GOOGLE BUSINESS PROFILE (GMB)
How to Use the Q&A feature on Your Google Business Profile
Keep these tips in mind to get the most from the Google Business Profile Q&A feature.
Here are five common questions regarding Google Business Profile.
Every month dbaPlatform holds a live “ask the expert” webinar. Local SEOs (both pro and amateur) present their queries. And the same questions pop up time after time. Chances are that these distinctions have crossed your mind too.
Managing a Google Business Profile, formerly known as Google My Business (GMB), is relatively easy, but many nuances lead to common questions.
#1: Why does my Google Business Profile, GBP, listing information change by itself?
Two ways listing information can be updated without a listing owner or manager making changes:
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- Suggested user edits
Anyone with a Google account can suggest edits to a GBP listing. When this occurs, three things can happen. The edit gets automatically accepted, the edit gets automatically denied, or the edit goes into ‘pending,’ and a human person checks it. - Automatic edits
This occurs when Google gets information about your business that is consistent with what Google already knows and has reason to believe is accurate and will enhance your listing. Usually, Google will display edits in orange, and you will see a banner at the top of the dashboard to review the changes. The image below demonstrates the notification from Google you may receive.
- Suggested user edits
If you deny the edits (or inadvertently accept the edits that the algorithm has added and change the information back), your denial signals to Google that it should no longer change those fields.
#2: Do Google Posts Help Increase Rankings?
Posting regularly to your GBP does help increase rankings, but probably different from the way you think it does. Google posts do help ranking but not directly. Posts add user engagement signals which are a ranking factor. Every time someone clicks on a Google Post, that action is recorded. More clicks tell Google that your profile is more attractive to users, and Google is more likely to serve your listing higher than the competitor.
#3: Does Adding Images to the GMB Increase Rankings
Similar to the Google posts answer, adding more images does not directly help increase rankings but can serve to add areas for user engagement signals.
It is important to add that Google scans the image and can identify objects within the image. If the image matches the query, Google sometimes returns related images alongside the GBP listing.