Optimizing Your Salon's Google My Business

When clients search for a new salon, they will more than likely turn to Google. The goal is to have potential clients to find your salon. One way to optimize your business for the web is to create a Google My Business listing. Google My Business is completely free of charge and works in favor to allow businesses to expand their reach.

What is Google My Business?

If you’ve searched online for businesses near you, then you’ve probably stumbled upon Google My Business listings. Google receives over 63,000 searches per second on any given day. So long to the phone book ages—your business should be optimized for the web to stay competitive.

Your business profile will appear when people are searching for your salon on Google Search or Maps. It makes it easy for clients to contact you and gather more information. It contains your phone number, address, hours and website. There are also options to include your service menu, photos, and other relevant information.

Why is it Beneficial for Your Salon?

At a Local Search conference, Google has reported a staggering 46% of all searches to have local intent. This means a large portion of consumers is turning to Google to find businesses near them. This is crucial for businesses like salons, as Google My Business accounts for 19% of Google ranking performance for local service-based businesses.

Increase Visibility

Using Google My Business will increase your visibility whenever one of your ideal clients is performing a search on the platform. It works in your favor to push your beauty business to the top of the search page. This is a great way to boost your visibility without spending any money on advertising. The increased visibility will lead to more traffic and engagement, meaning you will have more potential clients to convert into appointments.

Gain Trust with Clients

Creating a listing with Google My Business needs verification. This is to ensure only legitimate businesses are listed on Google. When potential clients see your business on Google, they will feel a sense of trust and validation.

You can also gain trust and build credibility with the unbias review system. The higher the number of positive reviews you have, the greater the trust you will gain from clients. In fact, 88% of consumers trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations. By building up your reviews, the likelihood of a Google searcher to engage with your business increases and allows you to stand out from competitors.

Stand Out From Competitors

We cannot stress the importance of getting your clients to leave reviews on your Google Business listing. Positive reviews can go a very long way for service-based businesses. Potential clients will lean towards beauty businesses with higher reviews and ratings.

Remember to be friendly and emphasize how easy it is to leave a review. It can be as simple as leaving a star rating without writing anything. Let your clients know a simple gesture can help your business.

Learn More About Clients

With the integrated dashboard and analytics, you will learn more about your clients and incoming traffic. You will be able to see how often your profile has been viewed on Google Maps. You can also use the profile view insights to track how popular your business is with current and potential clients. Knowing these metrics allows you to know how well your business is performing on Google search.

Optimizing Your Google My Business profile

Before you begin, you should create a Google My Business profile. Claim your business and fill out all the necessary information you want clients to know. You should have your up-to-date:

• Business name
• Category
• Description
• Address
• Phone Number
• Website
• Attributes

The information should be specific and relevant to your clients. The category, description, and attributes should give clients a better idea of your business and what services you offer at your salon. Once you have all the basics covered, you can start optimizing your Google My Business profile.

Include Your Menu and Call-to-Action

Google gives you an option to include a call-to-action within your My Business profile. A call-to-action is designed to prompt an immediate response or sale. In this case, it will be to encourage clients to book an appointment with your salon.

The call-to-action you can use is “SEE SCHEDULE & BOOK”. It makes it convenient for clients to see your schedule, services, and book at the click of a button. To complement this feature, we recommend you to include your service menu. This will allow clients to see your services and pricing ahead of time.

Upload Photos of Your Salon and Work

Photos of your previous work can help boost your salon’s My Business profile. A Synup study found listings with photos are twice as likely to be considered reputable and get 35% more clicks. It is your opportunity to show potential clients a glimpse of what you can do for them.

You can also include photos of the interior of your salon to give off a positive first impression. It reassures clients they will be in a comfortable, hygienic environment.

Ask Your Clients for Reviews

You can generate more reviews on your Google My Business listing by:

• Asking in person after each service. You can create business cards or compact cards with instructions to leave a review on Google
• Adding the Google Review link to your social media channels and website
• Getting your friends and family to leave reviews. Of course, make sure they are authentic!
• Creating an email campaign encouraging clients to leave a review
• Putting a short request in your email signature such as, “Happy with our services? Help others find us by leaving a Google review!”

Make an effort to encourage your clients to leave a review after their appointment, especially if they are satisfied with your work. These reviews act as testimonials to help potential clients through their buyer customer journey. The more reviews, the better.

Respond to Reviews and Questions

Take the time to thank your clients for leaving a review. Try to respond to every one of them—even the negative ones. This will show clients you’re actively paying attention and is willing to work towards improvement.

You should always mend any issues that may have occurred instead of avoiding them. No one likes to be left hanging. Answer all questions showing up on your My Business profile regardless of how simple or complex they may be. Your answers may provide additional useful information for other clients looking to book with you.

Post Your Promotions

If you have any promotions running, you can post them to your My Business profile. This will make your salon look much more appealing over your competitors. It encourages clients to try out your services. Once they step foot in your salon, you can “WOW” them and turn them into returning clients.

Having a Google My Business profile will work in favor of your salon. It’s another way to boost your search engine optimization without spending any advertising dollars. With the integrated dashboard and analytics, you will start to learn more about your clients and incoming traffic. It’s a great tool every salon should be using.