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Google My Business & SEO Basics Contacts: [email protected]
How Google works: It’s good to start with a basic understanding of how Google searches work:
1. Google uses history – what other users have clicked on – to determine relevancy 2. Google results change over time – today’s results may be different tomorrow 3. Google likes accurate, complete location information – esp. Name, Address, Phone 4. Google can only read what it’s given: more content means more signals to Google 5. Google likes information that’s interconnected on the web 6. It matters where you’re searching from – especially when searching from mobile 7. Learn more by reading this article
Google My Business Listing How does Google My Business benefit salons?
• When the Regis Corp creates listings in Google My Business (GMB), the listing is automatically verified and its data is fed to the entire Google ecosystem, including Google Search, Google Maps, Google Earth, and Google Mobile Apps. (Please note that Google+ is no longer fed automatically. This now needs to be created separately by the franchisee)
• With updated GMB basic listing information, guests always see the latest information about your location when searching from any Google application or device
• As a franchisee, you have the option to view analytics for your GMB listing, add content to drive search results, and respond to guest reviews.
What is the franchisee’s role in managing Google My Business? • Franchisees need to ensure there is accurate information about their salon locations in the Salon Detail Admin site. • Accept the invite to manage the Google My Business listing. • Add content such as posts, images and videos & salon description • Respond to guest reviews • Utilize Google My Business posts to promote offers, etc.
What is the Regis Corp’s role in managing Google My Business? • Set up listing – 1-2 days after opening • Management of daily changes, Google notifications and holiday hours • Updated cover and profile images
SEO Basics Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the effort to improve your ranking on Google, Bing, Yahoo and other search engines. But it’s a complex world and is made up
of many, many factors.
Every salon would like to have strong results on Google and other search engines. It’s what helps new guests find you! The challenge is that you’re not the only
one – every other salon in your area wants the same thing.
SEO 101 You could spend years learning about the details of SEO – in fact, there are companies built on SEO expertise – but there are some basic concepts that will go a
long way toward helping a salon show up more strongly on Google.
1. Google uses history – what other users have clicked on – to determine relevancy
2. Google results change over time – today’s results may be different tomorrow
3. Google likes accurate, complete location information – esp. Name, Address, Phone & Hours
4. Google can only read what it’s given: more content means more signals to Google
5. Google likes information that’s interconnected on the web
6. It matters where you’re searching from – especially when searching from mobile
Actions the Franchisee can take: On Google
1. Add photos of your location to your Google My Business listing
2. Add posts to your Google My Business Listing
3. Add a description to your Google My Business listing using location and keyword information (neighborhood, address, terms like: “haircut” , “hair
salon,”)
4. Avoid making changes to name/address/phone of your listing unless necessary for the first 30 days as it can negatively affect search results/ranking
Directions on how to add photos to your GMB listing:
5. Sign in to Google My Business. If you have two or more locations, use Card View.
6. Click Manage location for the location you'd like to manage.
7. Click Add photo from the menu.
8. Choose the type of photo or video that you’d like to add.
9. Upload the photo or video from your computer or choose one you’ve already uploaded.
10. Please note that Regis has already populated the cover and profile photos for you.
Directions on how to create a post on your Google My Business page:
1. Sign in to Google My Business. If you have 2 or more locations, use card view.
2. Click Manage location for the location you'd like to manage.
3. Click Create post. Or click Posts from the menu.
4. The “Create post” screen will appear. Here, you’ll see options to add photos, create an offer, create an event, add text, links, events, and call to action buttons to your post. Just click each field, and enter the relevant information.
5. Once you’ve created your post, click Preview to see a preview. If it looks good, click Publish in the top right corner of the screen.
Directions on how to add a description to your GMB listing:
1. Sign in to Google My Business. If you have two or more locations, use Card View.
2. Click Manage location for the location you'd like to manage.
3. Click Info from the menu and then click the pencil icon next to “Add business description” to add 750 characters of description
On <Brand>.com
1. Assure address, phone, and map location are correct.
2. Be sure location has a Store Name. Use a name that helps guest find the salon.
3. Complete Store Hours using the Salon Detail Admin Tool.
4. Complete Services and Products on the Salon Detail Admin Tool.
5. Add Social links and Neighborhood on the Salon Detail Admin Tool.
Other Website
1. Fill out Yelp page details. Be sure to use terms like “hair salon” and “haircut.”
2. Post photos of location on Yelp. Be sure to add captions with keywords like “hair salon” to help guests find the salon!
