That’s what a client said after we explained why they needed to route all their online marketing to their GMB search result or map page!

The client’s previous marketing company had been sending all online clicks and searches to the client’s website, sorta makes sense – right? WRONG!

Today you must build trust before someone buys from you and Google is #1 search tool that people use.

Send your clients to your GMB page first, they will see your high reviews and you’ll gain instant trust. Then people will take the next step and call or go to your website.

Every day, billions of people use Google to search for a wide variety of information — a local coffee shop, home repair tips, fashion trends, celebrity news, and so much more.

Your likely familiar with this scene: It’s lunchtime, and you want to see a list of restaurants within the area where you can eat. What do you usually do? Isn’t pulling out your phone and typing the words “restaurants near me” on Google the easiest (and most practical) option?

The nearest gym, dry cleaner, pharmacy, best auto mechanic, plumber reviews,  — people rely on Google for everything. This is the reason why it’s important for businesses to send 100% of their advertising to their Google My Business page. The more “searchable” your business is, the better the chances are of leading potential customers your way.

Google Business Profile is only available to businesses that have contact with customers. This includes businesses with a physical location (like a restaurant or store) and businesses that provide services by meeting with clients in other locations (like consultants or plumbers).

68% of customers consult online reviews before they decide to trust a business. Plus, a whopping 93% of customers are swayed by online reviews when deciding what to buy.

That’s why the next benefit of a GMB profile is the ability for your business to gather and showcase reviews at scale. By gathering a stack of positive reviews from your customers, you can win the trust of potential shoppers and help them move down the sales funnel with ease.

What makes online reviews so effective is this: it allows your happy customers to vouch for your skills, expertise and quality of service in their own words. While your own marketing materials can be a useful way to reach new audiences, nothing is more convincing than the words of a reliable, external customer.

Ultimately, potential customers want to know if other consumers have had a positive experience with your brand before they choose you. So, by showing your Google reviews front-and-centre of your GMB listing, you can streamline the path to purchase.

As we mentioned, your GMB listing has seamless integration with Google Maps. Along with helping to boost the organic visibility of your business on Google, this integration makes it easier for customers to navigate to your shopfront, too.

With Google Maps directions, users can discover and score the directions to your physical store in one tap. Plus, they can access your business hours and important contact details (like your website, email address and phone number) to make it easier to get in contact with you.

The easier it is for new customers to contact you and reach your shopfront, the more likely they’ll be to have a positive association with your brand. It’s all about offering seamless online-to-offline experiences that turn users into paying customers.

Views
GMB can show you the number of views that your business profile, photos, and posts are getting. This is especially important to verify the effectiveness of your campaigns — whether they’re working well and getting the attention you want, or aren’t doing anything for your business.

Search Queries
GMB provides a report where you can learn and understand how consumers find your business. It shows how people are searching — specifically what keywords they input — to find your listing.

Knowing what keywords are relevant to your online presence can help you significantly boost traffic. For example, you can dominate relevant long-tail keywords to seriously increase clicks to your webpages. GMB can provide this information.

Engagement
GMB can show you just how your audience is interacting with your posts. It enables you to see what posts they share and what types of comments they leave. This way, you’ll have an idea of the types of material that work well for your business.

Audience
GMB has a section where you can find a summary of the profile of people following you. You’ll be able to check out the age groups, gender, and even the countries they’re from. These are all helpful when you’re building a campaign.

Clicks on Website Link
Did you know Google My Business can also show you the number of clicks on your website link.

Quantifying the information and knowing these statistics can help you create sound strategies. If you want to improve your audience engagement, website traffic, and boost company sales, you should take some time to study the numbers.

Free and easy to use, so any business can utilize it to promote their business or service. Creating and verifying your profile can be done in a matter of hours. In fact, there are tools that can get you instantly verified. Once that’s done, you’re ready to rock page one of Google.

Plus, Google’s tools help you analyze performance so you can find ways to improve your business’s ranking.

Google My Business makes it easy for local businesses to promote their products and services online by increasing visibility and improving their chances of showing up in search results. It can help potential customers to quickly find and contact you. It’s a free tool that you can make use of to improve your online presence, connect with your customers, and increase your business’s revenue.

The Google Screened badge helps professional service firms and professional service providers build trusted reputations online. The screening process is free of charge for service providers.

Checks are conducted by Local Service Ads, our trusted partners, or state regulatory bodies. Local Service Ads verifies that professional licenses are current both when businesses join Local Services and periodically on an ongoing basis.

How to tell if a provider has been Google Screened
On Local Services listings, you will see the Google Screened icon next to these businesses.

Who it covers
Firms that provide professional services including Law, Financial Planning, and Real Estate are eligible for the Google Screened badge.

Real estate agents and brokers
All real estate agents and brokers that have the Google Screened badge must pass a license check. Local Services will not require a separate background check in some U.S. states because specific states require real estate agents to undergo a background check in order to obtain a license. 

Lawyers
Local Services verifies all active law licenses for all lawyers with the Google Screened badge. Local Services does not perform a separate background check on Google Screened lawyers because each U.S. state requires lawyers to undergo a background check in order to receive a license to practice law.

Financial planners
All Google Screened Financial Planner (including the tax specialist vertical) businesses must pass a business-level background check, a business-owner background check, and each professional in the business must pass a license check, and a background check.

What are Traffic Ads?
Traffic Ads are any content written to drive traffic. They can include any type of web content. From news articles, to blog posts, infographics, videos, interviews, and more.

Although widely attributed to online media, this type of content has been around since the dawn of print journalism. In the 19th century, when newspapers were fighting for circulation numbers, they found the best way to attract new visitors was by using catchy headlines or tag lines to entice readers.

With the introduction of SEO and more brands wanting to increase traffic to their website or GMB Page, Traffic Ads had a mainstream resurgence.

Types of Traffic Ads
Traffic Ad content can be anything, from blogs to videos, news articles, ads, and beyond.

Why Traffic Ads Work
Traffic Ads often get a bad rap online. Mostly due to allegations regarding misleading content or tag lines. With that being said, there are so many ways to leverage Traffic Ads ethically without misleading your customers.

In the age of misinformation, people are hesitant to make sensationalist claims. When done correctly, Traffic Ads are one of the most effective ways to get people’s attention and drive traffic to your website or GMB Page.

What’s important is, once you get Traffic Ads driving potential customers to your website or GMB page, you offer them quality service.

It works because of its ability to tap into genuine human emotion and curiosity.

Everyone wants to know the secret to getting more business. Just like everyone wants to know what weird things happen on movie sets? This is called the curiosity gap and it is the psychological feeling of wanting to know more.

Most Traffic Ad tag lines are structured to make the reader think they will learn something or receive something by engaging on the link or learn more button.

The important ethical note is to offer real value, not simply using a misleading tag line to get page traffic.

Traffic Ads are also an important part of measuring online success.

If no one engages on your traffic ad, visits your website or GMB page, then you lose the opportunity to work with thousands of potential customers.

If you want to expand your business, then you want more traffic to your website or GMP Page. If you want more traffic, you need to build a strategy. That being said, you don’t need to resort to sensationalism to do this. Instead, think about the goals of your customer.

When using Traffic Ad strategies, focus on content that could educate and excite them.

If your tag lines match your content, you can avoid audience backlash.

Traffic Ad FAQs

Are Traffic Ads good or bad?
Neither. It is a powerful marketing strategy if used correctly. There’s nothing wrong with encouraging engagements to your website or GMB Page as long as you’re offering value to your customer.

What is the goal of Traffic Ads?
The goal is to grab a customer’s attention and encourage engagements to your website or GMB Page.

Do Traffic Ads still work?
Yes, though it is different now. Because of the prevalence of misinformation online, many entities now have regulations in place to discourage the misuse of Traffic Ad tag lines. However there are still ethical and productive ways to use this tactic.

How do Traffic Ads affect us?
It works in our curiosity gap and piques our interest.

Why Traffic Ads Still Work Conclusion

Although often receiving bad press, Traffic Ads are an important marketing strategy that can help improve traffic to your website or GMB Page.

When using this strategy, it’s important to be ethical and not mislead your users or capitalize on negative content. If you believe in your content and think it will benefit your customers, then there’s no reason to feel bad about using Traffic Ads.