Google My Business Pages - Still Relevant or Phasing Out?
-
Google My Business plays a big part of getting your company to rank in the local pack for local search queries. Apart from making sure this is correct and up to date, where do you think the future of GMB pages is headed? Will Google eventually start phasing these out and come up with a different way to populate the local pack?
-
It's always my pleasure! I appreciate the good question you asked.
-
Hi Miriam! Once again, thank you for taking the time to leave such a great response. This was extremely helpful and I really appreciate it.
You made some awesome points that I didn't even consider!
-
Thank you, John! I appreciate the response!
-
Another good question from you, Blue Corona!
Are GMB listings going away? Not any time soon, but as John mentions, be prepared for increased paid-packs as time goes by, in some industries. Basically, any industry into which Google can position itself as the middle man (leads for home service providers, bookings for hotels, etc.) will be one in which free packs could become obsolete.
If you're trying to take the long view of what's happening, basically, Google is trying to become the platform on which actions occur that would previously have occurred mainly on a company's own website. Google wants to provide directions, facilitate phone calls, govern reputation, show photos, book appointments and arbitrate leads all on their own product instead of on yours (your website). As Mike Blumenthal and David Mihm discuss in this interesting chat transcript, Google is becoming your new homepage: http://streetfightmag.com/2017/03/06/why-google-is-becoming-the-new-homepage-for-smbs/
So, whether we like the idea of Google having a finger in every pie or not, what you want to do as a local business owner is to influence as much as you can the accuracy and persuasiveness of your presence in all of Google's results (and that includes paid results in some industries and tough markets, as well). This is what users will be interacting with - this layer of data that exists on Google about your business, instead of only on your website. Your GMB listing will be a major factor in this for the foreseeable future.
So, that's basically the eagle's eye view, with some unknown quantities like the ultimate impact of voice search (controversial) and future updates to Google's algorithm (unpredictable). Hope this helps!
-
Some good gut feelings here, John, and you are so right about Google's rebranding history - it has been especially volatile in local!
-
Well, they are already starting to put ads in there so I expect this to go fully paid eventually. But that said, I don't see the idea of GMB going anywhere soon, but we have seen how they change things all the time and they could possibly rename it while only changing a few things.
Branding has never been Google's strong suit. Just look at their maze of chat apps.
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Trading As Business Name
Some businesses are set us with a company name but trade under another name (or numerous other names). What's the best way to handle this when it comes to Knowledge Graph & Schema.org and what about NAP consistency? Am assuming the only way to handle this is to do something like this: Blue Widgets Ltd trading as Cars UK Or is there a better way?
Local Listings | | GrouchyKids0 -
Can I use the same interior photos for multiple stores in Google My Business?
Hi, The company I work for has many store locations across the country. Getting good/quality interior pictures has become very difficult for us. We recently good a Virtual Tour from Google for one of the locations, and they took some really pictures. According to Google, the "Photos should represent the actual business" and "Represent the real-world business location". My question is: since our stores are VERY similar in the interior, can we use the same pictures for them while we get more pictures? Would Google penalize this? Thanks!
Local Listings | | StantonOptical0 -
Google Knowledge Graph Missing Telephone Information/Multiple Locations
Does anyone have experience correcting the Google branded knowledge graph for a local listing? We have an issue with the knowledge graph not displaying telephone numbers on a clients local knowledge graph panel in the SERPs (for desktop searches). We manage over 1,500 local listings for the same company and the majority of those listings display telephone numbers on the right hand side of the branded knowledge graph panel. However, a handful do not display a telephone number. If you click through the map section of the knowledge graph panel, into the Google Maps/Google My Business page the numbers are listed, they are just not showing up on the knowledge graph panel in the SERPs. The local numbers are listed on the Google My Business page. Does anyone have any experience with this and can recommend what other items we should check for that could help get the numbers to show up on the on the knowledge graph panel in the SERPs? Thanks for the help!
Local Listings | | lunavista-comm0 -
Issue in "Suggest an Edit" feature of Google My Business
"Suggest an Edit" feature of Google My Business is allowing the competitors to change your business details, that too without your prior permission! I have put together a piece on the issue we faced and you can review the same here: https://www.kvrwebtech.com/blog/issue-in-suggest-an-edit-in-google-my-business-is-it-a-bug-or-a-major-pitfall/ What are your thoughts on the same and what should be the right solution?
Local Listings | | varun18001 -
Google Reviews From Around The Web Feature Gone
Hey All My Favorite Local Community Members! I think we might start having questions come up about this, so I thought I'd do a quick post. Google has just confirmed that they have removed the 'Reviews from Around the Web' feature that has so long been a part of their local SERPs display. Mike Blumenthal confirms that this is official, here: http://localu.org/blog/google-more-reviews-links-removed-from-knowledge-panel/ Apparently, you can still see your reviews from around the web in your Google My Business dashboard, but they are gone from knowledge panels, etc. This may not be a feature greatly missed by many, as the business owner had so little control over what was displayed in this section. So ... upshot is: if you've just noticed that this feature is gone, it's official - it's gone.
Local Listings | | MiriamEllis4 -
Multiple Businesses at the Same Address
Hello everyone! Fairly new member here with a quick local question. A friend is starting a new business and sharing a showroom with another local business until they close up shop in a couple of months, at which point he will take over the showroom entirely. My question: in the meantime, what would be the best way to have two businesses at the same address? The best I can come up with to avoid the pages being merged or who knows what else would be to list one of the businesses in a non-existent suite, for example 123 S Someplace Ave, Suite 100. Is this strategy likely to cause any problems for either business? Ideally I would like to have both businesses appear in the listings until the first one closes, at which point I will just delete the page entirely.
Local Listings | | rbmac0 -
Should my website link to my google business listing given that I already link from google business to my website ?
I have a website with individual Location Landing Pages for each of my Depots. I also have individual Google Local Business Listings for each of my depots. Should I have a link from my Website Location Landing Pages to the associated Google local Business listings or not ?... Given that I already have a link on my Google Business listing to the relevant Location Page on my website. I wasn't sure whether linking both ways would be more beneficial thus enforcing things better or whether it's not needed to link both ways . thanks Pete
Local Listings | | PeteC120 -
Bing Places for Business - Worth It?
Hey Fellow Mozzers, I am trying to determine if Bing Places for Business is worth the time and effort it takes to create listings. My business has 900 locations, and would take some time to create the bulk upload file to load into the Bing Places for Business dashboard. My question is, since Bing already does a good job of creating business listings using data from 3rd party sources such as Yelp and Citysearch, where I already have a strong presence for each of my locations, is there any value in overriding the automatically created business page for each of my location with information that I upload?
Local Listings | | dsinger2