GBP Optimization 101: How to Win on Google

Your next customer is probably meeting you on Google before they ever see your website and that first impression is your Google Business Profile. If your hours are wrong, your address is outdated, your categories are messy, or your reviews sit unanswered, you’re not just slipping in local rankings, you’re losing real jobs to the competitor who looks more active and more trustworthy.

We share a practical GBP optimization playbook built for home service businesses and other local companies that depend on nearby customers. We explain what GBP is (and why people still call it GMB), how to claim and verify ownership, and how to tighten up the essentials like NAP consistency (name, address, phone number) without falling into risky keyword stuffing. We also dig into the visibility levers Google pays attention to: accurate hours including holidays, smart primary and secondary categories, and steady posting that makes your listing feel alive.

Then we get into the part most businesses avoid: reviews. You’ll hear how to make reviews easy with direct links and QR codes, how to coach customers to mention specific services and technicians, and why your response to a negative review can matter more than the star rating. We also answer questions about call tracking, DNI (dynamic number insertion), and when paid options like PPC or Google Local Service Ads make sense as the next step.

If you want more calls from local search without guessing, hit play, share this with a business owner who needs it, and subscribe so you don’t miss the rest of our marketing alphabet soup series. If this helped, can you leave a review and tell us what GBP question you want answered next?

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From the Yellow Chair is powered by Lemon Seed, a marketing strategy and branding company for the trades. Lemon Seed specializes in rebrands, creating unique, comprehensive, organized marketing plans, social media, and graphic design. Learn more at www.LemonSeedMarketing.com

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Transcript

Welcome And Alphabet Soup Series

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Alright, welcome back to From the Yellow Chair. I'm Rachel De Res, a graphic designer here at Lemon Seed, and also the one behind the scenes making sure all things Lemon Seed, including this podcast, keep running smoothly. This month we're diving into what we're calling Alphabet Soup, breaking down all those marketing acronyms you've probably heard, maybe even used, but might not fully understand or be maximizing. And today's episode is a really good one. We're bringing you a replay from one of our recent social media lives, GBP Optimization 101, how to win on Google. Now, if you're a home service business and you rely on local customers, this is not optional. Because here's the reality: when someone Googles your business, your Google business profile is usually the very first impression they get. And if it's not optimized, you're not just missing out, you're actively leaving calls, clicks, and customers on the table. In this episode, we're breaking down what GVP actually is, why it matters for your rankings, and the five key pillars you need to focus on to start seeing real results. We'll also walk through some of the most common mistakes we see in the businesses make and give you simple, actionable steps you can start implementing right away. Think of this as your crash course in making Google actually work for your business. So whether you've claimed your profile and ignored it, or you're not even sure where to start, this one's for you. Let's sip some lemonade.

