For our third and final installment of the Google Search for Businesses, we’re going to bring everything we’ve talked about so far in the series and tie it all together as we talk about the “Google 3-Pack.” Read More
In Part One of our Google Search for Businesses series we talked about claiming and optimizing your listing, and the importance of accuracy and updates. For part two we’ll discuss how online reviews play a big part in a consumer’s path to purchase journey.
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Welcome to our three-part series on Google Search for Businesses! We’ll share the whole series over the next week. Stay tuned for more!
If you’re a business owner, you’ve likely set up a Google business listing at some point. Your current business info on Google is not only the #1 source for your customers in finding your business and affecting your bottom line, but did you know that your listing also serves as a bullhorn to other business sites? Read More
When it comes to SEO, we unfortunately don’t have a guidebook detailing what to expect, or a crystal ball for predicting the date of the next algorithm change.
We do, fortunately, have some hunches about what we think is pretty darn likely to go down in 2016.
Check out what we think might be in the cards for online marketing in the next year.
Businesses’ best friend, Google My Business, has gotten a face lift. The search czar began covertly introducing the revamped dashboard on September 29th after very quietly announcing it on Google Business forums (as of this writing, the post only had 334 views). And we have a feeling you’re going to love it.
What is Google My Business?
Google has so many services, it can be hard to keep track of what’s what. In case you need a refresher, Google My Business is, at its core, a way for your company to ensure that the information potential clients or customers find on Google’s SERP is correct. This can include:
- Your business address
- Hours
- Phone number
- Price range
- Website URL
It can provide valuable information such as:
- Directions to your business
- Reviews
- Ratings
- Photos
And it also offers a place for consumers to write said reviews and allows them to access your business information across devices.
What’s New in the Google My Business Dashboard?
This new roll out seems to be all about convenience and ease of use. Overall, what we notice is a cleaner presentation and simple interface. In fact, one of the first differences you’ll likely find in this streamlined dashboard is that locations and brand pages are easily accessed, with those being the only two options in the main navigation.
Once you begin clicking around, another helpful feature you’ll find is the addition of breadcrumbs, which makes navigation much easier in what could be an overwhelming service if you manage a lot of pages.
Another useful component is that you can now view locations in either card view or list view. The new card view for locations gives you the option to choose how many you see, as well as quickly manage or view the location, while the list view offers convenience in selecting and editing multiple
The hamburger menu in the upper-left corner of the new Google My Business dashboard is a dream. It offers another way switch back to look at all listings or brand pages, should you navigate away from one of those views, allows you to bulk import locations from a file or add them individually, as well as bulk download locations. It also offers a neatly-organized summary of errors and issues, including:
- Duplicate addresses
- Google updates
- Missing store codes
- Unverified listings
This menu also allows you to monitor published locations and those that are permanently closed, on top of showing you any pending reviews your pages may have.
It also provides accessibility and high-visibility to the “Create business account” and “Contact support” features, so you no longer have to fumble around the dashboard.
Got Questions?
We’re really excited about this update to the Google My Business dashboard and we think you will be too. If you have any questions about the face lift, or about anything related to online marketing, we welcome you to contact our team today. You can reach us online or call us at our Kansas City area office at (816) 527-8371 or (844) 889-5001.
And for a visual walk through of the updates, check out this video from Mike Blumenthal of Local University.
If you want your small business to thrive, you don’t need to reach every customer. You need to reach the right customer. Gone are the days when small businesses attempted the expensive and often futile task of competing with larger businesses in rankings in order to reach large numbers of potential customers. Now small businesses can focus their resources on engaging with the right customer, the one who is likely to spend money with the business not just once but over and over.
