Google Business Profile and SEO and SERPs, Oh My!

Jeffro (00:00.866)
Welcome back to Digital Dominance. Today, we’re diving into strategies that can help local businesses stand out online. My guest is Baileigh Dabdoub, an SEO specialist at GreenLane Marketing, where she works with businesses across a range of industries, from local shops to national ecommerce brands. Bailey has a passion for audience analysis and customer journeys. And she’s here to help us understand how local businesses can leverage tools like Google Business Profile and social media to boost their local presence and SEO. So thanks for joining us, Bailey.

Baileigh (00:30.178)
Thanks for having me. Very excited to be here.

Jeffro (00:32.876)
Yeah, and I love talking about local businesses and how we can help them be found by their customers. And I think for local businesses, there are some unique challenges when it comes to standing out online. But of course, there are ways to help them improve that visibility. So let’s start with one of the most powerful tools, in my opinion, for local businesses, which is the Google Business Profile. Why is that such a critical piece of the puzzle?

Baileigh (00:55.726)
There’s a couple of reasons. The first being that Google Business Profile is a part of Google. So Google is always going to like it when you use their things. And if you’re not using their things, then they know that. using any tool that they give you is always a good thing to do. A. B. Is that a lot of people

I guess rely on Google Business Profile to know things about you and your business, which sounds obvious, but it can go deeper than just hours and a phone number. you know, like for, let’s say you’re a restaurant having an event, post it in your post, have things like that linked to your website for like menu or, you know, lunch, brunch, things like that, linking back to the website is critical because…

It will then display all of these things on your website. It’ll help it display on Google Business Profile. So if you Google something, the GBP pops up and it says, website mentions this here, which was your search. So linking to the website and having everything that you offer is super important, not just on GBP itself, but on your website. So that will also show through on GBP.

Jeffro (02:10.377)
So part of that is improving the user experience that a customer has with your brand, right? Because they get those direct links to the menu or ordering or whatever without even leaving Google. But it also increases the likelihood that they will find you at all because once you’ve got that profile, now you can show up in the Google Map Pack and you’ve got the picture off to the side if you are the top result or something. So that, of course, draws people to it. So I assume that’s a big part of it as well.

Baileigh (02:38.438)
yeah, that’s like for finding you in general, that’s definitely a given. Even if like you don’t necessarily rank for, I don’t know, dry cleaner near me, but if you look for something a little bit more specific and you specifically rank for that, then that can help you rank and that can eventually help you rank your GBP for dry cleaner near me. So finding you at all, whether it be on the map pack or on Google is super essential as well.

Jeffro (03:05.151)
And so this is interesting to talk about because obviously there’s going to be more than one dry cleaner near me. So how can a local business, a local dry cleaner, whoever, make sure that their Google business profile stands out among the competitors so that they’re the ones at the top of the list showing up there.

Baileigh (03:21.678)
There’s a few things you can do the most basic is to fill out every single thing possible on Google Business Profile Even if it can get a little tedious for let’s say services you say dry cleaning, but you know, let’s say leather dry cleaning or Specific I don’t know like ballgown dry cleaning things like that. You can add services on there So you want to add everything as detailed as possible as you can get? also

posting your deals or services or like anything in the post section. I’ve recently found out that posts kind of help rank more than we thought they used to. So you want to have all your updates in there that can help you rank. And then also updating your photos so you’re not just like this nameless, faceless business having, you know, who you are as the owner, who your employees are.

You’re, you know, what you actually do, people actually dry cleaning clothes. So the more photos you can have, the more trustworthy you are. And Google likes pictures too. So those are three really big things.

Jeffro (04:27.179)
So when you say post updates and deals and things, is it just the fact that you’re posting that Google then says, we’ll keep this in front of people? Or is it a strategic way of posting where you’re keeping keywords inside of your posts or things like that? Does it matter?

