Don't Miss This Google Business Profile Update
|
Hello Reader, If you have a Google Business Profile (formerly known as Google My Business), I wanted to share some important information with you. If you don't have one, you can ignore this message (but you may want to think about adding a GBP into your visibility ecosystem). For the last few months, Google has been slowly removing the Q&A section from Google Business Profiles. Yes, it's really crummy, I know. These were very useful elements of profiles, and allowed for great "recon" about what real people wanted to know about businesses, and there were some fun SEO tricks we could do with these as well. Many people still have the Q&A section, but they have been completely removed in some countries, such as Australia. My own just disappeared over the weekend. It's kind of a bummer, because SEO pros like me have long suspected that these Q&A sections helped improve profile visibility and, from a marketing perspective, we could leverage FAQ content from our websites over on our Google Business Profiles—we love a marketing double whammy! So, here's what you need to know!
Now, onto that last point, repurposing those questions and answers onto your website. It's been rumored that Google will likely integrate their generative AI software onto Google Business Profiles in place of these questions and answers. Yes, I hate this, because it absolutely will lead to more errors and customer service problems, but I'd rather be proactive than reactive, so let's set that aside for now. We know that Google scrapes the information for this kind of generative AI content from existing content on the internet, and we can reasonably assume that they'll primarily use content on your website to create this potential new component to Google Business Profiles, if it's available. We also know that Google uses other user generated content for this kind of thing as well (Reddit is a huge piece of these). So, that means it's wise to ensure that all important questions about your business are answered on your website. Typically, the best places to add those kinds of Q&As are the about page or/and your contact page. You want to make sure the answers are visible (e.g. not hidden behind an accordion) and you answer the questions you've moved fully and completely, including mentioning your business name. I push FAQ or Q&A type content heavily with my clients—and that's not just for funsies, this format can have a massive impact on your visibility! I also recommend taking the time to really make your website's about page hefty and substantive. Again, because in this era of the internet, managing the narrative about your brand is absolutely essential—otherwise what a random Joe has said one time on Reddit will become the narrative. I'm not saying this to be scary, I just want you to know how important this is! Here are two resources about about pages that you may find useful: 1) an old newsletter, called The About Page Advantage and 2) a free guide about writing an about page. If you take these steps, I feel very confident that your Google Business Profile will do just fine amidst the upheaval that pulling the Q&As will likely cause some businesses. Ultimately, good FAQs and a solid about page are something your website should have anyway, so you're just being a savvy business owner by taking these steps! Warmly, Sarah P.S. If you ever need some hand-holding, cheerleading, or straight talk when you're tackling an SEO challenge, then book a live SEO Consulting Session—they're a great value and clients rave about how much we accomplish in an hour and a half.
|