Sherry Bonelli
Cedar Rapids
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Google Business Profile Product Expert. SEO Geek. Speaker. Agency Owner. Award-Winning Writer. Search Engine Land SEO Contributor of the Year.
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Google Business Profile: 6 frequently asked questions
Over the years, Google Business Profile has become much more complex. After years of helping on the Google Business Profile Help Forum, I’ve answered hundreds and hundreds of questions from business owners who have had questions about GBP. Below are some questions that are frequently asked by users just like you. Yes. Even though it doesn’t seem fair to most business owners, anyone can suggest a change or edit to your business listing.
Google Business Profile Video Verification Best Practices
Google Business Profiles (GBP) are one of the best ways for a local merchant to get online exposure. But before your GBP becomes visible to the public, you must verify it by clicking on the Get Verified link. When a business sets up a Google Business Profile, Google offers a method (or sometimes several ways) to verify the profile.
The Google Maps pin scam: A new Google Business Profile threat
There’s a scam going on in the world of Google Maps/Google Business Profile. Competitors can move Google Map pins to a new location which can negatively impact rankings. This has been happening for several months and impacted many Google Business Profile listings. It’s easy for scammers to make this change using the Suggest an edit feature on a Google Business Profile and then editing the map location.
How to reappeal a Google Business Profile suspension
If you run a local business and find that your Google Business Profile has been suspended, it can have a devastating effect on your business. Your phone may stop ringing. Customers may stop coming to your location. The loss of revenue is real. Your first instinct may be to panic and just go through the motions of filling out the Appeals tool without thinking too much about the consequences. But you must know what you’re doing before you start that process.
Facebook business pages Archives |
Facebook business pages Analysis Facebook Live Now on Business Page Desktops The video update expands businesses' options for connecting with their audience, writes Sherry Bonelli. Thank You! Something went wrong!
Keyword research Archives |
Keyword research Analysis SEO Content Writing: The Basics of Content Marketing for Your Customers and Search Engines Content marketing is one of those terms that’s tossed around a lot these days. But what does it actually mean — and why is it important for your business? Sherry Bonelli explains. Thank You! Something went wrong!
Ranking for voice search Archives |
Ranking for voice search Analysis Voice Search Optimization: How to Use SEO Strategies for Voice Search Marketers need to prepare for how to rank their site’s pages so they have a fighting chance to be the chosen voice result when voice technology devices are used, writes Sherry Bonelli.
local marketing Archives -
local marketing Analysis Google My Business Just Made Online Discovery Easier For 2.5 Million ‘Veteran-Led’ Brick-And-Mortar Businesses "If your business is owned, led, or founded by a veteran, you can enable this 'Veteran-Led' attribute through Google My Business, and it will appear on your Google listing alongside other details like 'Has Wifi' or 'Outdoor Seating,'" says Google Data Scientist Sean O’Keefe.
How to rank your website higher Archives |
Get the latest news in location and mobile marketing!
Google local pack Archives -
Google local pack Analysis 5 Undeniable Benefits of Online Reviews: Why It Just Keeps Getting Better 56 percent of consumers select a business if it has positive reviews/ratings in the local pack, writes Sherry Bonelli. And that's just the beginning. Analysis Local Businesses: How to Rank Your Business’ Website in Google Local Search Results With recent changes to local search, business have to rank in the "three-pack" of mapped results to get noticed. Here's how to do it.
Location And Mobile Marketing News
News Swirl Hands Brick-And-Mortars A Weapon To Battle Amazon Showrooming Swirl’s integration Bluetooth beacons, wi-fi, and GPS location signals on its new Mobile Presence Management and Marketing platform is premised on the notion that personalization is best achieved in person and in-store.
Content Marketing Archives |
Pandora's Sonos Integration Opens More Advertisers To The Connected Home Local SEO Strategies for Competing with Online Retailers this Holiday Season 49 Percent Of Consumers Plan To Use In-Store Pickup This Holiday Season
Early Bird Digital Marketing Archives |
facebook Seeing Stars: Why Getting Online Reviews is Important for Your Business linkedin email
digital marketing Archives -
How Brands Can Partner With Google Assistant Announcing Our New Venture: CMO On The Go!
