Understanding Google My Business & Local Search
Google Promoting My Business from the Front Page
Phil Rosek pointed out that Google is now promoting, worldwide, My Business to SMBs from the front page of search on both desktop AND mobile devices with a slick campaign to get more locations signed up for….not for Plus page…
… but for My Business benefits:
- Being found in search
- Connecting and communicating with customers
- Ease of Use
They couldn’t be giving it better exposure in their world than a lone link below the search box that’s for sure. And they are emphasizing benefits not features. Their deemphasis of Plus couldn’t be more obvious than this campaign.
There are still some complex barriers for the SMB to cross to get from here to there like SEO, attracting followers, developing a communication strategy and the somewhat unpredictable nature of local search but this is a great start by Google to get business folks in the front door.
The gloves are off. Well done Google.
Now for the hard part for Google… making the whole world of local social search not just be easy to sign up for but easy to execute in a way that really does bring ALL of these benefits to the SMB.
Man, would I love to know the numbers from this campaign. 🙂
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Comments
8 Comments
Just to let you know: Seeing it too in Google.de
@Nico
cool….world wide.
I just have to point out what it says at the bottom of that page after it shows the 3 simple steps to get on Google.
That’s it. Really.
That’s all it takes to connect your business with customers on Search, Maps and Google+.
Really? That’s all it takes??? Guess we are all out of a job. LOL 😉
@Linda
Google runs the risk of over promising and under delivering. This should demonstrate that they can attract more SMBs to the fold but then as I point out the job of SEO, attracting followers, developing a communication strategy and the somewhat unpredictable nature of local search all will make it very difficult for most SMBs to “feel” results.
I think it is Will Scott that asks what happens if someone makes a social post in a forest and no one is around to hear it.
That situation is very true here. The My Business app does a great job of engaging the SMB but it neglects the fact that there has to be a second party to have engagement.
@Linda
Sure, that’s all it takes if the client is lucky to have been in business for 20 years at the same address and phone number! Your comment did make me laugh as it has only gotten more difficult for the SMB. Even if they learn some of the fundamentals from a blog like this their competition is learning or hiring a consultant as well.
I’d like to buy some advertising in that spot for LocalSpark.
“It’s good to be found. LocalSpark will help your business get found on Google.”
Mike, can you pull some strings for me? 😉
@Linda @Jeffrey
The campaign came and went, looks like we all have a job again lol.
@Mike
I learned that lesson in 2014, engagement really does matter all across social metrics. Probably even more so in 2015 if there’s more emphasis on CTR.
As a small business owner, we found the whole process really confusing. The entire time we were asking ourselves “wait is this Google+ or Google My Business”? I’m not an expert, but you guys think that Google business-related services is trying to break away from Google+?
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