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Fighting Google My Business Spam in Roofing? Back to the Basics

By September 1, 2020June 2nd, 2021No Comments

Fighting Google My Business Spam in Roofing? Back to the Basics  

GMB is one of the most talked-about topics in the roofing community, and the sheer amount of information available online can be confusing and overwhelming. This blog post is created to help you focus on the GMB basics you should know while listing your roofing business in GMB.

We’ve already covered the topics of GMB spam and local packs in our previous posts. In this article, I’ll reveal how your competitors and internet trolls are stealing away your traffic and we’ll also discuss some of the most important fundamentals you should always remember in the ever-changing landscape of GMB.

To help you understand how important it is to fight GMB spam, let me quote what Joy Hawkins of Sterling Sky has recently said: “64% of digital marketing agencies have no idea about how to fight spam.”

These are some fascinating statistics and highlight just how clueless even digital experts are when it comes to Google My Business.  

So, if you hire any random agency to market your local roofing business, you’re in serious trouble. That’s because they will never know who’s spamming your GMB account and they will keep wasting your hard-earned cash with little to no results.  

But, if you’ve read and understood our previous two posts in this series, you’re already ahead and better equipped than most agencies.  There a few things you need to skyrocket your business as far as local search results are concerned such as how to take care of your GMB profile and how to protect it from spammers and trollers.  

You’ll learn everything you need to slaughter your competition in the local search results. 

How to Perform GMB Optimization?

Ideally, the process of GMB optimization should be performed in a step-by-step manner instead of doing it all at once.  You want to make it as flawless as possible by performing every step to absolute perfection.

GMB optimization involves a little bit of writing expertise as well. But, you needn’t worry. Help is available at the click of a button. Freelancer sites like Upwork can help you find a content writer to fit your needs and budget in no time. What’s more, these sites can even help you find an expert, ranging from graphic designer to creative writers to make sure that your personal projects go smoothly and efficiently from start to finish.

So, if you want to turn your GMB profile into a lead generating machine for your business, you’ll love this article. Let’s get started.

1. Claim your Google My Business Listing 

Why is it so important to claim your GMB even if you have no intention to optimize it right now? You might be wondering. The reason is if you don’t do it, someone else will. Unfortunately, in most such cases, they are the internet trolls and spammers. 

What can they do with your GMB? To put it bluntly, they can do a lot of damage to your reputation and bottom-line without you even realizing it.

Once they successfully claim your GMB, they can easily steal away your leads by adding their own phone number in place of yours. What’s more, they can put the URL of any illegitimate website including porn sites in your GMB profile. These things can severely damage your reputation in your market.

If you think that this doesn’t happen in reality, you are dead wrong. We can show you hundreds of examples in every industry. The most unfortunate part is that Google’s machine learning algorithm for GMB verification is not working as efficiently as it should.  

According to Google, around 44% of small to mid-size businesses have not claimed their GMB listing.

2.  Verify Your Google My Business Account

The next step after claiming your GMB listing is to let Google verify it. That’s a pretty straightforward process. Once you claim your listing, Google will send a postcard with a 5 digit number to your address.

In order for your listing to go live, you need to make sure that Google verifies it. Unverified profiles usually have a notice displayed at the top of their GMB profiles.

Claiming your GMB listing and get it Google verified is half the battle. Congratulations if you’ve come that far. Now, it’s time to optimize it and turn it into your 24/7 free marketing tool.

3. Google My Business Listing:

So, what does it exactly mean by optimizing your GMB profile?

Don’t fret! We are here to guide you at every step of the way.

One thing I should point out:

The most important thing to do first is to set your primary category right. To realize how important it is to set the right category, just know that this can directly impact the type and quality of leads Google will send your way. So, in a way, it can make or break your business in Google.

Choosing a wrong primary category has a cascading effect on everything including attributes, whether you get products or services to select, hours of operation, Q and A, and so on.

That’s why it’s the most critical step in the entire process. Get this wrong and you’ll mess up everything. It is as simple as that.

On the other hand, if you manage to make it perfect, Google will reward you by sending hundreds of free leads to your business every day. Google gives priority to well-optimized profiles and it could mean a world of difference to your business.

Now it’s Your Turn

There you have it – Some of the most basic steps you should keep in mind to take care of your GMB profile and protect it from spammers. Make sure you use every technique in the list while creating your GMB profile. Give us a call today to know how you can boost your sales and leads further by implementing time-tested digital marketing strategies. 

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