What Changed in 2020 on Google My Business and What to Expect in 2021

Welcome to episode number 79 of The Determined Mom Show. Today I want to talk to you about new changes to Google my business and some things coming up in 2021. So if you are not on Google My Business, I will get on my little soapbox. Suppose you’re not a Google by the business.

Or if you are and you have just claimed your profile and have not done anything with it since you claimed it, you have to start today. This particular platform is free, and it can give you. Thousands of views of your business each month of people are interested in your services when searching for them.

So like, when they’re in need, they’re going to go to Google, they’re going to search for a car detail shop, for example, and they are going to see your business if you are in the top three. It’s very important to stay in the top three because that means that if you have a lot of reviews and you’re in the top three, you’re more likely to get calls than if you’re on page six. After all, no one will scroll to page six of the Google My business results.

It is very important, and it is just a huge deal for your business. I mean, it’s just amazing. So they do have now Covid updates, which this has been something that they’ve had since, I want to say, like March, April. But they’ve been adding to it and making it more robust.

So you have the option to update your business hours for covid. You can also post a Covid 19 specific update, and that will allow you to. Let people know, like, Hey, you need a mask. We’re going to take your temperature. All of our staff wear masks, things like that. All of those things are on there. You can also change those things under attributes to let customers know what’s required of them and what is required of the staff under attributes.

So if you go to info and then go under attributes, you can find covid. Updates. So it’s called health and safety. So you have an appointment, mask required, staff gets temperature checks, staff needed to disinfect surfaces, between visits, staff wear masks, and temperature check required.

So all of those things are available for you, and you can also on some location-based businesses, you can also. LGBTQ friendly. That’s another new update in the attributes. And finally, they have added Black owned as an attribute. Previously it was only veteran-led and women-led. They should change that instead of being black-owned, minority-owned, or B I P O C owned.

So then that way, it includes Races instead of just black. But anyway, that’s a little caveat because there are so many different businesses you can patronize. All types of different people own them. So you can also if you have a company that has been affected by Covid 19 and are temporarily closed, you can market it as temporarily closed.

So, for example, I know some restaurants; the other day, I went to pick up our maps for our move, and they were closed. So they brought the stuff out to me, but I would, was not allowed to enter that. And so they have marked their business as temporarily closed just as a red flag.

So then that way, I knew that when I was going there, I wouldn’t be able to walk in and get my stuff. So that’s very helpful. So now that we’ve covered the changes to Google My business throughout 2020, some rumored changes are coming for 2021. So let’s go ahead and talk about those.

So one of the significant changes rumored to be happening is that they will add many more attributes. And so, there are two types of attributes: factual and subjective. And the factual attributes will be things like what I just talked about, like black-owned women-led, that kind of thing.

Kind of about your business, for example, if you have outdoor seating, online training available, or any of those things. Subjective attributes are basically. Opinions from customers, if that makes sense. So those are whether or not your restaurant will be expensive, inexpensive, fair, or whatever; those are all attributes that customers will control.

So there will be some expansion of attributes in 2021, which will really help you. Narrow down your business and reach more of the right people that are searching for your, you know, for your service. So the health and safety aspect is also likely to be expanded as we progress in the pandemic and things change; they’re likely to implement, you know, more safety precautions, more information, and all of those things.

They will also likely help crack down on Google My Business spammers. And you will see this. So you’ll see a business that has claimed a Google My Business profile, and it’s like Best roofers in Lacey, right? And that’s not their name. That’s just a title they put in there to rank higher.

So that would be considered spam, even though maybe the business is called All American Roofers. I’m just making all of this up, but they have claimed Google My Business to say Best Roofers and Lacey. And what that will do is it will rank them higher, and that is considered spam, so Google is going to crack down a little bit on those, which it’s.

Good because it’s unfair to those who manage their profile and do things the right way. The other exciting, this is really exciting feature that is rumored to be coming is going to be video conferencing integration. So it’s going to, there’s supposed to be.

They are integrating with Google Meet, WebEx, Skype, and Zoom, those types of video conferencing. And that will allow you to hold online classes. You can also do online consultations and things like that, making connecting with your customer easier. So most people have a Google account of some sort, and so they will already be logged in.

You’ll already be logged in, and it will be a seamless process to connect with. They’re also working on a better user experience, which will help a lot with just being able to use it from a consumer standpoint, making things easier, making it more user-friendly, and ensuring you can find—the items and attributes.

So if I’ve been searching for black-owned businesses to help with our move and buying a house and all of the services we need, and I honestly haven’t been able to find them on Google just by searching black-owned home inspection services, and all of those things. So as Google refines all of these things, they will make it easier to find those.

What to do with your posts and images. To post, you always want to; this is just my personal feelings. Some people post pictures without any caption or call to action. I don’t recommend that because you want people to see your post. You would like Google to know what your post is about. And you also want people to be able to take action, and they provide six different calls to action buttons.

So then, that way, you are directing your customers or potential customers to take action, whether it be calling you, visiting your website, signing up for something, buying something, or whatever it is that needs to be on every single post. So be active about that. Now they will consider more of what your text for each post says.

So if someone’s searching for a landscaper to trim bushes, I’m again making this up. Then if you put that in your text, it is more likely to appear in their search. Could you keep that in mind since you were posting in 2021? And also, Google is going to be more. They will be reading the images a bit better in 2021.

I encourage you to use your logo in images so people can know it’s you. And Google will also be able to read that logo and display it to the proper people. If you are not on Google My Business, I will talk about this again. And you have to be on Google My Business to get ranking and stop playing around with Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and other places.

Because if you were to pour all that energy into Google My business, I guarantee you would start ranking in the top three eventually. It will take a lot of work, but usually, my customers see, Ranking in about six to nine weeks is way quicker than any SEO campaign or anything can do except for direct advertising.

And even that is hit or miss because if someone outbids you, you are. I just wanted to let you know that you will not be displayed. Could you keep that in mind? And if you still need to claim your business, be sure to do that. And if you do not have it optimized, could you be sure to do that? We offer Google my business optimization and management services at TDM Marketing, so that you can check those.

And you can go to thedeterminedmom.com to find those. And we also have lots of free resources to see on the website. Free webinars. We have free email sequences that are educational about Google My Business. You can learn so much from just those types of free resources. So you can also send me an email at amandathedetermined mom.com.

And you can book a free 15-minute Google My Business Listing Audit on thedetermined mom.com. Thank you for listening, and if you like the show, please feel free to review it on whatever podcast platform you’re listening on. And I sincerely appreciate your listening. Please share it with friends and also like and subscribe.