Tag Archives: Local Search

Here’s Why You Should Opt For Google’s Local Booking Service

Google unveiled the option to book appointments with local businesses directly from the search results in August 2017 and since then they have been pushing it to local business owners in a very discreet manner. Maybe it’s because they don’t want to appear like a pushy salesman. However, this feature didn’t receive the kind of warm welcome they were expecting. It might be because people were not sure whether they are just testing it or planning to fully launch it before putting efforts, money and time into it.

If you want to test this out (recommended), first you have to go to your GMB dashboard and check whether your business is eligible for the booking feature or not.

And if your business is eligible, you will have to choose a third party provider from all the listed options. Yes, you read that right. Google has partnered with third-party booking services for this feature and you have to shell out anywhere between $20-$80 a month. But it “might” be worthwhile for you since bookings can increase given how convenient it is to book appointments directly from the search.

Need more information on Google’s Local Booking Service? Connect with us to learn more!

How Google Local Search Works – Google Will Now Show Search Results Based on the Google Users Location Instead of the Domain Name

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Google’s paramount goal is to provide the users with most relevant search results. Today 1 in 5 searches on Google is related to location, so providing locally relevant search results is of utmost priority. Google is changing how Google local search works. Till now the country of service was indicated by the country code top-level domain name (ccTLD). For example “google.co.uk” for the United Kingdom. But from now on, Google will determine the country of service based on your location. If you’re in the UK, even manually typing “google.com” and searching something will not fetch you results from the USA, instead, it will show results based on your current location, i.e. the UK.

However, Google has cleared that they have just changed the way they labeled Google search results and maps, and not the way it works.

In case your country of service doesn’t change as per the location, you can update it by going into the Settings > Search Settings in the footer and then navigate to Region Settings.

From the Google Search Blog:

So if you live in Australia, you’ll automatically receive the country service for Australia, but when you travel to New Zealand, your results will switch automatically to the country service for New Zealand. Upon return to Australia, you will seamlessly revert back to the Australian country service.

Google is hopeful that this update will ensure that the users will get the most relevant search results, and will ultimately improve the overall search experience.

Google’s Q&A for Local Search Could Be The Next Big Thing

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Google started rolling out Questions and Answers (Q&A) feature for local search in the
beginning of August. As with all the testing, it was initially available, exclusively for
Android users via the Google Maps App, but eventually, they made it available to
everyone searching from a mobile device using either Safari or Chrome browsers.

Google’s Q&A could be a very useful tool for local businesses to help save time and trouble by providing simple answers to common questions.

The main motto behind introducing the Q&A into local search is to get the most
updated and relevant data about businesses and places. Q&A is always been one of the
best sources to get fresh content. Amazon has already tested it and employing it the
way it should be.

Here’s what Google Questions & Answers looks like on a mobile device.

However, the fear of spamming is real! The competitors, or even just a single angry employee
can ruin the entire Q&A section. Also, if a business has the authority to edit it, then it’s going to
be as genuine and real as the “testimonials and reviews” that they put on their own website.

Here’s what Google says:

“To make sure “Questions & answers” contains the most accurate and useful local info
possible, business owners can add frequently asked questions and answers as well. In
addition, when you (a customer) ask a question about a place, we notify the business
owner and other in-the-know users to see if they have knowledgeable answers to
contribute. When your question is answered, we notify you too.”

Let’s see how Google is going to tackle these issues. Meanwhile, you might want to start writing
content for the Q&A section. Reason being, Google has just launched it and is hungry for
content (data), they will hardly filter it out and will most likely accept just about anything you
post. You can actually benefit from the desperation of Google and ignorance of your
competitors.

Remember, the early bird gets the worm!

How People Find Your Business (Products & Services)

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Local search! People find businesses through the internet, and websites that are optimized for local search get found first! What does this mean? If you have a website and it isn’t optimized for a local search (SEO) campaign then it won’t be found before your competitor’s site. The reason for this, your competition is spending the few extra dollars to have their website optimized on a monthly basis so that it maintains it’s well ranked positioning on popular search engines like Google.

Yes, word of mouth and newspaper advertising are close seconds and thirds but that’s just what they are, seconds and thirds. The number ONE way people find your business product and service is to look it up online. You need to understand this if you want to be the competitor who is found first and retains the business opportunity!

What people look for are websites that pop up first on Google and businesses that are close by. Your website needs to include a few more things however, correct contact information and an easy way to actually connect with you. Second, your products must be displayed and described briefly and correctly. People want information when they want it and in our digital world, that is NOW!

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