How To Add Keywords To A Google Business Profile For SEO (2024)
Adding keywords and relevant product / service information to your Google Business Profile (also called Google My Business) is a key step to ensuring that potential customers can discover your profile when searching for terms related to your business.
Follow these steps to add keywords to your Google My Business listing:
- Add keywords as business categories
- Add keywords to the business description
- Add keywords to products / services
- Publish posts with relevant keywords
- Include keywords in business attributes
- Use location-relevant keywords as service areas
- Prompt customers to use keywords in reviews
1. Add keywords as business categories
One of the best ways to ensure your Google My Business listing (now called Google Business Profile) ranks for your target keywords is to optimize your Google business categories – this includes both primary and secondary business categories.
Here’s how:
- Head over to BrightLocal’s SERP Checker
- Enter your target keyword (or primary business category) and location
- Select the Google Search option to view Local 3-Pack results.
Following these steps will show the top ranking competitors for your target keyword and location…
In the example above, we know that in order to rank for the keyword personal injury attorneys, our primary Google My Business category needs to be personal injury attorney.
Pro Tip: You can repeat this step for each of your target keywords using this optimization checklist and audit template, which can help you document your findings and highlight additional SEO opportunities for your business.
To find other relevant categories, use this guide to find primary and secondary business categories of your competitors.
Note: Follow these steps to update or change your primary and secondary Google My Business categories.
2. Add keywords to the business description
For some, this can be controversial, but should be an obvious opportunity.
You can add keywords to your Google My Business description to showcase your business’s services and target service area. This won’t directly impact rankings, but customers who read it will be better informed about your business, its offerings, and service area if done correctly.
Pro Tip: You can also use this tactic on local citations and for linking building, which can impact rankings.
Following the same example, if we were to target personal injury attorneys in Phoenix, AZ, here’s what an optimized Google My Business description might look like…
Pro Tip: Most businesses (and SEO agencies) get this wrong. Use these Google My Business description examples to write an optimized description for customers and search engines.
3. Leverage the products / services feature by adding keywords
Google My Business makes it possible to add additional products / services that are relevant to your business’s categories. Since approximately spring / summer of 2023, adding keywords to the services section has been found to be correlated with rankings.
Add keywords to products / services on your Google My Business listing…
For example (see above), a legal service and keyword that’s relevant to most personal injury law firms is car accident lawyer.
This information can be added in the Services section within the Google Business Profile Manager.
Pro Tip: The Product section makes it possible to add backlinks from Google My Business to product / service pages on your website.
4. Publish posts with relevant keywords
Post justifications showcase snippets of content sourced from Google My Business posts. Adding keywords to Google My Business posts will increase the likelihood that you receive a local justification for your profile.
Create a posting strategy that includes keywords related to your business’s products or services, and include those target keyword(s) within the content of the post.
5. Include keywords in business attributes
Adding keywords to business attributes can be a great way to increase visibility for relevant searches. However, this is primarily applicable to restaurants and other businesses in the travel & tourism nice (such as hotels).
This is because Google displays relevant business attributes for local searches (see below).
Pro Tip: Follow this guide on how to add attributes in Google My Business for examples and SEO considerations to optimize attributes on your business profile.
6. Use location-relevant keywords as service areas
If your business serves customers in a large area, include those relevant locations in the areas served section of your Google Business Profile.
You can add service areas to your Google Business Profile to let customers and Google know that your business servers customers in that area. This can help your profile stand out in Google Search and Maps, and may help your rankings, depending on the level of local competition, your primary business category, and especially if the locations are mentioned on your website (such as on local landing pages).
This option may not be available depending on your niche and how your profile is set up, but it is available to most home service businesses that visit customers at their location (such as roofers, HVAC contractors, and plumbers).
7. Prompt customers to use keywords in reviews
Google may feature a review justification in Google Search and Maps when a review mentions the relevant product or service. This highlights the snippet of the review in Google’s Local 3-Pack result just below the business hours on the profile.
You can prompt customers to mention the product or service that they purchased in their review, which can help increase the likelihood that your business receives a review justification for that particular product or service.
Pro Tip: Although this is not a direct ranking factor, it can help your business stand out in search (which can help rankings), and help to improve conversion rates for your Google Business Profile.
Additional considerations
You may also choose to include keywords in your profile’s questions and answers section. However, this won’t help your rankings, and you’ll want to keep this profile reserved for frequently asked questions.
No matter where you choose to add keywords, it’s important to follow Google’s Guidelines to avoid suspensions due to quality issues, and to ultimately test what works for your business.
Happy SEO-ing 🙂