Signifying a major investment in local businesses on Wednesday, June 11th, Google rolled out the largest business-owner-facing launch in the history of the company.
“Google My Business” is now an all-encompassing platform for business owners to manage their listings, their reviews, Google+ posts and pages, website analytics, AdWords campaigns, and more!
This is a welcome improvement for anyone involved in orthodontic marketing online.
Here are seven new highlights of Google My Business (GMB):
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- The new URL and landing page is http://google.com/busines
- Explicit calls to action from Google to help you complete your business listing
- Ability to view and reply to all your Google reviews
- “reviews around the web” offers a snapshot of your online reputation on other sites
- An “app switcher” in the right corner of the dashboard enables quick navigation
- Option to add a “virtual tour” of your office
- Google Analytics and Google AdWords are built into GMB
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This update happened at once, across the country, for all Google users. Google Places is no more — it has been absorbed into GMB. The same goes for Google+ Local: it too has been absorbed into Google My Business.
A big selling point for GMB is that it consolidates Google Places and Google+ Local into one dashboard. Having no more mixups or crossovers between Places and G+ is a great thing for business owners.
Here is the official Google promotional video introducing Google My Business: