Opinions are everywhere and many are just that, opinions however an opinion backed with facts to support it can become valuable advise. These days it seems like every marketing agency has become the go-to source for all things related to Google My Business listings and ready to sell you on why your company needs to sign with them today! Luckily, we have been fans of the Google My Business pages since the beginning and have honed our Google Tools skills for years now although we do admit that it is great to see the recent focus on what we have been working on for so long! Digital Marketing wizard Shawn Joshi just posted an article with some serious facts to support the claim that a company's Google My Business page is more important to local search than even their own website and we could not agree any more! Check this out:

"The internet is filled with unqualified opinions - so let's not add to that dumpster fire.Here's what the data says:
1. 46% of all Google searches have a local intent.
That's about 1.6 billion searches per day where people are looking for products, services, and information in their location.
2. 93% of local searches now feature Google My Business listings.
There's a lot of people using Google every day for local purposes.
And now we know that virtually all of those searches feature Google My Business listings.
3. 68% of people contact a business directly from search results.
If they're on a mobile device - which we've established is already 50% of all web traffic (and growing) - all someone needs to do is tap a link...
And they're calling you - or your competitor - directly from search results.
These three data points show the importance of Google My Business - especially when we already know that Google wants to send people to a platform they own.
But we haven't even covered the most important one...
"88% of people trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations." (Source: Forbes)..."

Boom right?!! Great post, read the rest HERE and when you are ready to get your business seen by your customers call us! ;)

We have been saying this for quite some time now but it is nice to have a group of pros agree!

​"If you have a local business, optimizing your Google My Business listing is critically important. Recently, we asked 53 local SEO experts to rank several different marketing channels—things like websites, email marketing, content marketing, SEO, and various types of advertising—in terms of their importance for local businesses.

The most important channel was a local business’s website. The second most important: its Google My Business listing...."

Read more HERE.