Location And Mobile Marketing News
News 10 Things You Need To Know About Online-To-Offline Marketing This Week All the location news this week, from local SEO tips to what's next for beacons. Analysis Cofactor’s Fagel In As Eyeview’s CMO, Discusses How Video Can Drive Store Visits Fagel, who has held digital exec posts at PepsiCo, Sears Holdings, and Gannett explains his approach to 'outcome-based video advertising' for national businesses. Retail How Can Retailers Get Ready For Back To School Shopping?
Google My Business Archives -
Analysis Google My Business Just Made Online Discovery Easier For 2.5 Million ‘Veteran-Led’ Brick-And-Mortar Businesses "If your business is owned, led, or founded by a veteran, you can enable this 'Veteran-Led' attribute through Google My Business, and it will appear on your Google listing alongside other details like 'Has Wifi' or 'Outdoor Seating,'" says Google Data Scientist Sean O’Keefe.
Voice search optimization Archives |
Voice search optimization Analysis Voice Search Optimization: How to Use SEO Strategies for Voice Search Marketers need to prepare for how to rank their site’s pages so they have a fighting chance to be the chosen voice result when voice technology devices are used, writes Sherry Bonelli.
Location And Mobile Marketing News
News 10 Things You Need To Know About Online-To-Offline Marketing This Week All the location news this week, from advertising on IoT devices to Google's local discovery update. Analysis Microsoft’s Expanded Mapping Deal With HERE To Help It Meet IoT Challenges Microsoft and HERE go back a long way. But the future is beyond mapping and the two are moving forward on exploring the role of location in powering predictive analytics for a broad range of uses.
Location And Mobile Marketing News
Analysis Why Are Off-Price Outlets Like T.J. Maxx Thriving? At a time when many large brick-and-mortar chains are looking to scale back their footprint, 'near luxury' stores like T.J. Maxx and Nordstrom Rack have quietly announced plans to expand. Analysis Pokemon Go Mania Is Here — This Is What It Means For Location-Based Marketers Niantic's augmented reality game is the ultimate online-to-offline experience. And malls appear to be a big beneficiary.
Social strategy Archives |
Social strategy Analysis How Branded Restaurants Group Makes The Most Out Of Influencer Marketing "There are people who have millions of followers, and they're not really the people that we're looking for," says Branded Restaurants' Julie Zucker. Analysis Influencer Marketing: How to Use Influencers to Market Your Business 71 percent of consumers are more likely to make a purchase based on social media referrals. Sherry Bonelli details how to use that to your advantage.
Voice-activated assistants Archives |
Voice-activated assistants Analysis Voice Search Optimization: How to Use SEO Strategies for Voice Search Marketers need to prepare for how to rank their site’s pages so they have a fighting chance to be the chosen voice result when voice technology devices are used, writes Sherry Bonelli. Analysis Yelp’s Chad Richard On The Current State — And Near Future — Of Voice Activation Marketers need to know that voice is not just about discovery -- it's about satisfying a specific intent, says Richard.
Google Business Profile Suspended? Here’s How To Get Reinstated Original
For most small businesses, Google Business Profile (GBP) is their marketing lifeblood. Because it’s free, many local businesses rely solely on their Google Business Profile to generate traffic and calls, as well as to bring customers to their business. Marketers know it’s risky to put all your marketing eggs in one basket. But for a local business that has a limited budget – or no marketing budget at all – a free GBP listing is often all they have to promote their business online.
Google Business Profile: A Complete Guide for Local SEO
Advertisement VIP CONTRIBUTOR Owner, Digital Marketer, Google My Business Gold Product Expert at early bird digital marketing Sherry Bonelli, owner of early bird digital marketing, is a Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and digital marketing professional with 22+ ...
Google Business Profile performance insights: What you need to know Original
If you have a Google Business Profile, it’s a good idea to frequently check and see how your it’s performing. Just like your website’s analytics, checking your GBP’s performance helps you understand: How many calls you’re getting. How people are finding your listing. How many users are getting directions to your business. And more. Let’s look at how you can get these performance insights from your Google Business Profile to track how people interact with your listing.