What A Google Business Profile Is

Claiming And Verifying Ownership

Keep Info Accurate And Active

NAP Basics And Keyword Stuffing

Hours And Service Categories

Reviews That Rank And Responses

Call Tracking And DNI Explained

Google Ads Versus Free GBP

Photos Posts Promotions And Wrap Up

SPEAKER_01 1:41

Hello, hello. I'm so excited to be chatting with you all today. I'm gonna give you guys a little bit of a sneak peek of some things that we've got coming up in April. So in April, we're going to be talking all the things we're calling it marketing alphabet soup. So when I say alphabet soup, like who has heard all the marketing acronyms, random three or four letters? Like, what in the world does that mean? Lemon Seed's gonna be doing a whole series on it. So when you hear SEO, GBP, CTR, um, all those things, PPC, GLSA, all those random letters, Lemon Seed is gonna be dissecting them all. So the whole month of April, we will be talking um on our podcasts, on our webinars, on all of our social media lives, things like that. We will be talking all the marketing alphabet soups um to help explain it to you guys, simplify it down, make it a lot more digestible, easy to swallow, easy to swallow that alphabet soup. And so today I'm just gonna give you guys a quick little sneak peek into GBP. So who here knows what GBP is? That is your Google Business Profile, um, commonly known as or what used to be known as GMB, Google My Business. And so um, it has transitioned a little bit over the past few years, now known as Google Business Profile. So if you hear us say GBP, that's what that acronym, that alphabet letter soup is for you. And so, um, but it is the most core, foundational, free piece of marketing that can have a direct impact. And so we want to talk today a little bit about how how can you optimize your Google Business profile? How can you make the most of it, make it work for you? So, first off, um, let's start with it. What is a Google Business profile? So, a Google Business Profile is um the little virtual storefront, if you will, that kind of appears on the right hand side of the screen when you Google a company name or when you Google for services near you. Um, that little profile that pops up that has a company name, it shows some pictures, it shows services, it shows a phone number, hours, things like that. That is the Google Business profile. So just like how back in the olden days, people might have to actually go to your door to your storefront to get in contact with you. Google has made this their virtual storefront. Okay. So your Google Business profile can house your name, your hours, your phone number, your website, um, how can people get in touch with you? That's also where your Google reviews live. They live on your Google Business profile. And so this is a completely free tool that Google offers, and it is very heavily used, very popular, very common. People come to know and trust that a lot of times they can find the information they need right there before they ever have to actually click over on your website or before they have to go searching in a couple of different places to find that information. That Google Business Profile is the centralized hub to where they can find a lot of the information we're talking about. So it's a super key and core piece. Good morning, Barb. So good to see you. Glad you're joining. Um, it's a super core piece, but it's one that can be very impactful if you're optimizing it right, if you're paying attention to it, um, treating it and maximizing it the most of how you can do it. And so that's what we're gonna talk a little bit about today. So um, that is the first impression a lot of people see. But first thing I want to talk about is like, do you yourself actually own your Google Business profile? Okay. And you might be like, huh, what does that mean? Well, um, if you ever Google your own company name, does it show that like you are the owner? You have access to edit this information, things like that. Is it a claimed and verified business? Um, if you are not the owner, that needs to be step one, okay? You, the owner of the company, need to be the owner of your Google business profile. Okay. It does not need to be unclaimed, it does not need to be left out into the wild to where anyone could claim it. It does not need to be from a CSR who used to work for you three years ago, but we haven't seen her in three years. She's the owner of it. Okay. That is not what we're wanting here. Okay. Um, so first step in making sure that it's optimized is making sure that you are the actual owner of it. Okay. Um, there's a few steps you got to take to it. If it says like claim this business, like that is something you need to claim. And then you have to do some walkthrough steps of how to get it actually verified, how to prove that you're the owner. Um, Google doesn't always make it easy because they want it to be actual and true. They don't want anyone just being able to take over it, um, hackers, things like that. So um when you are looking to do it, Google might ask you to do a few different little things. Um, you know, sometimes it might ask you to receive a piece of mail that has a code on it that you verify that Google sends to you. Sometimes they might ask you to like record an actual video of you like walking through things like that. But um, it is easy, it can be done. Okay, sometimes it takes a little bit of time. You have to jump through a few little hoops to do it, but it is definitely worth it. And then that's the the core piece foundation for you to be able to grow and scale. And so um, if you're in the marketing world or you do marketing for your company or for your business, a lot of this might seem like super elementary, but again, we're talking these core foundational pieces. So, one, make sure that you