The month of December brought an end to the GBP DIY video series. But the good news is that the month also brought a ton of interesting and important topics to the table. Josh went over some of the best practices for reputation and reviews management, how to manage your Q&A section, and the ways you can set your dealership up for success around the holidays. If you missed an episode or just want a quick review of what we’ve covered, keep reading for a rundown of the final GBP DIY episodes.
Managing Your GBP Reviews
In GBP DIY Episode 8, Josh discussed the importance of managing your reviews. When it comes to ranking in local search, how your business is rated does make a difference. And when it comes to the consumers in your market picking a dealership, the reviews your business has received—and how you’ve handled them—can have a significant impact.
You can find your reviews on your SERP (search engine results page) listing; here, you can read your reviews and reply to them. A good review should be “liked” and given a “thank you” response. Don’t ignore poor reviews, either. Take the time to apologize to those who didn’t have a great experience and try to make things right. Not only does this build your rapport with Google and help you rank in the Map Pack, but it also shows your potential customers that you care what consumers have to say, building up your reputation.
You can handle responding to reviews in-house or hire a company that offers reputation management services; both are great! However, as Josh mentioned, you need to make sure you’re avoiding bot-based services, as Google will likely interpret the responses as spam, which will have a negative impact on your rankings.
Speaking of spam, if you come across a fake or slanderous review, you can report it to Google by selecting “Report Review.” On the opposite end of the spectrum, if you’ve received a really good review that you’d like to highlight for others to see, you can click “Share Review.” Finally, if you want to get more reviews, Google makes it easy with the “Ask for Reviews” option. When you click that button, you’ll get a shareable link and a list of places and ways you can share it, encouraging your customers to comment on their experiences. Remember, the more positive reviews you get, the better you look both in the eyes of your potential customers and Google!
GBP Questions & Answers
Another GBP feature that you should be managing is the Q&A section. On your public GBP listing, users have the opportunity to pose questions. In GBP DIY Episode 9, Josh explained that Google gives all users the opportunity to answer one another’s questions, making it especially important for you to stay on top of these to ensure your customers get accurate answers to their queries.
Here’s how to do it. When you’re on your SERP dashboard, you’ll see a Q&A button. If you click that, you’ll be brought to the list of questions users have asked. You should be monitoring these and responding promptly with answers that are not only correct but align with your dealership’s voice and policy. You can also take a proactive approach, which Josh and Google both encourage, and add common questions and answers yourself. Josh also recommends having your team go in and “Like” the answers you’ve given, which will give them more authority and feature them above others.
All in all, managing your Q&A section is important because it allows you to give your customers accurate information about your dealership. Plus, it’s quick and easy to do, so…just do it!
Updating Your Holiday Hours
Josh wrapped up the GBP DIY video series with two special holiday episodes. Both episodes had the same goal: reminding you to update your dealership’s GBP holiday hours and generate awareness about said hours. Now, it’s a given that your dealership will be closed or have limited hours around major holidays like Christmas and New Year’s. However, this doesn’t mean some people won’t try to shop for a car during those times, so it’s essential to make your holiday hours clear.
Within your GBP dashboard, you can add special hours. Simply click the edit button on the profile you want to manage, scroll down to “Special Hours,” and you’ll be prompted to fill out the hours you’re open on a holiday. Now, Google has set options for specific holidays, including both Christmas and New Year’s. You can click on those and edit the hours or select that you are closed. If there’s a holiday that Google doesn’t have listed when you will be closed or have limited hours, you can add those manually. Once you’ve added the hours you want, remember to click “save,” and you’ll be good to go on that end!
Now, if you’re doing this well ahead of time and want to make sure your customers know about it, you can also create a Google Business Profile post to make them aware. Just go back to your GBP dashboard and click “Add update” on the profile you’d like to post from. This will prompt you to add a message, photos to go with it, and a call-to-action button. Fill this out, hit post, and the information will be displayed to users visiting your listing on Google Maps. Josh recommends adding these posts to social media as well so that you can spread the word as much as possible, avoiding any confusion about your holiday hours.
That’s All for Now!
With that, we wrap up GBP DIY! From optimizing your profile to performing day-to-day maintenance, Josh has discussed the ins and outs of GBP. You can find all of these episodes on Facebook, LinkedIn, and in the GBP DIY section of our blog. If you have questions that weren’t answered in the series, we encourage you to contact us at Wikimotive. We’re always happy to help you put your best foot forward!