Google Business Profile: The new suspension appeal process Original
Google Business Profiles (GBP) are the lifeblood of most local businesses’ marketing efforts. For many small companies, having a GBP is often the onlyway they promote their business online. And if a company’s GBP listing gets suspended, that business will likely lose a ton of business.
How to follow Google Business Profile guidelines
Whether you’ve had your Google Business Profile (GBP) for 10 years or you have a new business and are just getting ready to claim your Business Profile, it’s important that you carefully read – and understand – Google’s guidelines. If you don’t, your GBP listing will likely get suspended. A suspension means that your Business Profile will not show publicly, or it will show, but you won’t have control over any of the information on it.
Local SEO in 2024: 6 simple ways to dominate local search
When it comes to local SEO, it’s more important than ever that you optimize your on-site and off-site SEO strategies for clients and customers searching for your local business. Local competition is hotter than ever, and if you’re not on top of your rankings, you can bet your competitors are. Here are six local SEO tactics you can use to help your business rank higher for local search terms. Title and description tags are HTML elements that you can customize to reflect the content of your webpages.
5 reasons your Google Business Profile might get suspended Original
Google Business Profile is an effective marketing channel for local businesses that meet with customers in person. But when you run a local business, one of the worst things that can happen to your business is having your Google Business Profile suspended. When a Google Business Profile is suspended, it either disappears from Google completely (which is often the case) or becomes inaccessible to the profile owner or manager. Neither of which is good news.
Optimizing local landing pages for search: 8 best practices
For businesses with physical locations, creating landing pages for your city or town is a great way to boost local visibility. Local landing pages show your potential customers and Google where your physical locations are, the specific areas you serve and the products or services you offer. The content of these pages can include relevant information about the specific city or town you’re targeting and the business keywords you’re trying to rank for.
This day in search marketing history: January 9
AdWords Managed Accounts get shared negative lists across accounts In 2017, Google added the ability to create and share negative keyword lists across accounts for Managed Accounts. This was welcome news for advertisers who had been adding the same lists of negative keyword accounts manually or using a script to automate cross-account negative lists.
YouTube SEO: How to find the best traffic-generating keywords Original
Video marketing is not a “nice-to-have” marketing strategy anymore. It has become a digital marketing necessity for almost every business – from financial planners to physicians. If you haven’t jumped into the video-making pool yet, now is the time to take that plunge. Why? People love to watch videos. No matter what type of business you have, videos can help you sell more products or services.
Verify Your Google Business Profile With Video Verification
Verification is an important step in properly setting up a Google Business Profile (GBP). Before your GBP will become visible to the public and you can do all the fun things with your profile – like creating posts, responding to reviews, updating your profile, and more – you must first verify it. When a business (i.e., merchant) sets up a Google Business Profile, Google offers a method (or sometimes several ways) to verify the profile.
5 Top Google Business Profile FAQs From The Official Help Forum
The GBP Help Forum is full of queries on how to solve issues with Google Business Profiles. Here are 5 common questions answered. Google Business Profile has gone through quite a few changes over the past several months. A name change, new features, the push to manage business profiles in different ways, and more. Business owners and marketing agencies try to keep up with all the changes – but it can be challenging.
Why E-A-T Inspires Local Content Creation
We’ve all educated ourselves on Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness (E-A-T). We’ve all debated whether it’s a ranking factor or if it’s not. And we’ve all struggled to determine whether a client is part of a Your Money or Your Life (YMYL) niche and whether we should pay attention to E-A-T when making content decisions. E-A-T should inspire local content creation and all content creation at every level, no matter how big or small our clients are.
How to manage and edit your Google Business Profile from Google search Original
Want your local company to rank higher in Google search results? Claiming and optimizing your Google Business Profile (GBP) is one of the best things you can do to help. Managing a GBP listing from Google search is not new. People have been able to manage a Business Profile from Google search since 2017. But now, managing your profile from search is the new norm.
4 Top Reasons Your Google Business Profile Information Keeps Updating
Did you know that Google can change info to your Google Business Profile without your knowledge? Learn how to keep your profile accurate. For any local business that qualifies, claiming your Google Business Profile is a must-do to help your business rank higher on Google. Regularly optimizing your business profile with content such as posts, new products or services, holiday hours, photos, and other updated information about your company keeps your listing fresh and current for potential customers.
