In this week’s video, I share a simple yet not commonly known tip to help with any problems you might have with your Google My Business listing. Google has Community Help forums for each of its products, so whenever you have a problem with your GMB listing that you can’t solve, you should create a forum post. Watch the video for all the details…
VIDEO TRANSCRIPT
Welcome back to another episode of Local Search Tuesdays. This week, I’m going to share a little-known tip that will help you with any problems you might encounter with your Google My Business listing.
Mike Blumenthal said it first – your Google My Business listing is your new home page. It’s the first impression for potential customers, and you’ve got to be sure your profile is optimized so you can win those customers.
Unfortunately, sometimes things can get a bit wonky, and support isn’t always able to help. In fact, it’s tough to even figure out how to talk to support, especially with the reduction in support staff caused by the COVID pandemic.
So whether you’re having trouble getting verified, or your information is changing, or your posts are getting declined, or even if your listing got suspended, there’s a great way to get help that most people don’t know about…
Google has “Help Communities” for each of its different properties – so when you have an issue you need help with, head over to the Google My Business help community. I created a short link so it’s easy to get to – just go to bit.ly/gmb-forum. You can browse through past posts to see if someone had a similar issue, or you can click “ask now” and start your own post.
Keep in mind – the forum isn’t staffed by Google support team members. Volunteers spend time there answering questions and helping people, and when a volunteer has answered enough questions correctly, they get invited to the Product Expert program.
Product Experts are people that Google has recognized to be, well… experts in that particular product. There are multiple levels, with Silver being the lowest, then Gold, then Platinum, then Diamond at the top.
In most cases, one of the product experts, or any of the other volunteers who spend time on the forum, will be able to help you with your problem. In the rare cases where Google Support needs to assist, a product expert can escalate your post internally, directly to Google’s support team.
Full disclosure, I’m a Silver Product Expert. I spend a lot of time there helping people, and the other Product Experts are awesome and incredibly helpful.
When you create a post about your issue, make sure to include as much detail as possible. Share your business name, your website link, and a link to your Google My Business listing. Including screenshots of your problem will also help get a better answer faster. If you’ve already talked to Google support about your issue, be sure to include your support case number.
You should hear back pretty quickly, whether a product expert helps you, or he or she escalates your post to internal support. It’s by far the best way to get help if you’re running up against a problem you can’t figure out.
And that’s all the time we’ve got for this week’s video, so you know what that means…
Put your hand on the screen right here:
We totally just high-fived ‘cause you learned something awesome.
Thanks for watching, and we’ll see you again next week for another episode of Local Search Tuesdays.
