If you are reading this, it means you’re probably already familiar with the Optimization Pyramid – my framework for optimizing and managing Google Business Profiles for maximum business impact.
As a refresher, here is a summarized explanation:
We start at the bottom and work our way up:
Profile Optimization: This means correctly filling out your Profile so it includes all of your relevant business information.
Google Business Profile provides different features based on the business type, and you should always be looking to fill out as much information as possible here.
Citations: These are the trust factors that Google looks for across the web. They are instances of your business name, address, and phone number on other websites.
The more accurate citations you have on other trusted websites, the more trust Google has that your business is real –and is located where you say it is.
Review Velocity: Reviews are hugely important for Google Business Profile (you probably don’t need me to tell you that). They go a long way in terms of convincing prospects to do business with you.
The traditional thinking is that you need to have a lot of reviews in order to get great visibility in Google Search and Google Maps for your Profile. This isn’t true.
What matters more is the speed at which you’re getting new reviews coming in. This is why you see businesses with less reviews (and even lower average ratings) ranking higher than those who have more 5 star reviews.
E3 Formula: The last part of the pyramid focuses on engagement. Specifically, it focuses on posts, user engagement, and business engagement – using many different factors.
As you work your way up the Optimization Pyramid, you gain more of a competitive advantage.
The Engagement Overdrive strategy works best after you’ve done the work involved with the Optimization Pyramid.
Here’s how it would look if I added this strategy to the diagram above:
To be clear, you can use this strategy before doing the other work – and you’ll still see some benefits.
Problem is these benefits will be short-lived.
If your Profile is properly set up (level 1), has a lot of accurate citations (level 2), is consistently getting new reviews (level 3), and has great engagement (level 4) – the Engagement Overdrive strategy will allow you to get elevated visibility in Google Search and Google Maps that actually sticks.
Ready to get started?
A Word of Caution: If you do this incorrectly – or abuse this strategy – it won’t have any benefit. Please follow all instructions outlined in the next sections.