15 Benefits of Google My Business Profile (GMB Advantages)
In this article, you’ll find a list of the top benefits of Google My Business.
Also known as GMB, or simply Google Business, this unique profile and business (NGO) listing feature on Google offers tremendous value for digital marketing and other campaigns of an NGO.
As you’ll discover below, the most important Google My Business advantages include attracting more target customers (Donors, volunteers, CSR Corporate Partners), getting listed in Google Maps, improving your local SEO (search engine optimization), and increasing conversions.
And if you don’t have a Google Business listing registered for your NGO yet—no matter if it’s a small NGO or large NGO—this list of GMB benefits will hopefully convince you to set one up today.
What Is Google My Business for NGO?
Google My Business is an online tool that allows NGO’s to manage their online presence across Google Search and Google Maps. The purpose of Google My Business for NGO is to help local NGO’s achieve higher visibility for relevant local searches.
In November 2021, Google rebranded Google My Business to Google Business Profile. Therefore, you’ll often see those two terms being used interchangeably online and in publications. GMB is the acronym for Google My Business, which is also commonly used for this Google property.
Benefits of Google My Business for an NGO
1. Google My Business
One of the top benefits of Google My Business is that it is available for NGO’s also and it reaches to 4,300,000,000 people across the globe
2. GMB Adds Your NGO to Google Maps
Another one of the most important GMB benefits is that it adds your NGO’s location to Google Maps. The obvious advantage here is that potential customers (Donors, volunteers, CSR Corporates) can find your NGO’s address without knowing your official website address.
But the even better part of getting added to Google Maps is that Google provides messaging capabilities in Maps that allow you to communicate with customers (Donors, volunteers, CSR Corporates) in real-time. NGO’s with a verified Google My Business Profile can message people directly from the Google Maps app, which is the preferred method of communication for a lot of people through their mobile devices these days.
3. GMB for NGO Puts You In Local Pack Listings
Being added to Google Maps is an obvious advantage for any NGO. But one of the not so obvious GMB benefits is getting your NGO featured in the Local Pack Listings.
Google’s Local Pack (also known as the 3-Pack) is a unique feature in Search that lists three local business listings above the organic search results. This means that your company can rank in the top-most position on Google without having to compete for one of the top 10 organic positions, which, in some markets, can be very hard to do without having a large budget to pay for professional search engine optimization.
What many business owners are not aware of is that just by creating a GMB Profile listing, you increase your chances of being featured in Google’s Local 3-Pack. In fact, the SEO experts at The Law Planet report that GMB signals account for 25% of the ranking algorithm for the Local 3-Pack. The other top signals include the quality of backlinks to your website, the number of online reviews, and good on-page SEO optimization.
However, it all starts with setting up your GMB Profile to improve your odds of ranking in the Local 3-Pack position on Google Search. And my other guide on how to add keywords to Google My Business can help you improve your chances even more of securing those top spots.
4. GMB Listings Give Higher Visibility Benefits
If you combine the previous two GMB advantages (being featured in Maps and the Local 3-Pack), you’ll quickly realize the major visibility benefits these features can offer your NGO.
The Google Local Pack takes up a large section of the organic Google search results, and it’s the first thing every user will see when they perform a local search query. Additionally, the Local Pack and Google Maps give users essential information they need about your NGO under your listing.
These visibility features include:
NGO name
Review star ratings
Range
Street address
Phone number
Working hours
Website link (If any)
Directions
· On Google Maps, GMB Profiles also include a question and answer section, photos, popular times based on visitor data, linked social media profiles, and more. A GMB Profile is one of the top ways for how to get backlinks from Google to improve your website’s PageRank for SEO.
· 5. GMB Creates Advantages with Customers (Donors, volunteers, CSR Corporates) According to Google, the two highly important GMB benefits of completing your profile include:
Donors, volunteers, CSR Corporates are 2.7 times more likely to consider an NGO reputable if they find a complete Business Profile on Google Search and Maps.
Donors, volunteers, CSR Corporates are 70% more likely to visit and 50% more likely to consider donating/partnering/volunteering from NGO with a complete GMB Profile.
One of the toughest parts of running an NGO is building trust with your potential customers (Donors, volunteers, CSR Corporates). And a GMB listing can help instill confidence in people that your NGO is trustworthy and credible to do business with.
6. GMB Lets People Leave Reviews
In today’s fast-paced business world where every NGO claims that its social service is the “best”, it’s obvious why there has been a massive rise in Donors, volunteers & CSR Corporates skepticism. It’s also clear why so many stakeholders look for reviews before making a final decision.
According to a survey conducted by Dimensional Research, 90% of respondents who recalled reading online reviews claimed that positive reviews influenced their actions (decisions).
Additionally, Shopify data reveals about 68% of consumers will read four or more online reviews before they can trust a business.
Fortunately, Google GMB Profiles allow your people to leave reviews of your NGO that appear on your listing. Plus, you, as the NGO founder/authorized representative, can reply to those comments. This public review feature can work to your advantage by helping potential Donors, volunteers & CSR Corporates see how good your services are as well as how you respond to review and comments.
As you can see, GMB reviews are a great way to improve your branding and create a more positive positioning in the market.
7. GMB Ratings Increase Conversions
Expanding on the previous benefit of GMB about reviews, the star ratings your Profile receives can increase conversions for your NGO. An NGO with 50 reviews and a 4.5-star rating, for example, will have an easier time converting new leads into Donors, volunteers & CSR Corporates because there’s social proof (i.e., intrinsic trust) attached to those positive ratings.
