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Google Business Profile description: writing, keywords, SEO impact?
Google Business Profile description: writing, keywords, SEO impact?

How to write a description for your store on Google Business Profile and what is the impact for your local SEO?

Sébastien Blum avatar
Written by Sébastien Blum
Updated over a week ago

What is the history of the Google Business Profile description?

At the beginning of Google Business Profile (GBP), an editable text of 200 characters allowed owners to describe their establishment directly on their GBP listing. However, following numerous abuses, including inappropriate use of keywords, Google decided to put an end to the project: in August 2016, these "descriptions" were replaced by "editorial summaries", written by internal Google teams, and not editable by owners.

However, at the end of March 2018, Google Business Profile announced the return of owner-editable descriptions on business listings: this time, the description can contain up to 750 characters! 🔥

How to properly write your Google Business Profile description?

The content of this new description must "highlight what makes the establishment unique, whether it is the services, products offered, the mission of the establishment or even its history."

Overall, the goal is to make your establishment attractive with a few restrictions to keep in mind:

  • Do not put inappropriate content (lies, hate speech...)

  • Do not include links to other sites, phone numbers, or email addresses

  • Do not use words in capital letters

  • Do not mention your prices, special promotions or sales

So that you can fully understand the spirit 😇 here is a sample description (around 700 characters):

"Whether you are looking to buy a new or used vehicle, our dealership will allow you to find your happiness, with a very wide choice of brands: Honda, Nissan, Peugeot, BMW... Our showroom of 200 m2, recently renovated, has notably a warm lighting and many recent models. Moreover, you can also buy various trendy accessories for motorcycles and scooters such as helmets, jackets or gloves. Do not hesitate to come and visit us in this historic dealership in the center of Mulhouse, to chat over a coffee offered by the house: we will be happy to share our expertise and our passion with you! "

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If you would like to discuss best practices for Google Business Profile, please contact our local SEO experts at Partoo, via the chat at the bottom right of this page or visit our website to better understand what we can do for you!

What impact does the description have on your SEO?

The Google Business Profile description must have the sole objective of boosting your conversion number of views/number of clicks and therefore make your establishment attractive. This description is not taken into account by Google in your SEO.

Several Google executives and Google Business Profile experts, such as Mike Blumenthal, have publicly confirmed that these descriptions have no impact on your SEO. The only possible SEO impact could be negative if you abuse keywords ("keyword stuffing"). Indeed, by repeating several times your keywords in your Google Business Profile descriptions, you risk being identified as spam and thus de-referenced.

Please note that these descriptions are never counted as "duplicate content" and can be the same on different platforms (GMB, Facebook, Foursquare...) without any negative effect on your SEO. 🤓

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