Google My Business management tools are third-party tools that support your business’s local SEO efforts. They do this by helping you properly optimize your Google Business Profile listing.
Formerly known as Google My Business, or GMB, Google Business Profile (GBP) lets you manage the information your customers can see across Google Search and Google Maps.
GBP tools offer additional functionality on top of the native Google Business Profile (GBP) dashboard. Each feature is designed to give you greater control over your local SEO tasks.
Why Should You Use Google Business Profile Management Tools?
Leveraging the right GBP tools can effectively improve your organic rankings for local keywords. And boost your click-through rates, website traffic, and in-store visits.
Plus, you are more likely to regularly update your GBP listing when you can perform all tasks conveniently on your own time.
For example, many tools allow you to pre-schedule photos and GBP posts. Consistently doing both of these tasks can enhance your local visibility.
In this post, we’ll look at 11 leading Google Business Profile management tools to help you choose the right one for your local SEO needs.
Further reading: Local SEO: What Is It and How to Do It
Semrush’s Listing Management tool offers a complete local SEO suite for service-area businesses. With it, you get every feature you need to improve your local presence.
You won’t need another Google My Business management tool.
With Semrush’s Listing Management tool, you can:
- Update and manage key details like your business description, business locations, operating hours, and business categories
- See, manage, and respond to business reviews from a single dashboard
- Schedule GBP posts using Listing Management’s sister tool, Social Media Toolkit
- Connect your social profiles to your business listing
- Optimize your listing for voice search
- Track your search engine rankings for local keywords in different zip codes
- Visualize your keyword performance for different areas of the map with the Heatmap feature
- Audit your GBP account for issues or errors and learn how to fix them
- Monitor your competitors to uncover their strategy and see how you compare
Listing Management distributes accurate business name, business address, and phone number (NAP) information to 70+ top US directories and more than 40 international ones in minutes.
Do you have old citations that contain inaccurate information and need updating? You can also bulk-edit these with a few clicks.
Pricing: Users can audit up to five locations per day for free. You get access to features like local tracking, review management, and other GBP management tools with the Basic Location Plan from $20/month.
Upgrading to the $40/month Premium plan will get you exclusive access to the Heatmap feature—plus the ability to respond to reviews directly from the tool. See all the available plans here.
Here’s how you can start distributing your business info to create local citations with Listing Management.
Go to “Local SEO” > “Listing Management.”
Your next step will look slightly different based on whether you have used this tool before or not.
If this is your first time, you’ll come to a page where you can add your business information. Semrush Listing will then start distributing your profile to local directories.
Input your business name or location in the search bar.
Your business and address will show up in the left drop-down menu. If you have multiple locations, check the address carefully and select the right one.
If you’re tracking an existing location and want to add a new one, click on the “Add location” button in the top right corner.
Type your business name and address in the search bar. Select your business from the options that show up.
Now, Semrush will generate a report that shows you your business’s average ratings. Plus an “Online presence” score that tells you if your listing is optimized correctly. As well the number of listings you need to fix.
If you scroll down, you’ll be able to see what issues each of your listings have.
To start distributing the correct business information to local directories, scroll back up and click on “Continue setup.”
Enter your business info, select the right category, and click “Start distributing info.”
Now, Semrush will automatically submit your business info to 70+ and 40+ citations in the US and worldwide, respectively.
Need to fix the citations you’ve already built? You can do that, too.
After the tool finds your location, look at the “Your listings” box. It will show you how many local citations your business has built.
Go to the “Duplicates” tab to see the duplicate listings you need to fix.
Duplicates can arise if customers, competitors, or teammates attempt to create a profile for your business. They may contain incorrect or partial information which can confuse searchers looking for your company.
If you have a duplicate listing, choose “Suppress” to remove it. Otherwise, mark it as “Not a duplicate.”
Want to know your current performance in Google Maps searches so you can improve it? Here’s how to track local pack rankings.
Go to the “Heatmap” box. Set up the keywords you want to track and select Grid size. Click “Collect data.”
If it’s your first time doing this, you’ll be prompted to confirm you have selected the right grid settings. Click “Start scan.”
Now you can see your business’s average rank, and its specific rank for different areas of the Google map.
Click “Optimize Your Location” for the steps you can take to rank higher.
When you know where you stand against your competitors, you can get more focused with your SEO efforts. Perform these tasks to get more local visibility for your GBP profile.
2. RecurPost
RecurPost is an omnichannel tool that lets you schedule posts for multiple social media channels from one platform. It supports Linkedin, YouTube, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, and GBP.
It is an excellent option for marketers who create a lot of content but want to avoid paying for multiple schedulers. You can also manage reviews in one place through the RecurPost dashboard.
This is one of a few tools available that allow you to schedule videos for GBP posts. You can also write the posts directly in its interface.