own it, that you claim it, um, and that you are the owner and you have access to update these things. So the next piece in optimizing it is guess what? Updating it, okay. Um, this is it's almost like a little mini social media, if you will. Like it is Google's platform of how they want to see you posting updates and being alive, okay. Not like, like, is this does anyone work here? Is this company still around? Do they do anything? Um, you know, so adding constant updates. Google loves that. Okay, it's like feeding the beast, okay? Um, and then it just shows that you're relevant, um, that you are alive and well, that you are servicing people, that you are doing the type of work that you're saying that you're doing in the area that you're saying you're doing it for. Barb, you suck at this. Hey, that's what this session is for. Um, just some little tips of how you can improve. There's always room for all of us to be improving at. Um, but don't get too down on yourself. You're doing tons of great things too. But here's a few things of how you can do. So is all your information up to date? Um, and so here's another little acronym that you might see if you're reading like marketing newsletters or or hearing a marketing person say, like, is your nap up to date? You're like, huh? My nap, that's another acronym I don't know. But that is kind of a common term for your name, address, and phone number, NAP, name, address, and phone number. So this might sound, again, super basic, but like, is the name of your business correct? Okay, like again, sounds super simple, but it does need to be accurate. I know sometimes we can, um, we might refer to our own companies as maybe like an acronym. Like my husband's company is Real Graphics. A lot of times internally, we might just say RG. Well, to the rest of the world, RG doesn't necessarily mean anything. So, like, we shouldn't put the Google Business profile name of RG or RG-real graphics. Same thing with lemon seed. Sometimes we'll internally say, you know, LSM or LS. Okay. Again, that means nothing to the majority of people and means something to us because we're living, breathing, getting paid by lemon seed. We live the LS language and world, but that doesn't mean anything to anyone else. So, like, we want to make sure that our Google Business profile actually says lemon seed marketing. Okay. That is how our um real registration is, like legal, the the legal jargon, our LLLC, our S-corp, all those things on our actual logo, things like that. Another big key piece that sometimes people will try to like cheat the system a little bit, and they'll do what they call keyword stuffing, okay? And so what does that mean? So again, sometimes people might try to um get some good keywords to make them more searchable or make them appear more valid to where maybe your company name is Bob's Heating and Cooling. That's what your logo says, that's what you're registered as. That's what your Google profile business needs to be, Bob's Heating and Cooling. It does not need to be Bob's Heating and Cooling AC repair service in Lufkin, Texas, best of um home service company. Okay, that is kind of what you'll call keyword stuffing of putting in lots of extra words, um, maybe different services that's like eccentric. It's it's too much. You can tell it you're obviously trying to throw in other words. It's not the actual name of your business. Maybe you're trying to throw in locations, best of, most reliable, professional, throwing in some of those extra words that's not the name of your company. So Google can come down hard on you in that because it appears that you're trying to like cheat the system. It's not authentic. And then, like, it can't also be validated by anything else, okay? Because now you've invented this crazy fake name as your Google Business profile. But like, does it actually still say that on your website? Does it say it on your other directory listings, like a Yelp or um a green frog, some of those other things that just have your information listed out there? Is that what your logo says? So that is one thing. And like speaking of our NAP, our name, address, phone number, make sure that your name is actually accurate, okay? Don't be keyword stuffing it. Don't be trying to cheat the system, okay? Um, one, people can read through that, they can see through that. The average person can see what you're doing there, but Google also, okay. And then there's nothing else to help validate and make that work there. So don't be keyword stuffing. Um, the next thing that can get people a lot is an address change. So that's the other part of that nap, NAP, the address. So if you've ever moved offices, maybe you've opened another location, things like that. Um, the address is super important. And to where lots of things can kind of like still linger out there with a wrong address, an old address. Trust me, lemon seed has moved too many times, too many that I don't even want to count. Um, I wish we haven't moved this many, but the reality is we have. We've um grown and changed locations and moved to different offices and things like that. And I think we're finding a little home that's that works and suits for us. I hope we're not moving anytime soon, but it can be a little bit of a pain when you do have to um update that address. And it takes a lot of intentionality to do that, but it is worth it. Again, Google will verify. Google wants to be the top search engine for consumers, okay? Um, when you hear SEO, that is search engine optimization. So Google wants to be the biggest and the dominant player, and they are in a lot of ways. So they want to provide correct and accurate information to people who are searching on Google. So therefore, Google wants what you are providing, they want it to be reliable because they are feeding your customer that