Google My Business has been expanded with posts: Google Posts. This allows you to show a targeted message in Google’s search results, for an offer, announcement or vacancy. You only need access control to your Google My Business profile. Tycoon Media has created a super handy tool for this to manage your Google Posts from WordPress. In this blog we will go into detail about Google Posts and this free WordPress plugin for Google My Business.

Claim your Google My Business  

Example from Google My Business

Google My Business is Google’s business listing. They don’t need permission to do that. Google collects all kinds of data, especially Google reviews, and shows it to visitors. The three main reasons to claim your Google My Business listing are:

1. Organic search results. If someone searches for your company, the Google My Business listing is right at the top. You then have control over this. What is shown in the search results, is not. For example, competitors can advertise on your brand name. That can be as many as three ads, before your homepage comes up.
2. Manage Google reviews. Your company will receive solicited and unsolicited reviews. From customers and fakers. It is advisable to always respond to this from your Google My Business account. You can also, under certain conditions, request Google to remove that Google review.
3. Channel. You get all kinds of options from Google: Google posts, contact details, history and background about your company. It also helps with your findability.

Convinced? Claim your Google My Business listing.

Google Posts: Posts that appear with your Google business listing

As of June 22, 2017, every Google My Business listing has the ability to post Google Posts. Google Posts are shown in the search results and on Google Maps, and companies get the opportunity to show their own message to each visitor directly at the top of Google.

What is a Google Post?

A Google Post is a message that appears with the business listing in search results and on Google Maps. This is created in Google My Business, and consists of a description, an image and a link. A Google Post has a limited shelf life, by default one week, can be extended and runs until the set date for events. Google Posts are used for promotions, events, downloads such as white papers, important news, special offers and limited availability.

Create Google Post in Google My Business in 5 steps

Desktop: 

• Go to Google My Business and sign in.
• Open the desired location if you manage multiple locations.
• go to Create Post or click Posts on the menu.
• Choose which type of Google post you want to create: What’s new / Event / Offer / Product. Options are photo or videos, text (100 – 300 words), and optionally a button for a link to a private page: Reservation / Order online / Order online / Order / More information / Register / View offer.
• With Example you can see what it will look like. With Publish, you can immediately put the Google Post live.

Mobiel:

1. Open the Google My Business app.
2. Tap Create at the bottom right, and then tap Posts.
3. Add a photo or choose Skip.
4. Follow the steps in Create Post: options for photos/videos, text, event, offer and possibly a button.
5. With Example you can see what it will look like. With Publish, you can immediately put the Google Post live.

Please note! After publication, you can still edit or delete the Googlepost.

Google Marketing with Google Posts – 7 Tips

The social media intern will now say: nice! Another new tool to play with. And the busy entrepreneur or self-employed person who starts every day with a laundry list of tasks sees another one coming. What exactly can you do with Google Posts and how do you use this smartly as a company? We give you seven practical tips:

1. It’s free reach. In Google My Business, you can see the number of times your business has been shown as a search result, and how many times it has been clicked through. With Google Posts, you advertise for free and increase the number of clicks.
2. Multiple locations? Multiple Google My Business listings! Ideal for when your business has multiple locations. Make sure that each location also has its own Google My Business listing.
3. Multiple Google Posts. You can post up to 10 messages, the last one is shown first. Older posts are shown in one carousel, the first 2.5 immediately and the other only after scrolling.
4. Photos are shown in landscape So don’t upload portrait photos of yourself, because the top is not shown by Google. Minimum 250 x 250, ideally 750 x 750 pixels.
5. Persevere your Google Posts. Each post has a unique url, which you could then share via other channels. Furthermore, these URLs are not indexed separately by Google as a search result.
6. Use Google Posts as a message. Not for SEO with a pile of keywords, because that doesn’t do anything else. So as mentioned: offers, news, products showcase, downloads, events (webinar? Open Coffee?) and specific services (demo, consultation, introduction to coffee, newsletter).
7. Use UTM codes. These are additions to your URL that allow you to see in Google Analytics exactly from which medium, source and campaign your traffic and conversion comes. This Google UTM tool only asks you for the original link and filling in the fields. Too difficult? Ok, then use Bitly.

Ideally, you use Google Posts like your other social media, where you regularly make yourself heard. So add Google Posts to your social media list and run it regularly. Or do ithe other way around: think of it as a free campaign tool that you can consider when you have something to say. Such as putting that vacancy away broadly, before you engage an online recruitment agency.