3. In any online space, link directly to the salon detail page on <brand>.com. It should be your “home base.”
What does Regis currently do to drive local search? Regis Corp. works to maintain accurate and consistent local business information for all locations. Accurate data for Business Name, Address, and Phone (NAP)
across all search engines is extremely important for driving guest traffic into our salons. The search ecosystem is complex and requires a comprehensive
approach.
Regis works with several Local Search partners to drive organic search and local search results, including:
• After new salon openings, creating a basic listing in Google My Business (GMB), which feeds Google Search, Google Maps, Google Earth, and Google Mobile Apps. Franchisees are then invited to be listing Managers, and have the option to actively manage their Google listing pages.
• Maintaining GMB basic listing information, on a weekly basis, for all managed location listings, based on information from Regis’ Master Database and from the Salon Detail Admin site.
• After new salon openings, creating a basic location page on Yelp (which also feeds Apple Maps, Yahoo, and Bing). Franchisees are then invited to be Business Owner Admins for their Yelp pages.
• Maintaining Yelp basic listing information, for all managed location listings on Google, based on information from Regis’ Master Database and from the Salon Detail Admin site.
• Distributes, monitors, and analyses data for all locations, feeding this data to 100+ other websites and GPS systems. • Maintain a mobile-friendly website with Salon Detail Pages that act as your salon’s homepage. We include your business information and ensure that it
is kept up to date you make changes. Having accurate, consistent business listings improve your rankings and ensures a better customer experience.
Along with consistent location data, we have dedicated a significant amount of time optimizing each salon location detail page on the site with SEO (search
engine optimization) best practices. These include:
• Secure “https” URL status
• Pages indexed and followed by Google
• Page titles with salon specific information:
o Example: Supercuts Hair Salon | SOUTHBRIDGE CROSSING | Shakopee, MN
• H1 including more salon specific information:
o Example: HAIRCUTS IN Shakopee, MN - SUPERCUTS HAIR SALON SOUTHBRIDGE CROSSING
For keywords, beyond Brand terms, we focus on Tier 1 category keywords at a local level, (listed below). We also focus on more Tier 2 and Tier 3 “longer tail”
keywords centered on services (ie: color, wax, etc.), style (ie: classic bob), products (ie: matrix, redken, etc.) and other terms a guest might be searching.
• Hair salons/Haircuts near me
• Hair salons/Haircuts in [city]
• Hair salons/Haircuts in [neighborhood]
Paid Search (Supercuts, SmartStyle, Signature Style): We support each salon with Paid search within a 5 mile radius of your salon. We use the same best
practices we use for SEO and apply those to SEM (search engine marketing). We buy brand as well as category terms with localized matches for salons.
Google+ Google has decided to separate Google My Business and Google+. As a result, Google has removed support of Google+ Brand Pages from the Google My
Business Dashboard.
Going forward, a Google+ page will no longer be automatically set up with the creation of a Google My Business Dashboard. You can set up a Google+ page for
your business by going to https://plus.google.com. You can also access Google+ through the app menu in your Google My Business account. Please go to
https://support.google.com/plus/answer/1710600?hl=en for more information on Google + on how to create and manage your Google+ page.
Google My Business & SEO FAQs
Issue Resolution
I am a manager of my listing, but
how do I access my Google My
Business listings?
Go to https://business.google.com/manage and log in with the email and password you accepted the manager invite under.
My salon does not appear on Google
Maps. Please reach out to [email protected]
The location of the map marker is
wrong on Google Maps. Map location on Google Maps should match what is displayed on the website. If not, please reach out to [email protected]
My salon does not appear in
<branded> or <unbranded> search
results
Please reach out to [email protected]
Please allow 30 days for listings to appear in search results.
My salon information is wrong in one
of the sites that appears in organic
search results.
Click on the link that contains the incorrect information (may be Superpages.com, yellowpages.com
etc.). Most of these sites have an option to report an error to the listing site owner and/or claim
your location.
My opening-soon salon does not
appear in search results at all Most listing sites, including Google My Business, only accept listing submissions after a location has
opened for business. Allow 30 days AFTER your salon opens before search results appear.