information. So um, it will make you jump through some hoops to verify that this is your actual address. So when we moved to the office that lemonseed is currently in, I had to film a little video. We had to walk outside the building, you know, show where the address is on the outside of the street, walk into our office suite. We did have to have some signage that said, like, this is lemon seed. We had to show the like, hey, we actually occupy here. I showed Google all the yellow that we have, okay, all the logos that we have everywhere that says lemon seed. So that way it knows that you're not just like, I'm not just walking up like to an office door, okay, that I'm trying to claim as my address. No, like we actually work and habitate here, okay. This is our office. Um, Google will verify that. And so that is a great way of how you can have consistency. Um, but then again, when people are searching, Google Business Profile is highly ranked and fed to consumers based off geographical location, okay? Um, based off of services near you, based off of companies and businesses that are near you in your area that can service it. Okay. So super, super crucial that your address is accurate, up to date. Um, have you moved offices? Do you have multiple offices? Um, making sure that is accurate is super crucial and beneficial. Um, and then your phone number. So a lot of people will have a unique phone number for their Google Business profile. And like it might be different than what is on your website, and that might be a different phone number than what is on your direct mail piece that you send out, and that might be different than what is on your Facebook profile. Why in the world would that be? Well, it's a thing called call tracking numbers. So, how can we track where this call originated from? So that is totally fine to do. It's a totally acceptable practice of seeing a phone number on your Google Business profile, um, making that be there so that way if someone calls that phone number, you know they found you. They found this phone number from your Google Business profile, not necessarily from um that digital ad. Maybe you have a different phone number for your PPC, you have a different phone number for your GLSA. So instead of having a Google phone number, okay, that could have people could have found that phone number from numerous different Google sources, okay, from a Google business profile, from a Google PPC search, from a Google local service ad um things. That's important for us to know on our marketing of how to track this, how to give time and attention and money to these different things that are feeding our customers and that are displaying our company to potential customers. So um having that phone number on your Google Business profile being a different number, I think that's totally okay. Um, if you're not into call tracking yet, maybe you're a newer company, you're still growing into that, or you don't have the resources. I would encourage you to get that way. But um just make sure that it's consistent across if you don't have call tracking. Like, do you have the same phone number um on your website? Maybe don't list a personal cell phone number unless you like that. But um again, make sure that you actually have a phone number. That is a key piece of what people are looking for. Is a lot of times they're like, I want to talk to a person. They are looking for a phone number. And that's another reason why website traffic over the years has kind of dipped because a lot of times people go to a website to try to find a phone number, where Google Business Profile puts it more up front and center. Um, so make sure that you do have a phone number listed there for you. Um, so Google gives a lot of time and attention um to the name, don't be keyword stuffing to your address and your phone number for your geographical location. Um, they also give a lot of time and attention to your hours. So is that accurate? Is it portrayed where people can see like, oh, are they open on the weekends? Um, are they open after hours? They provide emergency services. Are they closed for certain holidays? So, guys, we have Easter coming up in a few weeks to where some people might be taking off on like a good Friday. Um, you know, if you're not a home service business, home service businesses, I would say you guys should be open. Okay. I know your team members like to take off and all the things, but like people are at home over Easter week and they're at home because regular offices are closed. So like be open to service them. But maybe if you're a boutique or a smaller shop or something like that, like you might be closed on a good Friday. Google Business Profile does a great job of kind of like sending you emails and reminders, like, hey, this holiday is coming up. Are you going to be open? Do you want to adjust your hours? Um, maybe you're gonna be open just from eight to noon, or maybe you're gonna be closed for the entire day. Um, Google loves when you will feed it and verify, hey, I'm actually open all day. We're not closing down early, or we're closing down half day. Again, it shows Google that like you're alive, okay? You're interacting with it, you're keeping the information accurate and relevant. Again, Google wants to portray the most correct information to its searchers. So when it loves when you are telling it, I'm actually gonna be open, I'm actually gonna be closed. You are verifying and check check marking um your actual hours there. So one, make sure that your hours are listed, okay? Um, and then two, keep it regular, updated. Okay. When it does send you those email notifications of are you gonna be closed on Good Friday? Check yes or no. Adjust your hours if needed. Um, Google loves those things. And then another really, really key piece is your primary and your