Google hasn’t exactly made it easy for the local business marketer. Google Maps, Google Places for Business, Google+, Google+ Local, Google+ Business Pages – at this point not even Google seems to know how all of these platforms are supposed to benefit the local business community. Assuming Google even knows, they aren’t telling – at least not in any language the average person can comprehend.

Introducing Google My Business. This is Google’s latest attempt to cut through the confusion with a one-stop platform for local business marketing that doesn’t require a degree in rocket science to understand.

How Google My Business Works
Goggle My Business was designed to provide one centralized location for managing your business marketing across the entire Google landscape. By logging in to a single dashboard, you can update all of your business information, post news and information, read and respond to online customer reviews, and track your progress. The bottom line: the enhancements offered by this new platform will help get your business in front of more customers however they’re looking for you – Search, Maps, or Google Plus.

• If you already have a Google Places for Business account or a Google+ Business Page, your information will automatically transfer to your new Google My Business account.
• To set up a new account, go to the Google My Business website at www.google.com/business/, click “Get on Google” and follow the instructions.

Why Google My Business Matters

• By claiming your business listing, you will able to provide accurate and up to date information about your company, and not be subject to third-party posting of incorrect information without your knowledge or consent.
• Your claimed listing will provide your company with increased visibility in the local search results, including mobile search.
• Your listing represents a citation source, which in conjunction with your citations on other web directories, will validate your local business status and improve your ranking for local search.

Making the Most of Your Google My Business Opportunity
Once you have your Google My Business profile up and running, you’ll probably want to take advantage of the other business-boosting features available to you such as

• Adding compelling, professional-quality photos to your profile. Keep in mind that Google is very focused on using quality images as a means of drawing searchers. Be sure to add keyword-optimized filenames to all of your images for additional search ranking juice.
• Monitoring your online reputation. From your Google My Business dashboard, you’ll be able to see your overall rating as well as the number of reviews you have both on Google and on various third-party review sites. You can also read and respond to your reviews, giving you the opportunity to improve your customer’s experience with your business.

Collecting valuable information about how your site is performing in the local search results.

1. Site visibility includes data that shows you how many people saw your information, how many clicked through to your website, and where visitors to your store are coming from.
2. Engagement data gives you a measurement of the effectiveness of your posting activities, showing the number of views, comments, and shares each post is getting.
3. Audience insights shows you the number of followers you have, as well as a demographic profile of who they are.