Its integrations with Canva, ChatGPT, a royalty-free image provider, and an AI image generator help you create your posts fast.
Pricing: There’s a 14-day free trial for all paid plans—no free tier is available. Paid packages start at $25/month for five social media profiles.
3. GMB Briefcase
GMB Briefcase is a full-suite local SEO platform that packs many features required for local search optimization.
It’s still a new kid on the block with few online reviews and minimal social media presence. But it shows potential.
You pay one price for managing multiple listings—with each tier offering an increasing number of GBP projects. Which makes it an economical solution for marketing agencies in charge of many client GMB listings.
Its development team regularly adds new features to the platform in response to user feedback. Users can suggest new features on GMB Briefcase’s product roadmap and stay updated on when they will be available.
Image Source: Trello
You can also create custom chatbots to respond to questions and field customer service requests initiated via your GBP.
Similar to Semrush, it also assigns your business profile a score based on its level of completeness. Which you can use as a guide to fill out all the information that’s missing from your profile.
Pricing: Starts at $99 monthly for up to 40 GBP listings.
4. NapoleonCat
NapoleonCat makes it easier to manage all social interactions in one place.
It collects all reviews, messages, and comments in one social media inbox. You can then moderate or respond to it all from there.
The tool supports TikTok, Facebook, Google Business Profile, Linkedin, YouTube, and Messenger.
Its cross-platform functionality can be ideal for teams that receive a lot of engagement on all platforms and need an all-in-one management solution.
With NapoleonCat, every contact with customers can be treated like a support ticket, assigned to a team member, and accounted for.
You also get multi-language support for reviews. Responding in your customer’s language is likely to build more trust.
Pricing: Paid plans start at $32 monthly for three social media accounts. A 14-day free trial is available for all plans.
5. dbaPlatform Post Manager
dbaPlatform’s GBP post manager does exactly what its name suggests. It helps you schedule and manage posts across your Google business profiles.
Plus, you can outsource citation building to its team for an additional fee.
dbaPlatform’s post analytics go beyond just views. You can use the UTM builder to track the return on investment (ROI) of each post.
The functionality embeds location data in every post to improve local relevance. It’s also very easy to organize content for different locations by tagging with store codes.
Plus, you’ll get a visual calendar for managing and organizing business posts.
Pricing: Custom. You’ll need to get in touch with the dbaPlatform team about your local SEO requirements for a quotation.
6. SocialBu
SocialBu is another post-specific Google Business Profile management tool.
Primarily designed for managing multiple social media platforms, it’s a good option for teams in need of a social media scheduler who don’t want to pay extra for another tool to handle GBP posts.
Its interface is user-friendly, and it’s easy to visualize your entire content calendar. Plus, you can preview your posts before they are published.
Image Source: socialbu
SocialBu also offers a free AI Post Creator to speed up your content process. However, this tool is not adapted specifically for GBP listings.
Moreover, you can drive more traffic to your website from posts with SocialBu’s RSS automation.
Pricing: Paid plans start at $19/month for 12 social media accounts. A 14-day free trial is available for all paid plans.
7. LocalViking
With this single tool, you can schedule posts, track keywords, upload photos, and manage reviews.
Its special feature is the GeoGrid Rank Tracker, which includes geospatial data similar to Semrush’s Heatmap.
A newly launched GeoBooster feature is great for creating hyper-localized content. Localized content helps you optimize your local visibility and rankings—this tool enables you to create that at scale.
Pricing: No free tier available. Paid plans start at $39 per month for one GBP listing. You get two months off if you subscribe to an annual plan.
8. eClincher
eClincher was reportedly the first social media tool to integrate GBP. Its interface allows users to publish as well as schedule their posts.
Unlike other social media-focused platforms on this list, eClincher doesn’t just offer post-specific features for GBP.
You can track your local keywords and local map performance. Plus tap into advanced analytics for GBP, including competition intelligence. Then use this data to analyze the best-performing posts and improve your post-creation strategy.
eClincher also has an integrated AI to help you create posts faster.
You can also integrate this GBP tool with Google Analytics and Canva to get the most out of it.
Analytics include real-time data on the “best time to post,” which you can leverage to increase your engagement potential.
Pricing: Monthly plans start at $65 for 10 social media accounts. A 14-day trial is available for all plans.
9. Sendible
Sendible is another Google Business Profile post scheduler. Its integration with Canva means you don’t have to go between different platforms to create your posts.
You can build “What’s New,” “Events,” “Offer,” and “Product” posts with varying call-to-action (CTA) buttons directly from its interface.
Sendible is a good option if you need a tool primarily for social media and don’t want to pay for additional software to manage GBP posts.
What’s more, it has a built-in image editor that allows you to crop images before you post them.
Pricing: A 14-day free trial is available for all plans. Plans start at $29 per month for six social media accounts.
