Google Maps has emerged as one of the most valuable Google products today. It’s no wonder the tech giant company has transformed it into a marketing and advertising platform to help small, local businesses. Thus, Google Maps advertising was born.
It’s a widely used map and navigation app among mobile users. In 2018, it was recorded that up to 155 million users frequently use Google Maps. It’s the 4th most used smartphone app, right after Youtube, Google search, and Facebook.
More than just a tool that gives you information about locations and addresses, it gives you essential details about the business you’re seeking. Whether you’re looking for a restaurant, a specialty bakery, plumber, or general contractors, you can find them on Google Maps.
And now, with Google Maps advertising, these local businesses can integrate a marketing strategy to help their target customers find them.
Google Maps Advertising 101
In a nutshell, it refers to utilizing the functions and features of Google Maps, so your business owners can easily be found by their target customers.
It’s useful for more prominent corporations. Still, it’s especially beneficial for small, local businesses and organizations – primarily since most people use Google Maps mainly when they are looking for local services.
It’s no wonder more, and more local business owners integrate Google Maps advertising into their digital marketing strategies.
Benefits of Google Maps for Local Businesses
To unlock the full potential of Google Maps advertising, the first thing you need to do is to have your business added to the Google My Business listing.
This process couldn’t be more straightforward. All you need to do as a business owner is submit your business details online through Google My Business. Google will then verify the information and mail a unique code to your business’ physical address.
Once you complete this step, here are the benefits of Google Maps advertising, you can take advantage of:
Enhances the visibility of your business.
Through Google Maps, potential customers can easily find your business. They will have access to the best route to get to you. And as you know, increased visibility equates to more business. For instance, when someone searches for a divorce attorney near them, and they see your law firm in the search results page, you have a prospective customer reaching out to you.
Strong online presence.
As a small business owner, you may not have the budget or capabilities yet to build your business a nice website. While a website certainly gives your business the online presence it needs, if you’re not able to do this yet, Google Maps can fill that online void for you. It’s free. It’s easy to set up. It lets internet users know you’re open for business.
Improved SEO rankings.
Defining search engine optimization (SEO) entails an entire blog post all its own.
However, it’s easier to know (for now) that as a business, ranking for SEO is crucial to thriving online. Google Maps advertising is one component of local SEO that you shouldn’t ignore.
What’s the latest in Google Maps?
The digital landscape is ever-evolving. With this continuous evolution comes changes in the way advertising and marketing work in the digital world.
With Maps, Google is always looking for ways to refine and improve it, particularly the mobile app version. Any added features that encourage more users to use Google Maps regularly is useful for business owners.
Here are some of the features added to Google Maps over the years and how your business can use them for your online advertising efforts.
Proximity-Based Results
As the name suggests, the results you get from a Google Maps search will be based on a user’s location. For instance, if you are in Austin, Texas, and are looking for a Thai restaurant, you will get results for local Thai restaurants in or around your area.
The results are organized in the order of which one is closest to you. If your business Google Maps listing is optimized correctly and a local customer searches for your product or service, you are given top priority among your local competition.
Explore Option
This feature isn’t new. However, it still allows users to see businesses close to them conveniently. They may not be looking for them right then and there but seeing your company within their proximity will leave a lasting impression.
