Google Business Profile Conversion Factors
What makes users convert once they’ve viewed your Google Business Profile?
There are many possible factors. We’re going to dive into all the GBP features that may affect conversion rates for Google Business Profiles. Each is something you’ll want to consider when you run a Google Business Profile Audit.
Let’s go!
Review Factors
It’s a no-brainer that GBP reviews impact conversion rates.
Number of Reviews
If you looked at a listing that only had one review and its rating was five stars, would you trust it?
Or would you want to see more reviews to know if the overall review rating was accurate?
That’s why the number of reviews can affect conversion rates.
Make sure to collect as many reviews as possible so that users know they can trust your overall rating.
Overall Review Rating
As we just mentioned, your overall rating is extremely important.
Trustworthy, positive reviews definitely convert!
Also, having negative reviews isn’t necessarily a bad thing as long as there are not tons of them.
According to a study by Uberall, “There are business ratings sweet spots. Locations that improve their Google My Business star ratings from 3.5 to 3.7 can see significant increases in conversions.”
“On the whole, conversion rates peaked when businesses attained 4.9 stars, but it is when businesses improved from 3.5 stars in a given year to 3.7 stars the following year that conversion growth increased by almost 120%, the highest percentage growth jump from any star rating.”
Replying to Reviews
Replying to positive reviews may increase conversion rates.
But so can replying to negative reviews. That’s because users can see how you tactfully handle unhappy customers and it gives you an opportunity to show them your character.
The Uberall study I mentioned above had this to say about replying to reviews:
“Further, enterprise locations that reply to at least 32% of reviews achieved 80% higher conversion rates compared SMBs and direct competitors that replied to 10% of reviews.”
And another 2018 study showed that replying to both positive and negative reviews resulted in better rankings.
“And, perhaps surprisingly, we also found that when managers respond to positive reviews, it has the same benefits as when they respond to negative reviews.”
Here are a few other super-important stats from BrightLocal’s Local Consumer Review Survey:
- More consumers are reading online reviews than ever before. In 2021, 77% ‘always’ or ‘regularly’ read them when browsing for local businesses (up from 60% in 2020).
- 89% of consumers are ‘highly’ or ‘fairly’ likely to use a business that responds to all of its online reviews.
- 57% say they would be ‘not very’ or ‘not at all’ likely to use a business that doesn’t respond to reviews at all.
So, get that keyboard clackin’!
Related: How to Create, Optimize, and Manage Google Business Profiles – Free Online Course
Recency of Reviews
What if your listing hasn’t had any reviews left in months? Will users think you are out of business? Or that you don’t have any customers?
This is a red flag for users and hurts conversion rates.
Product or Service Keywords in Reviews
What about having the product or service mentioned in your reviews? I can tell you from personal experience that it does help users convert.
Allow me to tell a personal story:
One day I was looking for a good eyebrow waxing technician near me. I decided to look on Google Maps, and found several day spas and studios that offer waxing along with many other services.
In a GBP listing, you can search the reviews for keywords. I chose to search for “brows” to see what names popped up in association with that term. I then read the reviews and found a name that kept popping up and scheduled an appointment with that particular technician.
This is a real-life example of how keywords in reviews can help conversions.
Listing Completeness
Obviously, the more complete the GBP listing is, the more information users have to make their decision of whether to contact or buy from you or not.
Making sure to fill out all possible fields in your GBP may help users convert.
Business Name
This is an interesting one. I definitely believe the business name assists with conversions, but how?
Product / Service or Location Keywords in Google Business Profile Business Title
If you were looking for a flooring store in your area on Google Maps, would you click on “KBF” or “The Kitchen, Bathroom & Flooring Store”?
One name basically says nothing, while the other name explains what they have.
This is an example of how the business name can affect conversion rates.
Make sure to use the full business name, especially if it contains keywords.
Some businesses already have a keyword-friendly business name. They should be aware that including the full business name in a GBP listing is a good idea, instead of using the abbreviated name.
To be clear, I’m not recommending keyword stuffing in your Google Business Profile name.
Hours
If users don’t know for sure that you’re open, will they think you’re closed? Will they come by your business location? Will they call? Possibly not.
See how one of the listings below says “Open now” and the other one doesn’t?
Google calls this out clearly for users to see.
By adding business opening hours, users can know for sure that you are open and that they can come by or contact you.
You can get the “Open now” feature on your listings just by adding your business hours.
Phone Number
If a phone call is counted as a conversion for your business, it should be a no-brainer that not having a phone number listed in your GBP will reduce conversions. How can they complete a phone call conversion with no phone number?
Website Link
Most businesses consider any action taken on their website to be a conversion. Examples include filling out a contact form, making a phone call, or making a purchase online.
If you don’t have a website link listed in your GBP listing, you will reduce the number of conversions here as well. Oftentimes, drastically.