8. GMB Photos Offer Many Benefits
By setting up a GMB Profile, you can add photos to your listing that can further improve customer relations.
The top three GMB benefits of adding photos to your NGO profile include:
Improved Brand Awareness: Donors, volunteers & CSR Corporates can more easily identify your brand when you upload images of your NGO.
Increased Engagement: By adding interior and exterior photos, images of your most popular social initiatives, pictures from recent events, etc, people can visualize your establishment and experience what it’s like to be a customer (Donors, volunteers, CSR Corporates) before they visit your location.
More Trust: Adding a multitude of photos to your Profile that represent your NGO can further increase the trust people have for your NGO. Brands that are transparent, and demonstrate they have nothing to hide, build more authenticity among consumers.
9. GMB Profile Is an Official Website For Your Company
If you’re a new NGO founder/owner, you may not have a website yet. And if that’s the case, one of the top GMB benefits you’ll enjoy is that you can create a free, and official, website for your NGO which is completely mobile/desktop and Tablet optimized
10. GMB Is Free Advertising (Major Benefit)
Running a Google Ads campaign is a popular strategy for getting a donation/volunteers/CSR listed at the top of the search results pages. However, this costs money, and for some competitive keyword phrases, a single user click can cost INR 500 or more.
But creating and optimizing a GMB listing, on the other hand, offers you a free form of advertising on Google that gives you targeted exposure on the search engine without any cost.
11. GMB Can Increase Website Traffic
If you consider all of the advantages listed so far in this guide, it’s clear to see just how much a GMB profile can increase your website traffic. This single Google property can help an unlimited number of people find your NGO online and click over to view your website.
And the more website visitors your business gets, the more opportunities you have to convert those users into potential donors/volunteers/CSR donors. So the benefit of having a GMB Profile is immensely valuable for gaining more organic search traffic to your website that you don’t have to pay for.
12. GMB Profile Provides Donors, volunteers & CSR Corporates Insight Benefits
How would you like to know more about your customers without having to conduct surveys or ask each person who walks through your front door?
Well, Google Business Profiles can give you important insights into your customers without ever having to interact directly with them.
Inside your GMB account, you get access to a powerful set of analytics that can give you a deeper understanding of your customer (here Donors, volunteers, CSR Corporates) base and how well your listing is performing in the search results. You can then take this data to make improvements to your NGO, donor relations, and the Profile listing to get more clicks.
The key insights you can gain from your GMB Profile account include:
Views: A report of the number of times your profile, photos, and posts have been seen by searchers.
Search Queries: A list of keywords searchers are using to find your NGO online.
Engagement: An analysis of which NGO posts are getting the most activity from searchers. GMB has a feature that allows you to share messages (i.e., posts) that show up in the local panel on Google Search and on Google Maps for people to see.
Audience: A breakdown of the age, gender, and location of searchers who discover your Google Business listing.
Website Clicks: A report of the number of people who are clicking over to visit your website from your Google Profile listing.
13. GMB Increases Brand Engagement
A powerful aspect of having a GMB listing is that it increases the engagement people have with your brand online. Plus, a lot of that engagement happens on Google’s search engine.
Earlier in this post, we mentioned a report by The Law Planet on GMB ranking signals. Another key part of how Google’s local ranking algorithm works for the Local Pack is Behavioral Signals at 9.56%, which are based on engagement. These activity metrics include click-through rate, mobile clicks to call, and check-ins.
14. GMB Helps People Find Your NGO
If your business depends on walk-ins, then maximizing the benefits of SEO with an optimized GMB Profile is essential for helping people find your NGO. According to leading digital company, “97% of users searched online to find a local NGO.” So the evidence is clear that a GMB profile is crucial for any NGO founder/owner who wants to get found by more local donors/volunteers/CSR partners.
15. GMB Profile Improves Search Engine Rankings
As you discovered throughout this list of GMB advantages, there are many ways that a GMB listing can improve your search engine rankings. This is especially true for local SEO.
By having a GMB Profile, your NGO is more likely to appear in the search engine when people are searching for nearby NGOs using Google Search and Google Maps. And this is the ultimate goal of any search engine optimization strategy: to increase your rankings in Google as much as possible at the lowest cost.
More GMB Profile Advantages
If the above list of benefits were not enough to convince you to set up a GMB Profile, then I encourage you to consider these additional advantages of having a GMB listing:
97% of people learn more about a local NGO online than anywhere else. (Hubspot)
91% of adults use search engines to find information. (Sagapixel)
90% of the search engine market share is captured by Google. (Oberlo)
64% of consumers have used GMB to find contact details for a local NGO. (Brightlocal)
56% of actions on GMB listings are website visits. 24% of actions are calls to the NGO. And 20% of actions are direct searches. (Daily Blogging)
46% of all searches have local intent. (Search Engine Roundtable)
16% of NGOs receive more than 100 calls each month just from GMB alone. (Publer)
Benefits of GMB Summary
I hope you enjoyed this guide on the top benefits of GMB.
As you discovered, there are many GMB advantages you can obtain by simply setting up a GMB profile for your company. The most common GMB benefits include more targeted customers (here donors/volunteers/CSR partners), getting your location listed in Google Maps, improving your website’s local SEO, and experiencing an increase in conversions.
Hurry grab this opportunity to make most out of it
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