Baileigh (04:42.062)
It’s both. So Google will always like fresh content. So if you’re continuously updating this tool that Google has given you, it will react well. But also putting keywords in your post is great. if you’re, I don’t know, let’s say a car dealership and you’ve got buy three tires, get one free, and you post that on your Google business profile, you’ll start to write more for tire, tire keywords and things like that.

So, which is, you know, can be quite lucrative around the holidays or anytime that seasonality when people need tires.

Jeffro (05:17.035)
Is it a problem to go to the other extreme? Like if you’re posting eight times a day, this Google is going to be like, whoa, whoa there, cowboy. You don’t get to cheat everybody else.

Baileigh (05:26.19)
Just like spamming a website, I probably wouldn’t spam Google Business Profile. So, you know, let’s say you make 200 AI web pages and publish it on your website. Google is going to be like, that’s not good. It can clock that. So I definitely wouldn’t recommend doing that, but a few times a week minimum for sure.

Jeffro (05:47.755)
So what about if someone is just starting out with SEO? Because in my mind, Google Business Profile falls under the umbrella of SEO because you’re still optimizing your business to be found through research by creating this profile. How do you tie in the Google Business Profile with the work you’re doing on the website and even social media to kind of keep this as a coherent presence that’s all working together to help people find you?

Baileigh (06:15.054)
Let’s, I’ll give an example. So let’s say you are a local boutique and you are in the South and you, it’s, I don’t know, a game day and you’ve got a game day special running and you can make a web page for that, for these specific things you’ve got for game day. can post it on your Google business profile and you can also post it on social media.

So that way people who don’t know who you are will find it via website and GBP. And people who do know who you are know you have something going on for social media. Another example is if during the holidays, let’s say a restaurant has an event, like a special Christmas event, they can make a website page for it. Then they can post it on their Google Business profile under posts and even add pictures, more holiday pictures to the overall photo section.

link it there in the post and then put it on social media as well. I’ve kind of found myself recently for local things if it’s a special day or something’s going on, instead of just Googling events for this near me, I’ll just go look at all of the social media profiles for the local places I know and see if they’re offering anything. And a lot of people that I’ve talked to said that they’ve done the same. So even if social media isn’t

Technically, Google and SEO, I think it is sort of being used as a search engine just a little bit more than it has been previously.

Jeffro (07:49.451)
So does that mean it’s good to post regardless of the engagement you get, the number of likes? Because dry cleaners, again, let’s say you post once a week, you’re not going to go viral or anything, but at least you’ve got something there, so that’s still worth doing.

Baileigh (08:04.15)
Yeah. Cause I mean, even if you’re not posting, we’ve got this sale, this deal, this event, even just having an online presence is also a trust factor for users. So they’ll see, this is a real place that, you know, people aren’t commenting. they are. They’re awful. They ruined my shirt. So they can, cause if you, know, people will go find somewhere to complain. So that’s just another piece of a user saying, this is a real place run by real people.

And then also Google will kind of sometimes use socials to amplify your GBP. Used to, you didn’t be able to, you weren’t able to put your own socials in Google Business Profile, you can now. But having, you know, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, even if you don’t post every day, having those things will help Google connect you, your website and your GBP profile to those social medias to help expand your presence.

Jeffro (09:03.371)
Yeah, and that all makes sense. I work with a lot of companies and we try to fix their website so that it looks good. When they drive traffic there, people are actually impressed and want to contact them instead of saying, really? Are they still in business? That type of thing. But I think even for some of those companies that have a website and it’s like, OK, if they’ve got a link to their social media profile, a lot of people will use that as kind of a second chance. Like, OK, your first impression wasn’t great. Let me go check your Instagram.

and get a better visual feel for who are you guys, what kind of stuff do you do. And that can make up for a mediocre website in some cases, depending on what the business is. So again, it’s just another reason to make sure you’re actively putting stuff out there because people are judging you based on these profiles on your website and whatever you put up online.

Baileigh (09:52.191)
I for one always go look at social media profiles. I always go look at Instagram, TikTok, things like that.

