The Future of GMB

[Oliver Keates]

Hi

I would be interested to know peoples thoughts about the future of GMB, do people see it as a google product that evolves over time adapting to voice search and alike. I think it is a great product.

thanks

Ollie

 

[JoshuaMackens]

We've talked about this before on the forum but I think voice search, as of now, is a big misnomer. It's just like regular search vs mobile search, they basically display the same results. It will probably be the same with voice search. There are quality results already written by the algorithm, then it's translated into desktop, mobile, and voice search. I doubt that changes with a different set of search results for voice search. It wouldn't make a lot of sense honestly. One set of quality search results with many different avenues of displaying them makes the most sense.

With GMB, I'm sure the product will evolve but I'm not sure how much. It's pretty much been the same ever since it launched in terms of where it shows up in search results. There have been branding tweaks and feature tweaks but honestly, the impact, in my opinion, has been minimal. I'm sure this will continue for some time. Others may disagree.

 

[Jeannie]

It may be more likely that we see additional features in the Google Maps Pack.

 

[HammerOz]

A few ideas and rant points..

Like Facebook, Google wants our marketing within it's platform and would like to see business websites less relevant which might not be bad for smaller businesses. Google also wants local marketing on google to be as simple as possible for local businesses which is good.

GMB will become as functional as Facebook pages yet more important due to local search pack prominence. ( another eu fine coming on). GMB will roll out more in app functionality like ecommerce for products. Maybe increased GMB related ads types will come out such as boosted posts and local products We could see new local offer / product type apps that better showcase this content like a local shopping app.

If you take a step back, local pack is still ad spend driven UX. Google would have a local yellow pages like search results tab where we search for "plumber" in "Town". Such an experience would be in the interests of searcher and business.. but not google ads I guess.