. Get some reviews mentioning the suburb names you served Do this and you will be in top 3 for a lot of searches. Guaranteed. I manage 4 roofing clients in Australia and not one has complained about ROI. It works for every local business in some way. The best data is asking clients how they found you and if they researched about you online. Mark ✍️ » Ankur That's anohter problem. we don't have a brick-and-mortar office. when I tried to use my home address our profile got labeled as "permanently closed." yet I know several companies that use fake addresses. I've reported them and Google won't take them down. Google is a joke. Ankur » Mark I recommend renting a shed or something for tools, paints etc. if possible. Google is weird, I know. Proximity is the most important ranking factor in Google My Business (GMB) and you have an edge if you have a physical location.
Kolleen Google My Business (GMB) is free so I don't understand your comment about money. And if you optimize your website serve the user and have proper web tech, Google updates won't affect your business. Stop putting money into GMB and take care of your own listing. If the rug keeps getting pulled out then you're hiring the wrong people. Taylor It's a free service, but it takes work. If business is good – great. But when it's not you might be scrambling to find something to bring in business. Organic listings take a while to build, but they also last a while. GBP is organic. If you have the money now, it's a good time to invest in other lead sources. Better when you have the cash rather than when you don't. Shang Vo Got 400 web traffic and 300+ calls a month just from GBP. The ranking of GBP and SEO went up and up after algorithm change. Is it worth it? For our Clients, yes. They are super happy to see their ranking result bypassing national and international franchises.
Mark ✍️ » Shang Vo Google punished us and labeled our business permanently closed after I tried to use my home as the business address. It took me over 2 months to get them to reverse it. Think about how much business we lost cause of that. Then, I find other companies that have a fake address. I report them to Google and they won't remove the listing. Without a physical address GMB is worthless. That's my experience at least. But Google is unfair and inconsistent. I'm not going to waste my time trying to read their mind. Shang Vo » Mark Without more information about your case. It's hard to say. With my exp with GBP so far, it does have some struggle since I weren't Google focus in the past. However, those recent update show that they are putting more attention to GBP. It show me that the future of GBP is going to be more bright as far as we keep our profiles stay in the positive side.
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Josh First, you don't need to be good at everything, from your comments above you are doing great in other marketing channels " I've made tons of money from LinkedIn, NextDoor, Yelp, and Facebook." That is good, and you should continue efforts in those areas. Now, about what you said that Google is an advertising company – yes they are lmao, that's their whole business model – its a "Duh" Statement. "One, Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Google My Business (GMB) shouldn't be related." – why wouldn't it be? Google's Search Engine's job, and any other search engine's job, is to serve the user the best result for their query. GMB is just another part of SEO for local queries/keywords – other Search Engines have something similar to showing businesses. "They're Data Farming" – no they're not. They just serve what's in the net. As all Search Engines do. "Collecting personal information without a person's consent is wrong." = The moment you input something in the internet regardless if its personal information is UPON YOU – that is YOUR RESPONSIBILITY. Search Engines at best can only index them in their own index and show it in their own results page. If you don't want your personal information shown, cover your tracks or don't use the internet lmao. "No matter how much k spend my competitors are going to outspend me. I'm just throwing money in the wind with GMB." = People are spending $700-$1500 per month some even less and rank top in the GMB over 3 months, sometimes even less. "It has no way to quantify a return on investment." = To Quantify Return on investment – you simply need to track calls specifically coming from whatever property, be it your website or your GMB or your fb ads. Formula = Profit Over Time – Spend Over Time Profit must be tracked via phone calls, then how many of those calls you close. You simply need your own spreadsheet for this closed leads, while the leads are tracked in a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) or Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) platform (plenty out there that's cheap ex: CallScaler, CallRail). Now, the thing here is, does that really matter? A lot of us here are having success with Google in organic ranking, regardless if they are an advertising company. Maybe its time you invest on either learning proper GMB optimization and/or hire some reputable guys here. The latter giving you more time to invest on the other marketing channels you are excelling at while someone else does your GMB for you. It's not really Google's fault you can't serve the best online property for their users. 🤷♂️ 💟👍🏽4 Natasha Optimize your profile using keywords (ensure you have up to date keyword research with figures for your target locations) which hold user intent. – list your products and services add keywords into the descriptions for each. – be responsive to the reviews (good or bad). – ensure all info is filled out all categories are in not just one (use plepler to find related categories if you are struggling)! – Plan out a monthly or if you have time a weekly post add an image (name this file with your keywords) – each post is to target a keyword and link back to your website (the page that is targeting/ranking for the same keyword) via the learn more button or simply add the call now button (only add a snippet to entice the reader to click though to your website). Even if the posts themselves get few clicks it still increases visibility of your profile in the SERPs. – add these posts as whats new! If you have events, even promotions use the different post types! If you add a regular blog post, do a whats new post and link to that (some advise against this but it does work) – you can use a free publer account to pre-plan 50 posts to automate this! Then sit back and watch your profile appear in more searches, profile views go up, calls and website clicks increase and if you have a store direction requests can be gauged as conversions by way of footfall to your shop/showroom! I do this across 35-40 clients and it just continues to improve in the region of a 45-350% increase YoY with the odd minimal drops, even when overall engagement is down usually calls are up – you only need to care about real conversions that matter to your business I can tell by looking at your metrics that you are not actively working on this to drive growth, if you don't have time hire someone that knows how to do the above! This service is supplied as standalone or as part of an SEO retainer…pm me if you need help!