secondary categories. So, what do I mean by that? Okay, that is like your primary category is like the overarching service of your business. So for Lumen Seed, we are a marketing agency. That is our primary category, okay? We have lots of secondary categories, okay? So we have secondary categories of HVAC marketing, plumbing marketing, um, electrical marketing. We have more services of rebranding, brand creation, um, vehicle wrap design, um, email marketing. Those are all subcategories that Lemon C does. They're a little too granular, too specific to be our primary category, but the primary category at least gets people in the right field. And then you can do a lot more of the secondary categories of more of the specifics, the services. So for home service contractors, you know, it might be your primary category category might be HVAC contractor. And then your subcategories might be furnace repair, condenser repair, duct cleaning, um, IAQ, indoor air quality. You can start to filter out more of those subcategories. Um, again, your main thing might be plumbing contractor. That might be your primary category, but then your secondary category might be water heater flushes, drain clearing, drain cleaning, some of those more granular things can be your secondary category. So again, make sure that you have those listed. Um, add numerous of them. Google will allow you to have, I think, up to 20 different subcategories. So that's where you can get a little bit more into the weeds of listing out your services. If you are multi-service, um, so maybe you're a home service company and you do HVAC and plumbing or HVAC plumbing and electrical. Um, add those key pieces that people might be searching for and looking for in each of those different verticals into your subcategories. Um, so these categories will help you rank um Google gives a lot of priority to them. Okay. So again, people are probably searching for some type of service. They're either searching for your actual name, they're searching for you, your company, because they know you, they know what you do, they know what they um the services that you offer. So they're going to look directly for you, um, or they are looking for a service. So people are looking for a name or a service, okay? So having those categories updated will help Google feed the right information to the right people searching for those things. So business name, your correct address, your phone number, your hours. When Google sends you that email, even if you are going to be open, go ahead and click the thing and say, verify that my hours are correct. Okay. Again, it's feeding the beast of Google, like, hey, I'm alive, I'm active, we're doing things. Google loves that and will feed that and give authority to that. Um, and then make sure that you have your categories listed, okay? So your primary and your secondary. Make sure your primary is overarching, but your secondary can get a lot more granular. Now let's talk another big piece of what Google gives a lot of authority to. Your reviews, okay? Um, reviews are a huge thing. And so if you've been in business any amount of time, you've probably heard that Google reviews are very um important, that Google gets a lot of authority to them. So um I'm sorry, I just lost my train of thought. Yes, you've always heard like you need Google reviews, but like how do you go about actually doing it? And then like if you actually get it, like are you actually responding to um the Google reviews? Are you acknowledging them? Are you interacting and thanking the customer? Or even if you got a bad review, are you addressing that um are you addressing those concerns that they're bringing up in the bad review? So the best way to get reviews is to make it very easy for people to actually leave you a review. Um, so don't just say, hey, go leave us a review and then like not give them a direct way to do it. They're like, uh, do I go Google search? Do I am I gonna get a link to do it? Are you gonna email it to me? Are you gonna text it to me? Do I scan a QR code? Whatever it is, but find that. And so there's a way that you can go into your Google Business profile, okay, log in on the backside, click edit, um, and then it'll say reviews and it'll say your direct URL link. Okay. That is where you can copy that to where you can then send that out in an email. You can send that out in a text message, you can take that URL code and turn it into a QR code. So you can go to QR codegenerator.com, paste that link in there, and it will populate a QR code for you. Um, that way people can scan that. So if you print that on little business cards or little rack cards, things like that, that you are doing as a leave behind or as you're finishing up a job, a service there, people can scan that directly there. So you want to make it as easy as possible for um for contracts to actually leave your for customers to leave you a review. And then a big part of reviews is also like sometimes you might have to like coach people a little bit of like, hey, you know, I would love, you know, is there anything else I can do for you here? Were you satisfied with your service? Was there anything I could have done better? Oh no, Barbara, you did a fantastic job. Thank you so much for the service. Hey, would you mind leaving us a review and then maybe mention like what services we provided for you? It just helps other customers to know that we'd be able to do a great job for them as well, too. So, like, yes. So just having them say that, um, mention the actual service they do, or like, hey, I would love it if you could mention me by name. Um, our company, our owners and our managers, they're always looking to see who's doing a good job. So if you wouldn't mind just saying, like, hey, Barbara came out and did a drain cleaning on my home, did a drain