Jeffro (09:58.577)
Yeah, it’s easy to overlook that, especially if you’re a business owner and you’re busy running the business or hiring people or doing the numbers, whatever you got to do. But you can’t ignore this because this is how people find your business and come in to become customers. So you really have to make sure that you do that part. Even if it’s not done perfectly, you’ll get better over time. You got to start posting stuff. So yeah, are there any other thoughts on how

I’m assuming the social media activity is more for what we just talked about, The user trust factor, et cetera, but it doesn’t actually help with your ranking on a Google search. Do you have any other thoughts there?

Baileigh (10:37.166)
on social media specifically or on Google, straight up Google search.

Jeffro (10:43.397)
on the things you post elsewhere that can help you on your Google rankings.

Baileigh (10:49.234)
well, if you’re posting on, let’s say, well, if now you can’t actually turn your posts on Instagram to get indexed. So they could find you that way. Not maybe not necessarily a website, but they can find you on Google. a couple of years ago, Google bought the TikTok API. And so now there are TikToks in the SERP, just like there are YouTube videos. So posting either of those places, will

help people find you, click to your socials and then click to your website. So it can be a little more cross channel but

your video may rank in a way that a web page never could, whether it be on TikTok or on YouTube, especially after the video update that Google let out last November, where every video on every website got de-indexed forever. And no matter the site authority, and I don’t know if that’s ever gonna change, but all of the YouTube videos are ranking for everything. So why Google did that?

have an idea.

Jeffro (11:55.186)
They have the monopoly. mean, YouTube is the place. They want people to be there, so.

Baileigh (11:59.406)
I have an idea, but I would say post videos on your website, but go post them on YouTube too and then link back to your site with the page with the

Jeffro (12:07.516)
Yeah. Yeah, or even just post it on YouTube and then embed it on your own site because that way don’t have to worry about the streaming resources from your own server.

Baileigh (12:12.92)
Yeah.

Yep. Yeah, exactly. So yeah, I would say prioritize if you’re to do video, put it on YouTube. And if you can put it on TikTok because it’s there to know.

Jeffro (12:24.38)
Yeah. So can you share with us any creative ideas that you’ve seen working with clients that local business can use social media to better engage with their audience and drive local traffic, even if it’s not through a SERP, the search and results page, but just directly from social media?

Baileigh (12:42.226)
yeah, so let’s say we, I’m the one example of an industry. There’s a few ways to kind of like grab people’s attention. I guess my thought has always been you either have to make them love you, hate you.

laugh or cry. And actually loving you doesn’t isn’t really enough that much. So hate you, laugh or cry. So say be funny or be controversial in a way that makes sense for you and your business. And so I guess there is these TikToks that were going viral of these interns being like, no, the corporate

Jeffro (13:05.714)
Strong emotions.

Baileigh (13:21.634)
The corporate gave me control over TikTok and I have to have a thousand followers in a week, please help. And they’re just like sitting on a chair spinning around and it has like millions, millions of likes, millions of views. And it’s like, well, and that company did in fact get well over a thousand followers. So just be funny and authentic and you can get traffic that way. And if someone is, it’s relevant to someone, odds are they will, you know, click through your site and figure out who you are. Like.

I don’t ever need, I’ve never needed a personal injury lawyer, but there is a personal injury lawyer on TikTok called the TikTok Lawyer. And he’s got, I don’t know, a couple billion followers and he’s not in my state. I think he’s probably five, six states away. But if I’m ever like, hmm, I wonder if he’s talked about this, I’ll just go look him up and see if there’s a video on it. So not that I need a lawyer, but if I ever did and I lived in that state, I would go to him. So.

is kind of doing things like that and then also engaging with your local community too. So if let’s say you’re a local law firm and you have a fundraiser for back to school and there’s an attorney here that will put together backpacks full of school supplies and give away a thousand of them at this big fair he puts on. It doesn’t have to be that extreme, but you know, pay off some school lunches or make a donation to a school for books, things like that.

but you have something that people can engage with and you post about it. Or you say, this video gets a thousand likes, we’ll donate a thousand dollars to this place or however much you can. Just something to engage people and get them to like you and want to continue to engage with you.

