Google wants more small businesses to claim their listing profiles on Google Local (which is basically listings that pop up in Google Maps and local search results). To entice them, starting tomorrow it will give local businesses in the real world with physical addresses a free dashboard akin to what Websites get for free with Google Analytics (see screenshot above). Except that it will show stats such as how many times their business comes up as a search result, how often people click through, as well as how many times people generate driving directions to their business son Google Maps and where those people come from.
In return, all they need to do is claim and verify their listings at the Google Local Businesss Center. It takes about as much time as setting up a new email account, maybe a little more. Google gets clean data (and, thus, better results), businesses get free analytics and an opportunity to train Google’s search engine. Right now only a few hundred thousand businesses in the U.S. have been claimed out of approximately 20 million.
The other benefit to Google is that the more that small businesses can measure the impact of search, the more likely they will be to buy search ads. The dashboard shows the top search queries that result in a business’ listing showing up. The next obvious step is to start buying those keywords or optimize a business’ site to make sure they are on the page. There is no integration yet with Google AdWords (like there is on Google Analytics), but you can see that one coming from a mile away.
Sad news for Yelp
Yelp?! Who… Wha….
http://www.wannadevelop.com
I hope you’ll be banned from TC.
How does this service compete with Yelp? Yelp is for local reviews; not analytics. If anything this service draws attention to the idea of optimizing for the hyper-local web.
Not sure Yelp! ever had a chance. They are great at luring users but not so great at crossing the chasim and generating “mass” adoption of local business owners. Analytics is the only way to go. It helps unsavy business owners see results and avoid all the jargon of the online world.
Go Google!
Cool, great step in the right direction. Big win for local biz, I just hope the avg biz owner “gets it” enough to use it!
How do they verify ownership?
Google will call the business number with a special PIN or they will send you something in the mail
Phone verification or postage/postcard verification.
“Right now only a few hundred thousand businesses in the U.S. have been claimed out of approximately 20 million.” — makes you wonder if what these businesses are looking for is analytics. I suspect something more basic is needed before they build out their profiles
Exactly. The need isn’t more tools. Its more basic simplistic tools and paths to them.
Google is too smart for its own good in some areas.
It will all work out in a few years when the younger generation steps in. Many SMB’s are allowing there kids or younger co-workers to help them along.
A bigger issue is lack of education. For years SMB’s learned advertising through sales people who walked in and sold them tangible media. No one, including newspapers, spent time educating SMB’s on the Internet.
By the time IYP’s came around, they too couldn’t spend the money on sales people for small dollar transactions.
SMB’s need some hand holding or the market should allow time to catch up. Or Google could hire a bunch of interns and send them door to door.
Besides calling Google can also will send you a PIN in a letter via snail mail to the business address to verify ownership of the business.
Yes you can via the admin panel OR when your phone verification fails at the 3rd strike
How are they going to advertise this?
I wanted to be one of those runners for google, when they were paying $10 for confirmed info. I did “market research” by talking to local business owners. Some of them had never heard of google.
Pretty cool. I just went and filled out a listing for my brick and mortar retail startup. It also has the ability to create coupons that people can print. I made one for 10% off and it will be interesting to see if anyone finds/uses it.
That is the key, IF anyone finds it.
This is a step in the right direction.
More is needed to replace newspapers local advertising. Local Business Journal magazines are still going pretty good.
The sales forces at these 3 small local magazines are pretty strong, a small thai resto in north dallas has 3 of them in the lobby with display racks. It was like wow, if print is dying how can people still print this stuff.
IT is all local, techcrunch et all is nice but for the 80% of the world it is about what the kids can do this summer. Not what startup just got 10,000 downloads on the iphone yesterday. Who really cares, if you are parent.
“The next obvious step is to start buying those keywords or optimize a business’ site to make sure they are on the page.”
This would be just devastating – its the cheapest and fastest way to get on the first page of Google for product/service related searches at the moment. The only problem is that unlike SEO or PPC results are not necessarily guaranteed.
Unfortunately, I don’t see the update yet like your screenshot shows..
Another tool to improve your business online presence can only help SMBs
Like BillyG, I had already claimed my local business listing a long time ago, but am not yet seeing any dashboard when I log into Google Local.
Is this dashboard feature live for anyone yet?
not live for me yet… anybody seen this live ?
Very nice. I also just noticed the ability to upload coupons for your business. Will be setting up some clients with this.