clearing. Um, she did such a fantastic job. That just really means a lot in our actual Google reviews. That gives a lot more weight and authority and again helps people as they are searching for their different pieces of uh, should I call them for drain clearing? Should I call them for AC repair? Should I call them for landscaping, whatever it might be? Those keywords help give information that people are looking for, and Google loves it and eats it up and can feed more of that to there. Um, sometimes you might could even be appropriate of like, you know, they did this for my home in Lufkin, Texas. Sometimes that might can start to feel a little bit more too stuffy, if you will, keyword stuffing in there. But I think it's very natural if you at least mention the um the service that was offered and the um the technician or the the service provider, whoever the actual person was in there. So reviews, it's great that you get reviews, one, but then two, that you can try to make them a little bit more curious. So instead of them just giving you five stars and say, good job, great company to work with, see if you can coach the customer a little bit on how to do some of those services, mentioning a technician by name, possibly an actual location, like there, anything else that stood out to them of, hey, you were really fast. Um, you came out really quickly, you were very professional, um, kept it very clean. Maybe you wore shoe booties, maybe you cleaned up all your trash, maybe you blew off, had your blower out and blew off the sidewalk in the driveway. Um, anything else is very responsive. They were very communicative. Um, they got me scheduled very quickly. They sent me text messages about when I should come, when they should expect me to come and be there. Anything else that helps you stand out and is a USP, a unique selling proposition that makes you different from your competitors, maybe also even coaching customers to kind of give a little bit different perspective that might help them choose you over someone else. So that's one way of how to ask for reviews. Make it very simple, make it easy, make it go directly to a Google review where they can actually leave it. Don't make them just like Google search it or hope for it to come for in some other way. It'll never make it that way. So make it clear, make it direct, coach them on how to leave the actual review, like what to actually say. And then you've done all those things, you've gotten the reviews, make sure that you're responding to them. Okay. That is such a crucial piece. Again, one, Google, it shows that you're alive, that you're relevant, that you're doing things and stuff. It also just further validates the customer. Like, thank you so much. Barbara is a fantastic team member. We're so grateful to have her on our team. So glad that you are happy with our service and we are able to get there as quickly as possible. Um, thank you so much for um, we love doing the drain cleanings. We've done several in that neighborhood, happy to take care of your home. Make sure that you're responding to all those. But then on the bad reviews, too, okay. I know it can be super frustrating when someone leaves you a bad review and you're like, that is not true at all. Like that customer is off their rocker. They are a Looney Tune, okay? Like, that's completely lies. Okay, we've all had that happen, okay. Um, we had an incident. I'm like, we could not have communicated that clearer to the customer. Like, we have no idea how they got confused on that. Like we made it clear as day, and now they're upset because they said we didn't communicate that to them. It's like, here's where we said it in email, here's where we said it here, and then here's where we said it again. And it's like, like it makes you want to pull your hair out. But guys, it happens, okay. Customers, we we all have the crazy customers that will leave the bad reviews and they'll leave a review that says they didn't communicate well to me at all. And you're like, that is a lie, okay. However, it is still very telling on if you will actually respond to a bad review and how you respond to it. Okay. So one, I'd say take a breath, leave it alone for a minute before you go fire off and like you're a dumb dumb. We don't want your business, we don't need you anyways, like you're stupid. Don't respond like that. Okay. That's when I'd say don't respond over that. But take a breath, take a minute. This is where a great um chat GPT can help you write a nice response that is uh addressing the customers' concerns or whatever they're doing without maybe like admitting fault and like without blaming our team. We never want to blame our own team for something, even if we did have some snafu in the process. Um, but Chat GPD can write it for you in a way that's respectful, that's uh addressing the situation, addressing the concern without passing blame to the customer or to the teammates. It's much better to still actually respond to it than to just completely leave it alone. And majority of people are reasonable and know that things happen. And so it can be more telling to see how you didn't fire off like a loose cannon, um, that you didn't spout out a bunch of cuss words and call the customer an idiot and all those things, how you can appropriately respond. That just shows how you conduct your life, how you conduct your business. It shows a lot about the culture of who they're going to work with, to where even if you had a bad one-star review, your response can be more telling to that than if it had been just a five-star review or if that review had never happened. Okay. Um, the manner and how you do it tells more than the actual star rating itself. Okay. So make sure that you are responding to bad reviews. Um, so reading here in the chat. So um, what about DI tracking? Becca