Episode 31: The Most Powerful Free Google Tool You’re Ignoring (And It’s Costing You Bookings!)

Your Google Business profile, the most powerful free tool you're ignoring. When it comes to Google Business profile, 70% of local booking start on Google Business profiles. Google wants you to be using the platform and not just leaving it there without any updates. Not everybody likes Coca-Cola. Let's be honest, some people are afraid to set up a Google Business profile because they don't want to have bad reviews. The reality is there is lunatics in our world. There is a synergy between social media and Google because 89% of people are going to go on. Welcome to Diary of the Search Queen. The go-to podcast for Salon owners ready to ditch the algorithm and get found by their dream plans on Google. I'm Sonya Patotsky-Raymond, Elkerio, Sonya the Search Queen, founder of the Search Republic, and after helping Salon generate millions in client bookings, I'm here to show you how to create a reliable, low-stress, leafloat without living on your phone. Ready to stop chasing and start phoning chairs with ease? Let's go. You don't need a big budget to dominate Google. Just a free tool you've probably forgotten about. You're a Google Business profile. Now when it comes to Google Business profile, most people don't have a clue what I mean when I say Google Business profile. I'm talking about your maps listing under the location searches that show up on Google. Now when we talk about the location searches that show up on Google, these are the listings where it's connected to all of your business address. It shows you where you're located on the map and it shows you where all your reviews are. That's what I'm speaking about. So when it comes to Google Business profile, 70% of local booking start on Google Business profiles. Imagine that 70% because the reality is people are entering what they're looking for into Google and they have three options on where they can click. They can click on the top few positions of Google which are the Google ad section. Second to that on right underneath will be the Google Business profile listings and then right underneath that will be organic. But 70% of local bookings start on your Google Business profile isn't that incredible because again, people are looking for your reviews as well. You think about that. They want to actually see what your clients are saying about you before they're ready to engage with you. So it's super super important to keep your profile up to scratch, especially responding to reviews, update all of your recent photographs, all of your before and after. So everything that you do on Instagram, you can very easily replicate that by uploading that onto your Google Business profile and keeping it consistent and fresh and making the Google fall in love with you time and time again. Now why photos and posts and regular updates drive trust and traffic? Because again, it comes back to that trust factor. Think of it like the analogy again about the veggie patch, okay? So you wouldn't just set up a veggie patch and not water the vegetables or pull the weeds. The reality is that same applies to Google Business profile. So it's very important to keep it up to date, keep it up to with fresh photos, have your reviews coming through, it builds so much trust. And you can also add your social media posts on there because your Google Business profile is your answer to all of the other social platforms because it is technically a social platform where people aren't aware of that. But the fact of the matter is 92.92% of the overall search engine traffic, it comes from Google over Bing in Yahoo. So if we think about that, that's mind blowing. And if you think about that, people are coming on Google looking for the problems to be solved. And then obviously if your Business profile is not up to date, you're missing out on all that traffic that potentially could be yours and not your competitors. There is a synergy between social media and Google because 89% of people are going to go on Google to find what they're looking for. And then they will go to social media to back up what they found and see what your clients and customers are saying and what you're all about. So it's so important to remember that it is part of the buying cycle of every ideal client. They will find you on Google and then they're going to visit you and see what you're all about. And it's so important because that's going to actually secure and cement the decision and wanting to do business with you. And so many people miss that. It's not this or that. It's this and that which is Google and social media to make sure that you're obviously having that culture because remember as I said on previous episodes, if you have been listening, is that it takes hearty exposures for somebody to have to your brand when they've never heard about you in order to for them to engage with you and want to do business with you. So we do need to be everywhere. Quick break, if you're a Salmoner, take off posting every day with nothing to show for it or you're searing at the gaps in the books again next week while we can help. So book a free call with my team using the link in the show notes and let's map out a Google strategy that brings in dream clients without the daily custom. Now that's the episode. The importance of replying to reviews and yes, even the bad ones, it is so important. Look, not everybody likes Coca-Cola. The reality is look, there is lunatics in our world. No matter what you do, there's going to be people that complain and look, people that read reviews and if they see a bad review, they will also see the response of to what that owner said to that review and if your response was very apologetic and encouraging them to contact you and resolve their inquiry and you know, replying in a very professional way, if you respond obviously with negativity, it doesn't really reflect well on your brand, but if you do that, that actually shows you being the bigger person and your ideal client will be like, oh look, there's lunatics, this person seems like a crazy person. And in which case, that review in their mind will become null and void, it'll be balanced because of how you responded to it. So the importance as well of optimizing your Google business profile, really and truly, you just need to go in and it's plug and play, it is so easy. So once you log into your Google business profile, you can navigate, so if you have a Google account, for example, you would navigate to the nine dots where then it opens out into YouTube and Google business profile, you can navigate to it from there and then the dashboard actually appears in the top position where the ad section usually would be and you'll have an option to edit your profile, you'll have an option to add services, you'll have an option to read reviews, respond to reviews, grab your link for your reviews, literally it's just so important to take the time to add updates, which is basically the equivalent to how you would create a post on Instagram, for example, you just have to say add updates and you can upload your photograph and a bit of content and again, it takes two seconds, it doesn't take that long, but just make sure every gap that is in your profile is fully optimized, so when I say optimize, you just have to fill in the gaps. Now, one of our clients that came on our books recently, they are a salon in Tamworth and essentially they literally had, didn't really optimize their Google business profile at all, so they have partnered us to do SEO for them because don't forget that Google business profile optimization is also done as part of our off-page SEO strategy, so when I say that it actually falls within the limit of SEO and what our retainers actually include, we actually do the off-page there as well, but with our specific client, they came on board and they never used Google business profile or never optimized it, and what we've actually seen is that they actually doubled their calls and bookings in 60 days, imagine that, and they never actually used Google before and they're like, I cannot keep up with all of this, all of the inquiries that we're getting from people that we've never met before and they're asking for their luxury services, so it is honestly just such a powerful tool that is so underutilized in the salon owner industry, and I want to leave you with today of something to think about is that if you want clients to find you, Google business profile is not optional, it is absolutely essential. If today's episode spoke to your salon soul, then hit subscribe so you don't miss the next round of strategy and support. For more help filling your books without the burn house, then check the show notes and you'll find a link to the searcher public where we build simple Google strategies that actually work. And if we're not already connected, comment say hi to me on the gram @SanyaTheSearchQueen and I'd love to hear what landed for you today.