Yesterday, Google announced a new Google My Business photo tool that gives you greater freedom when showcasing your business on the web. The short of it is that you can now specify which photo you want Google to show when someone finds your business through search or through Google Maps. You may have also noticed that Google has changed the photo interface, giving more specific guidance on the type of photos you should upload to promote your practice or firm. These changes enable you to directly influence the face of your business that your prospective patients or clients see first.
Navigating the Business Photos Interface
Let’s address the most important question first: how do I set which photo Google Search and Google Maps shows?
When you first log in to the My Business screen, you should reach a control panel. You’ll know if you’re at this screen if you see a series of boxes that read “Share,” “Insights,” “Reviews,” and “YouTube.” On that screen, in the very first box — the one with all of your business information — you’ll see a button that reads “Manage photos.” Click on that button and it will take you to the new Business Photos interface. From here, you can set what image to show to searchers:
You’ll also see a number of boxes below, asking for specific types of photographs: interior, exterior, photos at work, and team photos. These are all optional, but it’s always a good idea to add new images of your practice or business to those albums. If you’re not sure how to best exploit these new opportunities to show your business off, Google offers a great support document that gives a description of each category, as well as advice on the minimum number of photos to add and other tips.
The unifying force behind this new interface is the opportunity to give your prospective patient, client, or customer a better, more comprehensive picture of your practice or business. They can get to know your business space even before they step in through your front door, providing them a more comfortable experience since they can take time to get to know you and your team before even meeting you in person. It also affords you a chance to showcase what makes your practice stand out, so that you can flaunt your qualities and attract new patients.
It’s important to take advantage of these features, because they’re all designed to help you put your business on the map. By not doing it, you’re not only allowing a competitor to leap frog you, you’re forgoing an opportunity to grow your business.
Let Now Media Group do the Hard Work
Google My Business presents small businesses like yours a wonderful tool to show off your virtues to your local customers. But, the process can be time consuming and, as a small business owner, you have plenty of other things to worry about.
Why not hand over the tough, busy work of internet marketing to a digital marketing company you can trust? At Now Media Group, this means much more than just managing your Google My Business account. It means scouring the internet, unifying your online presence and presenting potential patients with the best possible introduction to your practice. Along with Google My Business management, through our local SEO services, we work to help make sure that relevant web searchers see your business first. (See “Are Your Local Patients Finding You?” for a more in-depth look at local SEO.)
Can your local patients, customers, or clients find you? To learn more about optimizing your local SEO, give our consultants a call. We are more than happy to address any questions you may have and to walk you through what it takes to solidify your online presence, so that you can better capture your local market. To reach us, fill out the form on the contact page or give us a call at 858-333-8950.