Product/Service or Location Keyword on Google Business Profile Landing Page
When users land on your website from your GBP, does the page they land on match the query they typed into Google?
For example, if a user searched for “accident lawyer in tampa” but landed on the homepage of a multi-location business, the user would now have to take the time to find the Tampa location page or a Tampa accident lawyer service page to get the information they are looking for. Many times, the user will drop off at this point and abandon your website.
Make sure to link to the best page on your site for users. Also, make sure to optimize this page for what they may be looking for.
Products
If you sell physical products, you can list all the products you sell in your GBP listing. Most likely, these don’t help with rankings but users can see your store inventory (essentially) if you add products to your Google Business Profile. If it shows what they are looking for, this can help attract them and they may end up making a purchase.
Google mentions: “Customers will see a more curated showcase of a store’s products on the Business Profile Products tab on mobile, or the Product Overview module on the computer.”
“When customers search your Business Profile on Google Search with their computer, mobile device, or Google Maps app, they can find:
- On the Maps mobile app: A products carousel.
- On Search only: A products carousel and “Products” tab.”
Services
If you sell services (instead of, or in addition to, physical products), you can list all the services you offer in your GBP listing. Most likely, these don’t help with rankings but users can see all your services that are available if you add services to your Google Business Profile. If it shows what they are looking for, this can help attract them and they may end up contacting you.
Google mentions: “In Business Profile, you may get an option to add the services you offer, along with their descriptions and prices. If your business has multiple categories, group services together into sections under the appropriate category to keep your services organized.
When local customers search on Google for a service you offer, that service may be highlighted on your profile. Customers on mobile devices can also find all your services under “Services.””
Photos
Having photos on your GBP listing is a great idea. It’s worth taking the time to take photos of your business (inside and out), your team, your menu, etc. Users will want to see this information when deciding to do business with you or not.
Here’s an example below of what they could see when searching for an HVAC company.
How often do you look at photos of the inside of a restaurant or photos of their food before visiting them? Here’s an example below for a restaurant.
You can see how much GBP photos can help conversion rates.
Posts
Google Business Profile Posts are a great way to increase conversions! These are essentially mini-posts of content on your GBP listing. You can choose to just share an update, show an offer, etc.
They allow you to choose a call-to-action on each post which encourages users to convert. The images in the posts can also play a role.
When you have local deals or offers to post, these are especially effective at converting.
Justifications
If you’re wondering what these are, justifications are little snippets that Google shows in the local pack. They use these to help “justify” why the business is showing up there for that search.
There are several types of justifications. The type you see highlighted in the local pack changes depending on what you searched for.
In the example above, if you were looking for a specific brand of tire, these would be super helpful. Justifications can obviously help with conversion rates.
If you’d like to see all the types of justifications that are available and how you can get them, read our GBP Justification Guide here.
Attributes
Attributes are a way for businesses to show special information/features to users. GBP attributes include all sorts of different things that you may not expect. For example, “veteran-owned”, “mask required”, “curbside pickup”, or “Wi-Fi”.
If you happen to list an attribute that your users are looking for, then you may be on your way to having more customers.
For example, if I’m a coffee shop, and I have free wifi, I’d definitely want to make sure that it was easily viewable on my GBP listing.
In the example below, I can see that one Starbucks location has a drive-through while the other one does not. So if I just wanted to drive through, this would be useful to me when making my choice.
Business Summaries
These are defined by Google as: “3 types of short business summaries you might see on Google Maps: business descriptions, editorial summaries, and customer review snippets.” Essentially Google is saying there are 3 occasions someone may see a summary of your business displayed in their tools. These are as follows:
- Business Description: You can edit your business description and that is easy to do.
- Editorial Summary: The editorial summaries “give you a snapshot of a popular business our writers compile editorial summaries”. You can’t edit these but you can influence them.
- Customer Review Snippets: Customer review snippets are when “Data from these reviews may be used to highlight certain aspects of your business through Place Topics or review snippets”. You can’t edit these either, but you can influence them.
- Place Topics: “Potential customers can find the main themes of your business through Place Topics. These main themes are based on the reviews of your business.”
- Review Snippets: “Review snippets show keywords most mentioned in quotes from Google reviewers. These snippets are selected by an algorithm.”
To recap, having keywords that match what the users are looking for in these areas can get users to take action.
Booking Feature
Online booking transactions count as a conversion for many businesses. If the GBP Bookings Feature is not set up, you are missing out on tons of conversions!
Some businesses that would benefit from this feature are hair salons, spas, massage therapists, chiropractors, etc.
Conclusion
It may sound hard but it’s worth it to take all these steps listed above. You’ve already worked so hard to get your GBP listing to rank. Now it’s time to convert these folks!
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