Retail is, at its core, a local industry. While we may spend time, effort and plenty of dollars perfecting brand websites, storefronts serve nearby communities and are essential touchpoints for customers.
To make the most of the store fleet, however, the digital footprint for every location has to be carefully maintained. That’s where the store’s Google Business Profile (GBP), formerly called Google My Business (GMB), comes in – and it shouldn’t be an afterthought.
The GBP profile is what comes up when a customer nearby searches for your closest store location or a certain type of store nearby, which your brand might fall into. How companies show up in these high-intent moments matters, not only to score a sale and keep customers satisfied, but also to maintain proper SEO rankings – essentially by legitimizing your ownership of that specific store in Google’s eyes and making sure it delivers the most accurate information to users.
Think of GBP profiles like another social media platform. As a brand, you need to claim your stake so someone else doesn’t do it on your behalf. Here’s how to make the most of this critical space in Google Search and Maps.
‘X near me’
Discoverability is the name of the game when it comes to GBP profiles, and mastering it can help drive search traffic. More than ever, users are turning to their phones to find restaurants, chiropractors, retail stores, and more—typing in whatever it is they’re looking for followed by “near me.”
Over the past few years, we’ve seen a sharp increase in “near me” searches for several of our clients in the restaurant and retail space. For example, “clothing stores near me” has surged by more than 1.5x year over year (Jan - Aug 2024 vs 2023), while “diners near me open now” exploded with a nearly 4x increase. These trends show that immediacy and convenience are becoming essential in consumer search behavior, with many users looking for businesses that are both nearby and available right away.
Geolocation terms still play a role, especially for those planning ahead, but “near me” searches dominate. Where someone planning a trip might search for “restaurants Atlanta,” most users trust that their phones will automatically detect their location. In fact, geo-modified searches like “clothing stores Atlanta” are less frequent compared to proximity-based queries, which tend to drive higher volumes.
Consumers increasingly expect real-time results. The rise of "near me now" searches demonstrates that users are not just looking for local options—they want businesses that are open and accessible at that very moment. For example, searches like “diners near me open now” have grown by nearly 4x, which highlights the urgency behind these queries.
This shift in behavior has also turned Google Maps into a powerful search platform in its own right. Nearly 60% of these location-based searches happen in Maps, meaning users are often planning a visit to the business they find. Ensuring that your GMB profile is complete, accurate, and up-to-date can make all the difference when it comes to sending customers through your door instead of to the competition.
How to build a good Google Business Profile
The first step is to claim your business to build your profile. Google will want some evidence, like photo or video proof, that you’re local on the premises and the business owner in order to avoid scammers or spoofs. But once you’re in as the owner of the business, you can start loading in information.
Use as much detail as possible. Starting with name and category, identify your business through the lens of how you want customers to find you. When adding a description, be sure to make it conversational – like a human being wrote it – while still optimizing it for search traffic. Here, you can also get specific about location, in terms of what neighborhoods you serve in a specific city, to make it as relevant as possible to the right people. You can add up to 20 geotargets, which are essentially ad tags within the profile.
Don’t overlook the basics. Shoppers need to know the store address, phone number, hours and other key logistics in order to make a trip. Got a menu? Make it easy to click into right from the page. Think of insights like special store hours, happy hours or accessibility assets. Treat it like a digital storefront, similar to your website, with a hyperlocal audience in mind. In some ways, this profile is even more important than your website, because it’s meant to remove friction. If it fails to do that, people might fall off before they ever make it to your online store.
Know how to scale. Many companies have more than one location – sometimes hundreds. Getting each tailored down to a specific store is difficult when there are so many stores to account for. Acadia works with Yext to make this possible for clients by centralizing information and dispatching it out to each individual profile as relevant. In recent changes to the GMB interface, Google has made it more difficult to make changes across the board, so keeping on top of these shifts is paramount to keeping each profile up to date.
Future-proofing your store profile
GBP profiles aren’t just a nice to have, they’re a necessity for brands – especially small businesses looking to gain local consumers’ trust. Even if you don’t have the time and resources to flesh out a full profile, claiming ownership of your store and adding basic information makes a big difference, and prevents bad actors from claiming it for you. Once that happens, it’s difficult to claw back your business. Not to mention, an underserved GMB leaves money on the table. It’s a missed opportunity to not maintain it.
Maintaining it also means putting timely spins on the profile – it’s a touch that can make a business feel more part of the community, and bring more customers in the door. Adding a weather-related promotion, a message for the holidays in the description and keeping hours and changes up to date shows that a store is a local service, not just another outlet.