is talking about that. So um, I believe our phone number rotates for DI tracking on our website. Yes. So that's another great alphabet soup, if you will. So DNI dynamic number insertion. So that is where a phone number will kind of pop up in a few different places in an effort to try to help track the customer journey. Um, so that is a great piece. Um, your digital agency is usually the one that can really help you and help you manipulate those different phone numbers and try to see where it comes from. So, what that means is if someone came to your Google Business profile, they landed there, they did a a search just in Google for that. Maybe they landed on your Google Business profile and they're like, huh, okay. Um, maybe they want to investigate a little bit further. So then they actually like click over to your website. So from the Google Business profile, they click over to the website. Maybe they click around there for a little bit, and then from there, maybe they actually decide to give a phone call. Um, what Google, what a DNI has done is take that original phone number because they originally came from the Google Business profile, take that phone number, and then it will dynamically insert that into wherever it still goes. So, like on the website. So what you might have programmed as your phone number website, because it's now dynamically inserted from wherever it originally came from, it will put that there to where it helps keep the tracking of where was the origination of the source coming from. Um, so it gives you a little bit better insight on that. So again, you might have DNI on say PPC ad. So maybe they clicked a PPC ad. Um, where did it then take them? Where did they click around and follow around there? So um again, it it can be great. Um, it can get um sometimes it can get confusing when it gets too dynamic and you get lots of different things. Um, but if you're very in the weeds and like wanting to know the origination source of everything, D and I is a great way to do that and to try to get the most accurate results as possible. Okay, because again, people do click around in different ways and um, but it tries to get from the original, original source. Um, so um your digital agency is the best one that can really help you with that. Um, but great question, Becca. Um, DI, again, when you're really trying to get to like next level of tracking, um originating your sources so that you can feed more of your marketing spend into those different areas, DI is a great way to do that. If you're more on the entry level, you know, just a simple call tracking phone number than where it's just one phone number on the Google Business profile and it's a different one on the website. Again, you may not have the origination source of it as much, but at least gives you some type of framework that way. So, so great question, Becca. Um, Barbara, do I think it's necessary to purchase Google Ads? So, great question. Um, I would say it's definitely a piece of the marketing puzzle. Um, so Google Business Profile is obviously a free resource. It's not necessarily a paid ad, but doing some of these things that we're talking about of how to optimize it can help you get some traction and some leads without having to pay for ads. I would say paid ads, yes, is a next level of um getting people to intently search for your service. So again, maybe they don't know you specifically. So, like in your instance, maybe someone is searching for wedding photo booths. Okay, maybe they don't, I don't know who to call. Who does wedding photo booths here in East Texas, in Lufkin, Texas? I don't know. So in that instance, where some Google ads, yes, might be a next level of people don't know me, they don't know my brand, they don't know um the big picture. So how can I capture them? Google ads can be a great resource. Um you can look at a few different Google ads, if you will. So there's PPC, pay per click. So that is where you are just paying for ads for Google to feed it, and people will click on there, and that is how they charge for it. Um, so someone clicked on this and I get charged for that paid ad. Um doesn't necessarily mean that they actually called or anything like that. Um, they just click, click, ity click, click, click. That's what we sometimes refer to it as. Um, so it's a way to do it, but it's not as always guaranteed. And then another hesitation with that is a lot of times Google will give authority to who paid the most. Okay, so whoever paid more for PPC ads, that is what Google is gonna feed it. And so that's what's gonna give all the time and the attention. So sometimes that can be a pay-to-play type game. Um, there is Google Local Service Ads where that is a more that was Google's intent to level the playing field a little bit. So if someone was searching, you know, wedding photo booths, Lufkin, Texas, whoever is paying for Google Local Service ads, Google will feed them all the same. So it's not necessarily who paid the most. Google give you like three little cards as a way for people to discover that. And then when someone clicks on that and you verify that that is a job, that is a way of how then you pay for it. So instead of them just clicking something or like calling the phone number and then hanging up, no, you actually go in through your Google Local Service Ads dashboard and verify this was an actual job. So like this turned into actual revenue. So that's what I'll pay for. So you might have to like dispute some calls of like, hey, they weren't even looking for my type of service. It was a spam call. They hung up after two seconds, whatever it might be. I'm not paying for that. So it's a more effective way to kind of like level the playing field. Um, but paid ads, Google ads, and depending on what type of Google ad can be a next level of what you're