Google My Business (GMB) is an essential element of local SEO (search engine optimization) efforts that focus on helping you rank well in the primary locations you do business in. Searches for funeral homes are inherently local. That makes GMB an essential element of modern day funeral home marketing, so you should take every chance you get to optimize your GMB.
The Basics
These are the things you must do if you want to optimize your GMB and rank well for local searches:
- Claim your GMB
- Complete every section of your GMB profile (business category, location, hours of operation, description, etc.)
- Keep your information up-to-date (name, address, phone number, hours of operation)
Categories
Your primary category should be funeral home; if it isn’t, you probably wouldn’t be reading this.
Note that you can choose additional categories – only do this if there are relevant services you offer that might not be fully encapsulated in your primary category. A common one for funeral homes is “crematorium”, as long as you offer cremation services.
Business Description
Your business description needs to be short and sweet; while Google will allow for 750 characters, only the first 250 will be displayed unless the viewer selects the “More” option. Your name, primary location, and business category (if it’s not in the name) should all be found within the first 250 characters. Don’t focus too much on keyword density; give an honest description of the services you offer – all the things that make your funeral home special.
Photos
You’ll need a photo of your logo, so you’ll be recognized at a glance. You should also post photos of your funeral home, both inside and out. You can consider posting photos of the setup for a memorial service.
Reviews
Google looks at a few metrics when using GMB based reviews to judge how relevant your funeral home is to a search. They include:
- Review velocity (how often you’re getting reviews)
- The total number of reviews
- How often you respond to reviews
How well-reviewed you are affects SEO as well, albeit in a more indirect way (well-reviewed sites are more likely to get clicks). You should make every effort to get customers to review you (this is often as simple as a follow-up text asking for a review). What’s more, you should respond to all reviews – positive and negative. That’s not just good for SEO – it’s a good business practice in general.
GMB Posts
You can also post on GMB – think of it as a form of microblogging. For the most part, your GMB posts should be focused on updating your customers on relevant happenings – these can be updates about renovations, staff events, charitable work, or a change in hours of operation. There’s some evidence that frequent (weekly or biweekly) posts could boost your ranking, so whatever is new in your world, let your clients know via GMB posts.
Follow these steps, and you’ll already be doing much more for your local SEO rankings than most of your competition!