Google My Business: What Does it Mean for You?

Jaclyn Robledo - June 20, 2014

Last week, Google announced its newest application for business owners called “Google My Business.” This free platform gives businesses the opportunity to manage several Google applications in one location, including Google Analytics, Google+ and YouTube.

A First Look

How Google My Business affects you will depend on whether you’re new to Google’s tools for businesses or have been using Google’s tools for years.

For Current Business Users: All current users of Google Places for Business and Google+ Pages will be verified & upgraded to the new layout. Please keep in mind that you have to ensure that there are no data conflicts with the upgrade. You should confirm these details with your agency.

For New Business Users: The “Get On Google” button begins the journey of accessing your page. You’re directed to a Google Map that locates your business address. From there, you can begin tracking views of your website through Google Analytics, maximizing your Google+ presence and reading your reviews.

For Customers:Businesses now have the opportunity to directly update their address details, posts, etc. So when customers are searching for a business, the information will be more accurate and in real-time.

Features

In addition to the ability to access your various Google applications from a single dashboard, Google My Business comes with several new features. These include:

Bulk Upload: If your business has multiple locations, you can add them to Google Places, and manage their listings, easily via Google’s Bulk Upload feature.

Dashboard: This new dashboard provides direct access to:

• Google+ – Posts, events, links, videos, photos, engagement, views, actions, and followers
• Google Analytics – Visits, unique visitors and page views
• YouTube – Subscribers, views and minutes watched
• Google Hangouts
• Google Reviews – Reviews on Google as well as other websites

Note: Dashboard features are dependent upon what you can currently access.

Reviews: A business owner will have a high level overview of their reviews. This will also include the source of the review.

Analytics: Your dashboard will include a quick overview of your Google Analytics account, where you can see Page Views, and New and Unique Visits.

These are just a few of the features. Google My Business has been created to centralize these tools for business owners to provide a more cohesive user experience.

If you are a new user, you don’t have to begin utilizing all of the applications available. You should assess your needs and then implement those tools that will improve the business.