Google Rooting for Small Business

Updated December 8, 2021

Reading Time: 2 minutes

Google My Business Can Help

Wednesday’s post on Google’ official blog was all about putting small businesses on the map. I’m sure there are many solopreneurs and SMBs grousing how Google rewards enterprise, especially those with deep pockets. So what’s a small business to do about managing their online presence?

Putting Businesses on the Map

What is new, however, is that they’ve launched a new initiative “Let’s Put Our Cities on the Map.” Maybe it’s a PR move. Maybe they really do want to help small business compete online. We’ll see how the program works and how many embrace it.

No Surprises About Search

In their article, they again cite small business marketing statistics, like four out of five people use search engines to find local information. For small businesses it’s so important to include information like hours and addresses. Google My Business, which replaced Google Places, is the first place to start if you’re looking for online visibility. A complete profile is a must. One important word of advice to heed: make sure that you’re consistent when entering the business name, address and phone number anywhere on the Web. In actuality search engines are dumb. They are software programs that look for patterns. They can’t tell the difference between “Ave” and “Avenue.” So consistency will help them connect the dots for your business.

Are you using Google My Business? Is your business on the map?

photo credit – top: Tinou Bao