Reliability of data
Google exists by the grace of its users. They will continue to use Google if the search engine provides good and relevant answers to the questions we ask. Google can scrape such relevant data about companies from websites such as www.detelefoongids.nl or www.openingstijden.nl . The algorithm can determine with greater certainty whether, for example, the opening hours are correct if they have been entered directly into Google My Business and have recently been validated by the business owner. I think that the 5 updates – which I will discuss in more detail below – should also be viewed in that light. The updates make sense for the following reasons:
As a business owner, you can post more content and Google can therefore provide more relevant information for searches.
Every time you log in as a business owner or use one of the new features, you give Google confidence that the company is still in business and that the data is complete and up to date.
1. Google Posts
Since the end of June, you can post free messages in Google search results. These are shown with your company information in the Knowledge Panel: the information that you see on the right of the screen during a desktop search. Below you can see an example of my employer using this free extra space to draw attention to the vacancy page.
More information about using Google Posts can be found in a recently published article on Frankwatching .
2. Additional Links
Until recently, you could only enter one URL for a business in Google My Business. However, most businesses have multiple pages that fit different goals and search queries. In this greek phone number example, I'm using a restaurant where the additional URL fields were first added. Now, additional URL fields are available for a growing number of types of businesses.
On the left you see the Google My Business dashboard where you can add URLs with different purposes and on the right you see under the phone number that there are extra URLs in the Knowledge Panel in the Google search results. Tarek's Steakehouse makes clever use of these extra fields to let customers land directly on the right page.
Despite Google's attempts to present all relevant data directly on the search results page, the company sees that most users still click through to the website of the companies displayed. However, 60 percent of companies worldwide do not have a website. To reduce that percentage, a website builder has now been added to Google My Business. Based on the information and photos in the My Business dashboard, a website is automatically built. You can choose between different themes and there is the option to provide additional information about your company. The new site is online within 5 minutes.