looking at here. So great questions, guys. Y'all are keeping me on my toes here. Um, I want to give you guys a few more tips of how to optimize your Google business profile, though. Again, look alive. So upload pictures, um, videos, show your actual building, show your actual trucks, your vehicle wraps, show your team members, show before and after pictures. So, like, hey, when we got here, this electrical panel looked like this and it was a hot mess, and everything was sparking, and wires were all a mess. And like, here's the after, here's where we took care of it. Um, if you're doing a signage install, show the before and the after, the the old sign and the new sign, um, whatever your business might be. People love to see that before and after. And again, Google Business Profile is like a little mini social media. Okay. Again, it's feeding that beast, showing that you're alive and well. It shows consumers, people that like you're real people. You're actually doing real jobs, you're doing services that look like mine. Um, you're outside servicing a home that looks like an East Texas home. It doesn't look like a home in Southern California or in the mountains of Breckenridge. No, it looks like a home in East Texas. Like these are my people. Um, so show pictures, show videos of your team. Um, it's also a great place to post your promotions. Um, are you running any specials? Are you doing any type of bundle? Um, that's a great way to show that. Are you doing any events? Are you going to be at a local fundraiser, a local banquet for a nonprofit? Were you at the touch a truck last week? And here's some pictures of our team and the booth that we had set up and the games that we were playing and the customers that we were interacting with. Um, any big announcements, that's also great to put on your Google Business profile. Like, hey, now adding plumbing. That's a great announcement and make several posts about that. Um, now serving Nacky Doges, okay? If you're moving to a new location or you're offering a new service area, those are all big announcements that you can highlight on your Google Business profile. Um, so posting to your Google Business profile, you should treat it like a little social media, okay? And so when you're on social media with Lemon Seed, that is a key platform that we are posting on because again, it will help feed everything. Your most core basic SEO search engine optimization. Having things on your Google Business profile is super important. And so that's why when you're on social media with Lemon Seed, we are making sure that we are posting that for you. So hopefully that has given you guys lots of tips. I know I'm a little bit over, but you guys have been asking great questions. Thank you so much for it. I hope you were able to learn a little bit about GBP, your Google Business profile. Um, and so a few things, make sure that you have your name accurate. Don't be stuffing your name, keyword stuffing, don't have inconsistent information across numerous platforms. Make sure that you're always responding to your reviews, make sure you're gathering reviews, and then make sure you're responding to your reviews. Um, do not treat your Google Business profile as a set it and forget it type thing, okay? Make it be active, make it be alive. Google will appreciate it. Feed it more to searchers, customers, and potential customers will appreciate it because you're giving them the information and what they're searching for and looking for. You're validating that. Um, so make sure you're staying on that. And so um we would say check all your information now, okay? Is your address correct? Are your hours correct? Is your phone number correct? Check all that now and then try to be very active at least like once a week, post something to your Google Business profile with a new picture, a new offer, something like that. So um make your goal be for at least one post update a week. So start by owning it, start by making sure that all your information is correct, and then feed the beast, keep it going, keep it rolling, and making it relevant for customers. So thank you for joining us today on our social media live. Like I said, this is a little sneak peek for our alphabet soup that'll be coming in April. So um stay tuned for all the acronyms of how we can simplify some of these marketing key terms, acronyms, CTR, PPC, GLSA. I know we talked some of that today, but we'll dissect a lot more. So on all of our podcasts from the Yellow Chair, we release new episodes every Tuesday. We can drop a link down in the chat. So make sure you're listening to that. We'll also have several more social media lives in April about our Alphabet Soup and some webinars. So make sure that you're stay tuned. Um, if you're still listening, Lemon Seed is a full service marketing agency. We blend creative marketing strategies with CMO um style services. So we actually create your strategy. We actually implement it for you with all of your vendors. We make sure that you are on track hitting your goals. We help you pivot when need to pivot. We make sure that you are always on brand. We are a brand forward agency. So if you ever want to know more information about Lemon Seed, you can go to Lemonseedmarketing.com. On our contact form, it can ask you a few questions. And as soon as you fill that out, it'll pop up a calendar line where you could schedule a time to where we can talk and see would we be a good fit for your company or not. Um, absolutely no pressure. We like to say friends and family talk free. And so if you're on this social media live, you're a friend in the family. So we could definitely chat and see if lemonsea might be able to help you out in some way. So thank you for tuning in. I appreciate you guys and appreciate all the conversations. And we will talk to you guys next time.