Jeffro (14:58.556)
Yeah. And I think this is a good way of thinking about social media. I think a lot of owners think of it as, or think of business as a transactional thing. Like you need this, I provide the service. Okay. You pay me, I do it. Done. But it more and more, it’s becoming a relationship over time. Right? And social media allows you to do that and build that one to many relationship where you’re demonstrating not only your competency and your expertise, but your

People can get to know your personality just a little bit in the way you create your videos and the way you talk about stuff. So like that guy, like, okay, so random lawyer on TikTok, you don’t know him, but now you feel like you trust him because he posts all these videos that have been interesting or helpful to you. And it works in the same local context. So you might as well just start posting stuff. It can really only help you. And you just got to get over the fact that your first few videos are going to be bad. That’s okay. You can delete them later, but you need the reps to get…

Get better with practice and it’ll pay off over time.

Baileigh (15:59.404)
Yeah. And if you do do these things on, where you have these community outreach, things like that, and you have an event or something like that, odds are a local news station will pick it up or a local, you know, maybe not on the TV, but like on their website, they will probably write an article about it if it’s, they hear about it, which could give you a little nice little backlink. So, there’s always multiple, cross channel things in there that it can help with.

Jeffro (16:27.772)
Yeah, and this is a good option for someone with a limited budget, right? If you don’t have a lot of money to spend on ads yet, okay, create content. It’s free. You can get it in front of people and you can actually, maybe you don’t get a customer tomorrow after your first video, but if it’s something you commit to, you get better at it then you start reusing it. It starts to pay off over time. So you just got to incorporate that into your daily process or weekly process that you post something so that people know who you are and…

know what you do so that when they need you, you’re the one they go to.

Baileigh (16:59.596)
Yep, all about consistency is what you’ll hear everyone say on Dick Mott specifically.

Jeffro (17:04.476)
Yes, and you have to be consistent for a lot longer than you probably want to. Don’t just do it for like a month or two months. Do it longer than that. As long as you think you possibly can. Just commit to doing it regardless and then you’ll eventually see the result. What is a common mistake that you see local businesses making when it comes to their SEO or the social media strategies?

Baileigh (17:28.206)
well, guess swapping from social stuff kind of more onto the website is I see a lot of local businesses with a lot of blogs and they will get excited about a service or a product and they’ll go write a blog about it, but they already have a service page or a product page, which is a landing page that, you know, is built out with, calls to action with phone numbers or form fills or things like that.

And the blog will be about the same thing. And so they’ll even be geos in the blog. So it’ll be optimized for the same exact service or the same exact product with the same exact geo. And so what that does is it competes with itself on your site. So like, let’s say if I have a cup of, let’s say this is full of caffeine and I drink it all by myself, I’m going to get the full effect of all this caffeine. But if I split it,

with one other person or three other people, we’re just gonna get a little bit. So it’s the same thing with rank juice, which there needs to be a better term for that. But if you split up rank juice on your own side between two pages for the same thing, it’s not like one’s gonna be number one and one’s gonna be not ranked, they’re both gonna be at like 34 or something like that. So.

Blogging is one of my hot takes. don’t like blogging for local businesses unless you’ve got someone who really knows how to do it to help you. But even if you have someone like that, it’s not super useful to do it if you don’t have all of your money pages, which is all of your landing pages. If you haven’t fleshed out every single page on your site that someone could land on with a local search and want to convert and convert.

Hugs can be good for announcing community events and things like that. If you do things like that, but just talking about your services, don’t think it can be, I think it can be more hurtful than helpful when people are trying to do it on their own.

Jeffro (19:27.877)
Right. And I was going to say, as long as you’ve got an SEO person on your team who’s experienced, then they’re going to be able to help you set this up. Because what you described is called keyword cannibalization, right? You’re fighting against yourself, which nobody wants that. So you’ve got to have internal site links back to the main page and say, OK, this is the canonical page that I want to rank for this term. And then this is going to be something else you can link back to it. That’s all fine. But to your point, if you don’t know what you’re doing and you’re posting stuff, like, yay, you’re probably shooting yourself in the foot more often than you realize.

