Google My Business gives you the opportunity to showcase your practice, doctors, services and facilities across Google Search and Google Maps. When patients search online for medical services, Google is usually the first place they look.

When you optimise your GMB Profile (to 'optimise' means to fully complete your profile in line with best practice) you are giving your practice the best chance to appear ahead of your competitors.

GMB is your shop window on Google. It is usually what patients see even before your website when they search online. Yes that's right - more patients see your GMB listing than your website.

Once your profile is optimised, you should notice an increase in the results of your GMB profile - called GMB Insights. An optimised profile leads to more chances for your business to be found using a variety of keywords, more views of your profile and more actions on your profile in the form of phone calls, direction requests and clicks to your website or online bookings platform.

Google My Business - now referred to as the Google Business Profile (from November 2021) - is the key interface for managing your local business presence on Google search and Google maps. Google My Business management refers to actively optimising and managing the GMB profile to help it appear more prominently when customers are searching online.

Google My Business / Google Business Profiles are important because they are typically the first piece of information a customer will see about your business when they search online. GMB profiles are viewed more often than a business website.

As a small business owner, you use GMB to share information about your business. For instance, you address, phone number, a description of what you do, promotions, products and service, team and location photos. It’s also a place to ask customer to leave a review.

There are many benefits when it comes to Google Business Profiles. The key benefits are:

• Being more findable on Google search and Google maps
• Being more visible to more potential customers
• Sharing information about opening hours to keep customers informed
• Attracting reviews
• Sharing information about your core products and services
• Building rapport with customers before they even step foot into your premises

Google My Business is referred to as the new home page for a business. More customers see a business’s GMB profile than their website. When it comes to SEO for local businesses, the GMB profile is the number one asset that helps get more visibility.

Google My Business establishes the business location, contact info core offerings and is a central place for reviews, which all help Google to trust the business more, resulting in better SEO results.

Google My Business is considered an important component of Local SEO.

If you have a business that wants to attract customers from the local area, not having a GMB profile will result in your business being invisible on Google Maps, and less prominent on Google search.