Google adding more features to business profiles on Search and Maps

Google’s My Business profiles are being revamped to give store owners more control and personalization of their profile.

My Business profiles are what appears when you search for a business or store on Google Search or Maps. The search will often show reviews, directions, hours, the menu, photos and a lot more.

Now Google is adding six new tweaks to the profiles to give business more control over what’s on there.

First up, proprietors can now add an offer to the ‘Follow’ button on their profile. This could be something like a free drink if you follow a restaurant or a $5 off coupon. When you follow a place you’ll also get updates when they post new things to their profile. You’ll notice a little blue tag icon attached to the top right of the Follow button if the store is offering a deal for following it.

To personalize profiles, Google is now allowing users to choose their own cover photos and add their logo. If you want to feature a logo you need to have added your core information which includes a phone number and store hours.

In addition to this, whenever the business uploads photos it will be added instantly to the profile. Google also mentioned that captions are coming to photos soon.

Two of the smaller changes that people are less likely to notice are a revamped URL scheme that lets the businesses use shorter URLs, so it’s easier to find and remember. The other small change lets business owners order custom stickers and posters from Google for offline marketing.

Source: Google