Charles Just a gross misunderstanding of a lot of things. How busy you are has nothing to do with the value of Google; you built out other channels of generating business, but that doesn't devalue the additional business that can be generated with Google. Busy-ness is solved through delegation, so if you're too busy, you need to delegate more. A business owner that delegates would probably also want to continue growing and expanding operations, at which time Google would then be invaluable. Google is an advertising platform, absolutely, and because of that their ultimate goal is to provide the absolute best user experience in their search algorithm; therefore, every change they make is an attempt to make the internet better: more relevant, better performing, more informative, etc. Google doesn't care about you; they care about the end user. If you want the business that comes from Google, you have to improve with the changes. 🤔👍🏽2
Mark ✍️ » Charles Honestly this is a gross misunderstanding of delegation. It's a lot easier to generate business than it is to find good sales people that can go 3 months without a paycheck while they learn the system. It was difficult before the pandemic. Now in post-pandemic and with runaway inflation it's even more challenging. I think you missed my point. My industry isn't hurting for business. In fact we can't keep up. But Google says if you don't build on my products I'll hold your website rankings hostage. This actually hurts the user. So it doesn't fit your narrative to deliver the best matched service to the right user. The searches are filtered to who ever invest in Google products. This is a monopoly. It creates an unfair advantage for small businesses. I'm never surprised to see digital marketers quickly defend big tech and their attempts of forcing everyone into their ecosystem. Charles » Mark You're literally saying you don't need Google to generate business and at the same time saying they're forcing everyone into their model to generate business. It's by definition not a monopoly, because there are other search products available on the market, including Bing and Yahoo. So yes, play by their rules or don't benefit from their platform. Seems pretty standard practice to me. It seems like you're just complaining about having to compete in a platform (Google Search) rather than one and done service. Sounds like you you need to create a marketing budget and just pay for ads. Also no, that is not a gross misunderstanding of delegation. Your ability or inability to pay salespeople a base salary has nothing to do with whether or not you need to delegate. 💟1 Mark ✍️ » Charles Clearly you've never worked in a real sales position. Base salary is for clerks not sales. Charles » Mark What exactly is a "real sales position"? Would that be the position where I built two marketing agencies, generated all the sales, closed all the deals and built the whole 25 person team 😂 You're in your own way man. Your entire understanding of your problem is built on misconceptions and poor framing. Mark ✍️ » Charles If you built two companies with 25 employees each why are you here wasting your time posting snappy comebacks on Facebook? So much ego with this guy. Nice try tho 🤭1 Charles » Mark I have time because I delegate 😉 Mark ✍️ » Charles That's actually a pretty good. Fair enough. But still. Be nice. 🤔1 Charles » Mark Fair enough. Sorry for my rude tone. And to be fair, it's one company with 25 staff. The other i built for someone else and left when he didn't want to partner. Never again! Mark ✍️ » Charles Google is dangerous and they can't be trusted to do the right thing. They don't care about the end user. They care about their bottom line and bullying smaller companies. Google is a monster. We can't let them bully us by forcing us to play by their rules. https://techcrunch.com/2022/01/13/googles-loss-to-sonos-settles-it-big-tech-has-an-ip-piracy-problem/ Google's loss to Sonos settles it: Big Tech has an IP piracy problem – TechCrunch
