▶ Google's Massive Effort to Help 30,000 Cities Put Local Businesses On the Map

[Linda Buquet]

Google has been doing the "Get Your Business Online" program since 2011, but they have a new blog post about it today so wanted to share.

Today Google is introducing "Let’s Put Our Cities on the Map", a new program to help 30,000 cities get their local businesses online. (But the link still goes to GYBO.com so I guess, it's the same program with a new marketing slant?)

THE VIDEO - Let's Put Our Cities on the Map

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Official Google Blog: <a href="http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2015/03/its-time-to-put-americas-small.html">It's time to put America’s small businesses on the map</a>


Huge might be an understatement. Four out of five people use search engines to find local information, like business hours and addresses, and research shows that businesses with complete listings are twice as likely (PDF) to be considered reputable by customers. Consumers are 38 percent more likely to visit and 29 percent more likely to consider purchasing from businesses with complete listings. Yet only 37 percent of businesses (PDF) have claimed a local business listing on a search engine. That’s a lot of missed opportunities for small businesses.

With this in mind, our Get Your Business Online team set out in 2011 to help businesses like Marieshia’s get found online. We’ve gone to every state in the U.S. and worked with thousands of business owners to create free websites and update their Google Search and Maps listings. But there’s a lot more work to do to help businesses take advantage of the vast opportunities yielded by the web. So today, we’re introducing Let’s Put Our Cities on the Map, a new program to help 30,000 cities get their local businesses online.

What do you think? Pretty valiant effort, right???

h/t to +Priya Chandra who originally shared in the Local Search Pros G+ Community
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[cdawg2610]

Re: ▶ Google's Massive Effort to Help 30,000 Cities Put Local Businesses On the Map

These were the pages we were talking about with Google doorway page, right?

Nice to see them promote more - it always surprises me when business arn't verified

 

[Linda Buquet]

Re: ▶ Google's Massive Effort to Help 30,000 Cities Put Local Businesses On the Map

Yep those were the ones I mentioned in the Doorway update thread.

Think it goes to show valid city landing pages are OK. Spammy ones may be at risk.

 

[Dustybones]

Re: ▶ Google's Massive Effort to Help 30,000 Cities Put Local Businesses On the Map

What is this "Personalized Digital Postcard"

 

[Linda Buquet]

Re: ▶ Google's Massive Effort to Help 30,000 Cities Put Local Businesses On the Map

On my G+ post Nicolai Helling wrote something impactful I want to share here:

"Found some interesting numbers from December 2014 on the gybo.com website about the economic value a business is able to generate when having a complete Google+ local listing: https://www.gybo.com/downloads/verification-benefits.pdf

Pointing this out, because it's always hard to argue what the potential benefits will be when working with clients."

Then Nick Rink posted:

Great point +Nicolai Helling Some of the stats highlighted in that pdf document could be really helpful.

"Research shows that businesses with complete listings are twice as likely to be considered reputable by customers"

Thanks Nicolai! That is quite the stat filled doc.
I can see how you guys could use that info in multiple ways!

 

[Linda Buquet]

Re: ▶ Google's Massive Effort to Help 30,000 Cities Put Local Businesses On the Map

What is this "Personalized Digital Postcard"

Sorry I skimmed and rushed to share. Didn't even see that.

Looks VERY interesting!

Thanks Justin!

 

[cdawg2610]

Re: ▶ Google's Massive Effort to Help 30,000 Cities Put Local Businesses On the Map

The postcard is pretty cool, though it doesn't seem to link to the business you add when you share it