I’ve tried claiming my business locations half a dozen times and many of them still haven’t been claimed. I have to do it by postcard, and only a third of the postcards have shown up. I’m trying to get rid of duplicate or mis-titled entries and add relevant information like a direct web address for each location. It’s just been very difficult to do.
So this feature will be nice, but it doesn’t matter if I can’t claim my locations.
Good article and should help SMB’s….
Great localized strategy to tackle the small biz world.
In 2006, Intuit acquired Step Up Commerce, apparently to achieve similar objectives within their Small Business Marketing Tools Div (renamed as Grow Your Business Division?)
‘Mountain View accounting software company Intuit said it has acquired StepUp Commerce, of San Francisco for $60 million.
StepUp provides ways for local businesses to get an online presence, and the deal is part of Intuit’s allianace with Google to boost revenue by moving companies online.”
http://bit.ly/C6Wjg
When is the analytics dashboard functionality going live. I’m impatient, I thought it was today.
Noticed this data is only available for US clients at the moment – anyone know if/when this will be rolled out to otehr countries.
Google well done – love it!
Hello!
Somebody here can advise me as or than easier to earn in the Internet. Not in a year, not through two, and for example in a month.
Prompt examples from a life.
It is a lot of theorists, and who earns are silent.
Who can works on somebody where do not deceive.
Love the new Local Business Center Dashboard.
Wanted to share a fun way to promote your business using their tool set.
http://bit.ly/6XNyq
Brilliant LOL!
Wish Coupons were also available in Australia
Great idea… I was surprised to see that Goole has closed stores. I was looking for a restaurant and it told me that the closest location was closed… pretty cool.
SEO Target Marketing is an excellent approach for most online businesses. As the Internet grows larger each day, it becomes more difficult to target specific customers to sell products.
I found Erply Small Business Software, http://www.erply.com
Let me tell you a story of how Google local put me in debt. First we have to go back… 2 years ago, Google gave my Local Business listing the #1 place for my service and location. Today, I wished they never had and here’s why:
Finlly, people that were searching for my services were finding me- and rightfully so! After all, I’m not only the best on my location, but one of the best in my industry, credited with multiple awards and years of expertise. At the time, I was so happy with Google that I would have kissed their shoes. They gave me the means to connect with clients where my limited resources could not.
My home business grew to more than I could handle by myself. I needed to hire help, but to do so, I needed to get an office. I hired an attorney to draft up a business plan and we shopped it to the banks. Our pitch was simple “We need this much to expand- we’re making twice as much so it won’t be hard to pay back.” The loan was approved.
I paid thousands for all the right licensing, hired 2 employees and moved into a warehouse. As sales increased and I expanded my inventory. Here’s where it turns bad:
We moved into a warehouse lot with similar businesses. We all shared the same street address but different suites. One day, callers started complaining about products that we didn’t even carry and services that we didn’t perform. Turns out, one of our competitors had managed to rack up multiple negative reviews on his Google local listing and it had somehow MERGED with our listing.
Now, dealing with damage control isn’t so tough. We explained to callers that they had the wrong number and gave them the correct one. The icing on the cake- when our business came to a screeching halt- was when we found that our phone number was nowhere to be seen. No one called for our business. To put it lightly, our phone lines had become the enemy.
For nearly 2 months, we struggled with finding new customers. We passed out flyers but that proved to be ineffective. We heavily relied on Craigslist advertising. In fact, that was our ONLY source of revenue.
Google was no help. They would not even entertain the idea of listening to us. What baffled me the most was how a company that employs 20,000 people (that’s right, twenty-thousand) didn’t have a single person to answer the phone. Here’s Google’s phone number, call them and ask them about anything and see what happens: (650) 253-0000. They will shut you down like a light.
Like a broken record, Google’s android receptionists repeatedly chanted the anthem of: “We do not offer tech support for ‘free services’. We do not offer tech support for ‘free services’. We do…” Ok, as a professional I can understand that a business would not give free support for a free service, but I was willing to PAY. Alas, there was no one at Google that would take my money. Then I remembered that I had paid Google thousands of dollars in Adwords, a $21 Billion dollar company and they couldn’t help me.
Finally, I ended up deleting my Google Local listing. I created a new one and waited a week for my conformation code. After verifying the code I searched daily for my listing to appear. About a week later I found it… It was on page 4. I’m sure you can figure out what happened in the proceeding weeks. We liquidated.
There’s an old proverb: “Don’t put your eggs into one basket”… Whether that’s true or not, I know that basket is not Google.
Thanks for debt,
Out Of Business