Why Did Your Google Business Profile Get Suspended?
Having a Google Business Profile (GBP) is the best way for a local business to rank high on Google – in the Local Pack, the Local Finder, and on Google Maps. And for many of these local businesses, having a Google Business Profile is often their only local SEO strategy and the one way they promote their business online.
Get More Customer Engagement With Google’s Business Messages
Exceptional customer service is essential to nurture, retain and earn the loyalty of customers. And the big win for you? Devoted customers mean more revenue for your company! One way to earn that customer loyalty is by offering awesome customer service.
How to use Google Business Messages to talk to your customers
With more competition than ever, businesses must seize every competitive edge they can get. One way to differentiate your business from competitors is by offering outstanding customer service. But putting your customer support email address and phone number on your website just won’t cut it today. You must be proactive and make your team accessible to customers and potential customers when they want and need help. One of the best ways to do that is by offering chat.
The Complete Guide To Google Business Profile Reviews
If you’re like most people, you prefer to work with businesses you trust. That’s why we often turn to our family and friends to ask for referrals when looking for a particular business, product, or service. And if we can’t find a referral from a person we trust, we frequently turn to online reviews as the next best thing.
What’s in a Web Page Title? Google May Decide for You
When you’re browsing a bookstore or flipping through a magazine, chances are one of the first things that grabs your attention is the title. The same is true when people are searching online for relevant websites. One of the best ways to get new customers or clients is for your website to show up high in Google search results. However, when your website shows up in search engine results pages (SERPs), will people click on your link?
Google Business Profile: A Complete Guide for Local SEO
One of the best local SEO strategies that any eligible local business can use to rank higher on Google and get local clients is to claim and optimize their Google Business Profile. However, claiming your Google Business Profile (GBP) is just the first step – you must optimize, frequently check, and update your GBP with new information for potential customers.
Local Competitors Violating GMB Guidelines? Here's What You Can Do
It happens all the time — a company’s GMB listing gets pummeled in the local rankings because the top-ranking competitors aren’t playing by the rules. They could be keyword stuffing their business name, or displaying a residential address in their business profile. Maybe they’re using an address that doesn’t even qualify for a GMB listing, such as a P.O. Box or UPS Box address. Or it could be that the higher-ranking listings are getting reviews unethically to build up their 5-star review stockpile.
Google My Business FAQs: 5 Top Local Business Concerns, Solved
Google My Business (GMB) is one of the best ways for a local business to rank higher on Google. Whether it’s through the local 3-pack, the local finder, or Google Maps, having your business on GMB helps you get found by interested shoppers, consumers, and clients. But it’s not always easy. Every day, we see dozens of questions from local business owners and digital marketing agencies on the Google My Business Help Community Forum.
How to Fix Common Service Area Business Issues in Google My Business
When it comes to Google My Business’s rules and guidelines there is a lot of room for improvement. Yes, they have rules written down, but those guidelines are vague in many areas and contradictory in spots. That makes things confusing for even the smartest marketer or business owner. Trying to understand some of GMBs guidelines is almost like trying to solve a Rubik’s Cube in a dark room. And the rules pertaining to Service Area Businesses (SABs) seem to be the most confusing.
Why Was My Google My Business Listing Suspended?
Many local businesses rely on their Google My Business (GMB) listing as a major online marketing tool. In fact, for a large group of small businesses, a GMB profile is their only form of internet marketing. Foolish? Yes. Risky? Yes. But for small local businesses that operate on a tiny marketing budget (or even no budget at all), a free GMB profile is often the only online marketing strategy they have.
Site | SCORE
Whether you have an e-commerce site or not, now is a good time to make sure your site is ready for growth due to the coronavirus limitations.
Site | SCORE
Did you know that the business structure you choose for your small business may make it difficult for you to secure funding to start or grow your company?
How to Create Google My Business Posts That Get Results
Having a Google My Business (GMB) profile is one of the best ways to get attention for your local business and boost your rankings. With so many features, working with GMB can get overwhelming. One feature worth using: Google My Business Posts. Posts give you the ability to promote your brand, services, products, events, and offers. GMB posts are displayed at the bottom of your Google My Business Knowledge Panel and are a great way to show off what your business has to offer.
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