My hours, address and/or phone
number are missing/wrong in my
Google listing
Please make sure all hours are entered and correct in Salon Detail Admin. If you recently updated
your hours in Salon Detail Admin, it does take overnight to process the change and 24-48 hours for
hours to be updated on Google. If your hours are correct in Salon Detail Admin and it has been more
than 48 hours since the change was made and your hours are still incorrect on your Google listing,
please reach out to [email protected]
How do I become a manager of, or
add a manager to, my Google
listing?
You should receive a manager invitation within 48 hours of your official salon opening:
1. Look for an email titled, Regis Corp invited you to manage… Note that this email
may land in your Promotional or Social folder.
2. Open the email from a desktop, not a mobile or tablet device.
3. In the email, click Become a Manager.
4. On the next screen, click Accept.
If you cannot find an email invitation in the inbox of the email address you have on file at Regis
Corp, then please reach out to [email protected]
What are some ideas to improve my
Local Search results on Google? 1. Encourage your guests to write reviews for you on Google.
2. Using the Salon Detail Admin site under Salons, add Neighborhood terms that may describe
your neighborhood.
4. Accept the email invite to manage your Google My Business listing and:
a. Add photos of your salon,
b. Add posts to your Google My Business listings
More insight from Google can be found at:
https://support.google.com/business/answer/7091
I have primary ownership of my
Google My Business listing, but I
would like Regis to be the primary
owner and manage my salon(s)
listing(s). What do I do?
NOTE: We encourage all franchisees
to have Regis Corp obtain primary
ownership of Google My Business
listings for their salons. This allows
for hours and changes to be updated
consistently and eases manager
transfers in the case of a vendition or
ownership transfer of a salon.
1. Sign in to Google My Business.
2. Make sure you’re using card view. If you’re viewing your locations as a list instead of cards,
switch to card view by clicking the cards icon on the right side above your locations.
3. Choose the listing you’d like to manage and click Manage location.
4. Click the three dash menu icon in the upper left-hand side of your screen, then click Manage
users
5. In the top right corner of the "Managers of [your business]" box that appears, click the "Invite
new managers" icon. – Please invite [email protected]
6. Select the user’s role by clicking Owner, Manager, or Communications manager below their
name. – Please give us Owner status.
7. Click Invite. Invitees will have the option to accept the invitation and immediately become
listing owners or managers. –We will accept the ownership status. We must be an owner for you
to give us primary ownership in the next step.
8. Once we (Regis) has accepted the ownership status, you will need to go back in and repeat
steps 1 – 6, but this time you will have the option select and switch our role to “Primary Owner.”
Once you do this, the primary ownership transfer will happen immediately.
I would like my salon to be a part of
the Google Beacon program.
At this time the installation process for Phase 2 is complete, but we will add you to the list and if
possible request to include you in the next phase of installation. This process is controlled by Google,
so we don't currently have a timeline as to when additional beacons will be added in salons.
Questions? Please reach out to [email protected]
A customer uploaded a photo to my
GMB listing, how do I get this image
removed?
Customers/guests can add photos to Google My Business listings. This is not a feature that can be
blocked and these photos cannot be removed unless they violate Google’s policy (like reviews). If
you notice that a photo uploaded by a customer violates the Google Maps photo policies, you can
request for it to be removed.
Here are the steps you can take to flag a photo on your listing that you would like to be
removed:
Flag photos for removal
1. Sign in to Google My Business.
2. If you have two or more listings, switch to card view and click Manage location for the
location you'd like to manage.
3. Click Photos from the menu.
4. Find the photo you'd like to flag, then click the flag icon in the top right corner.
Note: If you've come across content on Google that may violate the law, let us know and we can
send you the process for reporting that content.
My Google Street View Image is
outdated, how do I update?
Google updates street view images periodically, but it could take up to a year for Google to update.
By downloading the Google Street View app, you can create and import Google 360 photos. See the
link below. If you follow these steps, it will import your photos to update the street view of your
business.
https://support.google.com/maps/answer/7012050
A guest asked a question through the
Google Q&A feature, but I can’t see
where to respond.
Currently the Q & A feature for Google My Business is NOT in the dashboard.
Instead, Google will send you notifications and if you click on “answer” you will be sent to a pop up window
where you can respond to the question that was asked. Make sure you are logged in under the email address that
your GMB account is under.
Otherwise, you can search for your listing on Google and you’ll see a Questions and answers box on your listing.
Click “see all questions” and you can respond there.
