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Search engines have become an integral part of our everyday lives, and as such should be an integral part of your business. People flock to search engines daily to find resources and information useful to their current situations. By optimizing your digital footprint, you can ensure that your business gets promoted within the algorithm, bringing more leads to your business and ultimately boosting sales.

While it is easy to want to optimize your digital footprint, it can be challenging to know exactly what to do. For Google Business Profiles, there are a thousand decisions you can make to optimize your business, not just for the algorithm but also for the people who are searching for your goods or services. One of the most critical factors is your Google Business Name. To learn how you can best optimize this part of your Google Business Profile, we will analyze strategies for both new and existing businesses.

Name Optimization for New Businesses

Starting a new business profile can be incredibly beneficial to kickstart your marketing in the digital world. Not only does creating a Google Business Profile help you connect with your customers, but it can also help you get new clientele. This is why your business name is so important and should include keywords that your customers are actively searching for.

However, there can be some problems with simply incorporating keywords into your business name. For example, while including information such as the town you are based in or a basic description of your services is useful, it can also be bland and blend in with other services in the area. While the name is specific to your geographic area and general business practices, Google isn’t going to treat your business like the individual it is. Instead, you will likely be included with two other businesses that share a similar name or location, better referred to as the 3-pack. If your digital footprint is lacking, you may not even make it into the top three results.

Instead, we recommend that you give your business a unique name that can stand out from the competition. This unique identifier helps differentiate your brand from your competitors. While the lack of keywords can be a concern for some, creating a unique brand name makes you more likely to have a fully branded search result than being in the 3-pack for your industry. A fully branded search result will highlight your website, reviews, and other digital assets in a way that puts your business in the spotlight.

Optimizing for Existing Businesses

If you already have an existing business, it is not the best practice to change your company’s name. While it may be tempting, changing your business name will discredit all your branding efforts up to this point.

Some may consider adding keywords to their business name. However, this can cause problems of its own since this practice directly goes against Google’s community guidelines and may result in your Google Business Profile being flagged or completely removed if the offense is deemed egregious enough.

If you want to change your name on Google but don’t want to go against community guidelines, you can file a DBA, or a “doing business as.” This legal document allows companies to file a trade name that you can legally use to do business without formally changing your company’s name. Google recognizes DBAs as an acceptable version of your business name and will enable you to add keywords to your business without going against community guidelines.

Optimize Your Business Name for Search Results With BluShark Digital

Besides your Google Business Profile name, there are many other ways you can optimize your profile for search engines and the people who use them. At BluShark Digital, our team of digital marketing experts are trained in this specific area of expertise. To see what our team can do to help you boost your digital presence, contact us today!