10. OneUp
You can upload photos to the “Photos” section of your GBP listing and schedule posts in advance with OneUp.
If you’re posting to multiple GBP locations at the same time, OneUp can dynamically insert the unique website link of each GBP location into the relevant CTA button. Thereby increasing your post’s geo-relevance.
There’s also an “Auto-generate caption” AI option to help you create GBP posts quicker.
While a multi-language “suggested replies” feature helps you respond to reviews as they come.
You’ll never run out of posts with OneUp—you can set them to auto-repeat if they perform well.
Pricing: Starting at $12 per month for three social media profiles.
11. Planable
Planable is primarily a social media scheduler. So it’s unsurprising that most of its features focus on content planning.
You can create all types of GBP posts from this tool. Plus, its visual interface makes getting approvals for posts seamless. Your teammates or clients can comment on each area of the post. You can also build approval workflows within the tool to track where you’re at.
Here’s how the approval process looks in action:
Image Source: Planable
It also offers four different content planning views: feed, calendar, grid, and list. Which makes its UX highly customizable to the user’s preferences for all content planning tasks.
Pricing: You can test Planable for free—the free tier offers 50 posts (without the other features). Paid plans start at $13 per user for unlimited posts.
While many of the above tools offer similar features, they’re not all the same. To decide on the best GBP management tool for your situation, you must first consider what functionality your business requires.
Let’s group GBP tool functionality into four main categories so you can clearly identify what’s most relevant to you.
Business Listing Management
The core functionality of a GBP management tool is to manage your business listing.
Which means optimizing and managing details like physical location, business hours, phone number, the category or type of business, and the description of what you offer.
In other words, this:
So, it’s important to look for tools that can:
- Create and manage your business information
- Add products and business services to your profile
- Distribute business listing information to all relevant local sites and directories
- Update and manage multiple local directory listings with a few clicks
- Manage listings for multiple locations with different physical addresses
Remember: You can depend on Semrush’s Listing Management tool to help you stay organized on the GBP front.
Local SEO
Tools used to optimize your business profile for Google Search and Google Maps—like Semrush—can also improve your local SEO and local pack rankings.
Local SEO rankings indicate a business’s positions in regular search results with a focus on location relevance.
Local pack rankings refer to the top three nearby businesses in map search results.
So, an ideal GBP tool will include:
- Local search rank tracking data that shows you exactly where your business appears in organic search results
- Keyword research tools to help you identify the most popular search terms prospective customers are using in your area
- Search engine optimization recommendations to help your business rank higher organically
Review Management
Monitoring, responding, and managing reviews is a critical part of local pack and local SEO rankings.
An ideal GBP management tool makes it easy for you to track and field reviews and business questions from a single dashboard. Like Semrush’s Review Management service—part of the premium Listing Management offering.
Gathering reviews from various platforms is easy with this tool as it lets you create templates asking for customer feedback. You also get insights on metrics such as open rates to help you monitor your progress.
Effective review management features to look for in a GBP management tool may include:
- Quick replies that allow you to respond to positive and negative reviews with just a few clicks
- Review statistics and data that allow you to measure performance over time
- Tools to encourage reviews from in-person customers and through social platforms
- Multi-language customer support (if applicable)
Posts and Content
Posting and sharing content through your GBP can help your business maintain visibility in search results. This content can include multiple post types like updates, photos, and links to other content or blog posts.
An ideal GBP solution might offer:
- Multi-platform support for other social media channels or integrated social media management tools
- Post builder functionality that allows you to craft and view posts
- Support for multiple types of posts and media
- Scheduling capabilities to plan upcoming posts
- Visual calendar or library for tracking and managing posts
- Content analytics to measure post performance
Frequently Asked Questions
Why do you need to optimize and manage your Google Business Profile (Google My Business profile)?
A well-optimized Google Business Profile is vital for enhancing visibility in local markets. Your local business listing is a key part of your local SEO strategy: managing it effectively can help drive more potential customers your way.
When your information is accurate, you build trust with both consumers and search engines. As a result, you can attract and retain clientele, plus stand a better chance of improving your local pack rankings.
How do you optimize your Google Business Profile?
Fill out all the information on your GBP listing. Make sure you choose the right category, use a keyword-rich description, and make your business easily contactable.
The best approach is to update the listing frequently, especially if your hours or contact information change.
Further reading: Check out our Google Business Profile optimization post for a step-by-step guide.
How do you manage your Google Business Profile?
There are two ways to manage your Google Business Profile: directly on Google’s platform or through a third-party profile management tool.
A tool like Semrush’s Listing Management simplifies the process of creating, optimizing, and updating your online business profile. Plus, its features make it much easier to manage multiple business locations and keep up with day-to-day tasks—like sharing posts and responding to reviews.
Sign up to Semrush to give your local SEO efforts a significant boost.
Source link : Semrush.com
