Small Business SEO: Are you Using the Google My Business App for Messaging?

By using the Google My Business app, business owners can communicate with customers directly from search results. Watch this video to see how to start using Google My Business messaging.

Most business owners know that Google My Business (GMB) is important for search engine marketing. It is particularly important for local SEO and businesses that target local customers. Every business interested in search engine marketing should have a Google My Business page (if you don’t have one, go set it up right now; you can also contact Digital Dynamo to set it up for you).

With Google My Business, customers can contact businesses directly from the search results page. Customers can instantly request a quote, or they can send a direct message to the owner of your Google My Business page.

Google My Business on desktop

Google My Business on mobile

Here are instructions and a quick video on how to use the Google My Business app to communicate with customers:

1. Download and install the app on your device
2. Once installed, on your device make sure you are signed into Google under the account you use to manage your GMB page
3. Open the Google My Business app, and use the drop-down at the top to select your business’s account (if you manage multiple GMB pages, you will see them as options in the drop-down).
4. At the bottom, click on Customers.
5. At the top, click on Messages. This is where all the messages you get from customers will be stored. You will also see a blue banner asking you to turn on messaging. Click “Turn On” to enable messaging.
6. Almost done! Now, click on the three vertical dots in the top right corner. In the box that pops up from the bottom, click on Messaging Settings.
7. Click on Edit your welcome message. Here, you can customize the first message customers will see when they click on the messaging button on your Google My Business page. When you’re done customizing, click Save.
8. Lastly, navigate to your device’s settings and find the My Business app in them. Click into it, and make sure you have notifications enabled.

A couple of notes:

• You must reply to customers within 24 hours or risk Google disabling your messaging
• The messaging feature is only available on mobile devices, so you won’t see the messaging symbol on desktop search

Why don’t I see the messaging feature when I look at my Google My Business page in search results?

If you are looking at mobile search results, the reason you don’t see the little message symbol on your own GMB page is that it doesn’t show for account managers. If you have messaging enabled and you look at your GMB page on another phone (where you aren’t logged into Google), you will see it.