There are major changes to Google My Business since the Pandemic Covid19 started in early 2020. A lot of businesses have been affected by this pandemic and Google has just been one of them. Google has changed a few things to its Google My Business GMB and has warned it’s users by adding a note message at the top of GMB app.
Here is the quick list:
- Reviews functionality has stopped temporarily on GMB
- You won’t be able to respond to old reviews on GMB
- Q&As functionality has stopped on Google My Business
There is more …. some businesses posts have been rejected, this is an old bug that seems to have rolled on more businesses maybe due to the current situation – wait it out for now and try at another time (I have clients that have had that issues resolved)
Some businesses have been marked as temporary closed – you can reverse that by going changing your setting (however, Google’s team response has been a bit slow due to the current situation so just be patient)
About Google My Business
Google My Business GMB, is a great app that is free and super easy to use for businesses and companies to enhance and boost their online presence across Google, like Google Search and Google Maps. It is a great tool to use and help you with your search engine optimisation (SEO) locally. There are many ways you can optimise your local SEO for your business and the way to start is by verifying your listing on Google My Business, downloading the app and start posting on GMB on a regular basis. GMB is a great tool that only only helps boost your business but helps customers find you and communicate with you.
The Key Benefits of Google My Business (GMB)
- A great communication gateway with your customers
Through the messaging functionalities, Q&A and finding your business on Google Maps. Customers also get to leave reviews about your business and you can respond to these reviews. This marketing channel really helps you be on top of your communications for customers that find you through your GMB listing - GMB is a great place to use a social media outlet
GMB has posts, photos, and updates that you can always add your new content there, treat it like Facebook or Instagram. It also, keeps all your information in one place for customers to find easily. - GMB redirects to your website
Google My Business is a great channel to direct traffic to your website. While it might be hard to rank your website on some keywords, sometimes it is easier to rank on your local listing through Google My Business. This is why it is critical that you take advantage of this amazing tool to drive high quality traffic to your website.
What next with Google My Business?
Don’t stress too much over the current changes to Google My Business, Google is taking extra measures to keep businesses safe. With the current health and business uncertainty, Google is protecting business from bad reviews that could be posted due to a lack of service due to the current business changes for COVID19. Also, Q&A functionalities could be run down by too many questions from customers who are asking questions like are you open? or do you xyz products available? Customers could be asking 1000 questions a day for popular businesses and that would overwhelm the business owner, as well as misinformation could be presented by other people who are answering these questions.
Recommendations for Google My Business changes
✅ I recommend you keep taking advantage of what’s available for your business on Google my Business and reinforce that with good SEO on your website.
✅Business might have slowed down but your marketing doesn’t have to, actually you need to be extra vigilant and communicate with your customers more than ever. Take it one day at a time but keep going we are all going to get through this
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