Baileigh (19:58.574)
Mm hmm. Like I offer lawn care services. I’m going to write five other blogs about the same lawn care services that I offer. And I’m in the city. So I’m going to put that city and every single one. And then no one gets the shot of espresso. Everyone just gets a little a little taste. And so then you don’t rank for anything. And if you have an SEO, they’ll probably tell you the same thing. So you want something broader that will then bring them back to your local page. But also, if you have something broader,

It’s people outside of your geo are finding it too. So it can end up being a lot of useless traffic that won’t convert. So we can get that, but I think most local businesses are more ROI focused. And so that’s why I think a more, you know, ROI focused approach with landing pages makes more sense than the blog.

Jeffro (20:51.417)
Yeah, and if you are going to write a blog, make sure you’ve got long tail keywords so that to your point, you’re not just going to have somebody random find you that isn’t going to hire you. It’ll be at least someone who has a very specific need in your area. So it’s more likely to convert. So let’s look ahead to next year in 2025. Are there any trends or changes that you know about that are coming, whether that’s in local SEO, the Google Business Profile, any algorithm updates that have been promised, anything that

we should be aware of.

Baileigh (21:23.206)
Google has been very volatile lately. They keep releasing update after update without telling anyone that they’re doing it. so I can’t give you a prediction on the updates because I’d probably be wrong, but, I can say I’ve seen the search change a lot, especially when it comes to video content. I’ve seen a lot of videos, lot of YouTube and a lot of TikTok in there. even for more,

higher intent searches. So that goes back to the social media. I would get on that if you haven’t. I’ve also seen a lot of, I guess, volatility in the e-commerce side. There’s now a whole e-commerce page that will pop up. It looks almost like a website and you can filter and things like that. that doesn’t really affect, you know, local or service based businesses as much. But if they were to take that idea and

push it to local businesses where you can filter it and things like that, then that could end up being, I guess, affecting y’all as well. But I’ve seen that even if you rank number one for, let’s say, a term that’s for an e-commerce, it doesn’t take into consideration, you you’re looking at SEMrush or a rankings report, it doesn’t take into consideration the traffic or the ranking from…

either the free shopping listings, the popular products, or even the photos, which photos are also ranking a lot now as well. So it doesn’t take into consideration any of that. You could have shopping ads of a whole group of photos and people also ask, then popular products, and then all the way down here when you’ve scrolled five times, that first search listing, they’ll still say you’re number one.

It doesn’t look at anything else. So it’s more e-comm for now, but I think once they figured that out and how they want to keep it, that it could potentially end up moving to service-based local stuff. And that would, in my opinion, would be pulling from Google business profiles. So that would, you know, if you haven’t built out your GBP, I would.

Baileigh (23:49.898)
It’s, guess technically it is not a click, but I have seen so many wrong things pop up in Google AI that I don’t read it. And if I do, I’m like, I need to go check that somewhere else. Fact check it real quick. So I just, I’m, I don’t know what they’re going to do with that, to be honest, because it hasn’t been the most helpful in my experience. And I’m, I’m also, not really apt to trust it. I I’m like, well, I’ve seen so many obviously wrong things on here that

I need to go look it up again somewhere else. So they could improve it maybe. I think they should get rid of it.

Baileigh (24:50.166)
Yeah, I guess I wish they had waited to roll it out until it was better because you you read that and then you’re like, well, what if it’s wrong or it’s obviously wrong that I have to go keep searching? Because sometimes they’ll have one answer in the AI and then right underneath it in the featured snippet, it’ll be a completely different answer.

Baileigh (25:47.15)
Shortest would be three days. then longest would be, gosh, probably nine or 10 months, maybe a year, depending on how competitive it was and how competitive their competitor was.

Baileigh (26:11.49)
We’re watching you just