Google adds new features to the Google My Business Dashboard all of the time and many appear without any notification whatsoever. I am in and out of the dashboard multiple times per day and I am even surprised by the amount of changes and new features being added. One of the most recent additions that every business should be aware of is the "Add business description" field that recently showed up in the Info Tab in the GMB Dashboard.
If you are truly optimizing your business listings to their full potential then you must fill out business description dialog box. Once your business description goes live it will display on a desktop search for the business like the example in the picture below. The bigger benefits are the advantages that the Google search algorithm will now have even more relevant data that is directly associated with your business right in its own platform.
Many times when a new feature like this shows up there is no accompanying documentation on the Google support page to give us more insight in how to format the information or even what data Google expects you to provide. Luckily in the case of business descriptions Google provided a very in depth guide to exactly what it is looking for and an even more in depth list of what you should NOT do. I have copied the Google support documentation below. Check it out and get those business descriptions added to all of your listings!
Google Business Description Support Documentation
Business description guidelines
Published content should highlight what makes your business unique. You can use this field to provide useful information on services and products offered, as well as the mission and history of your business.
You should be upfront and honest about the information provided, focusing on content that is relevant and useful to your customers to understand your business.
Content published in this field should not:
- Be misleading to users. Do not provide inaccurate or false information about your business or the services and products offered.
- Display low-quality, irrelevant, or distracting content. For example, misspellings, gimmicky character use, gibberish, etc.
- Focus on special promotions, prices, and offer sale. Examples of content not allowed include, "Everything on sale, -50%" and "Best bagels in town for $5!"
- Display links. No links of any type are allowed.
- Display offensive or inappropriate content:
- Harassing, bullying, or hateful content. Published content must not promote hatred or incite violence against individuals or groups based on ethnic origin, religion, disability, gender, age, veteran status, sexual orientation, or gender identity.
- Content containing obscene, profane, or offensive language.
- Content promoting and encouraging violence or terrorist activities.
- Sexually suggestive or explicit content. Content must not include profanity, sexually graphic and offensive slang terms, terms that are common signals for pedophilia, content that promotes pedophilia, bestiality, or sexual violence, or content that promotes escort services or other services that may be interpreted as providing sexual acts in exchange for compensation.
- Display unpermitted content:
- Do not upload content related to the sale of dangerous and illegal products or services.
- Do not upload content that exploits or abuses children.
Bonus Tip
Google has also added another field to find out more information about businesses; Open Date. You should enter the date that the business opened at its specific location. It's meer speculation but I believe this will give the Google algorithm more information to match against traffic to your listing and they will probably do some cute updates to your listings, such as, anniversary dates, etc... I have already seen a new business that just opened add their open date as the current date and for 2 weeks they had a neat little, "Grand Opening" sign auto-generated on their business listing.
I have listed the accompanying Google Support Documentation below.
If you find this information helpful but would rather have a local marketing professional manage this task for you, I would be happy to refer you to one of many local marketing agencies that have been certified by Advanced Online Insights.
written by: Joseph Danzer
email: sales@advancedonlineinsights.com
