Introduction
Have you noticed this new “What’s Happening” feature in your Google Business Profile? I hate to tell you, but if you haven’t, you’ve missed out on an important occasion. There is a growing buzz about Google expanding the “What’s Happening” feature, bringing in more updates by the way of businesses. So how does such an expansion serve your purposes? Small business owners or brand handlers for huge brands can get more customers by making use of this feature to keep their profile active. So, let’s deep-dive into the nitty-gritty and see how it can affect your visibility, causing interactions with customers.
What Is the “What’s Happening” Feature in Google Business Profiles?
Google Business Profiles, previously known under the name Google My Business, is a very influential sister when trying to set how your business shows up on Google. The “What’s Happening” feature thus really serves as an extension of your profile, which allows you to post real-time updates, offers, or news directly into the business listing. It is a way of notifying prospective customers about any activity, product launches, or changes within your business.
Why is this much important?
This one is now a game-changer, creating a dynamic element on your profile. It is no longer solely about listing your business hours or location. Now, you can basically interact with your customers regularly with fresh content that will propel them to your site or sometimes even to their own stores.
So what happened next about the development of the “What’s Happening” feature?
Since the earlier “What’s Happening” feature was pretty limited, an expansion was recently launched by Google giving businesses more power as to what to post. This level of flexibility is important to small businesses looking to establish an online presence.
With this extension, Google allows for posting more frequently, update the information shared, and give visibility to your Google Maps listing. Consider it as a type of social media feed that runs inside your Google Business Profile itself. With this update, businesses can post several updates, promotions, events, or news that will be simultaneously seen by customers looking at their profile. The point of the update is to increase engagement and strengthen customer relations.
What Does This Expansion Mean for Your Business?
So are the updates to Google Business Profiles truly aesthetic changes-or are they business opportunities? Now that businesses can post practically every hour of the day and night, they have truly found a way to engage with their customers-almost instantaneously. This kind of change casts a greater spotlight upon your business in relevant search results when it is needed, which may mean more traffic to your website and visits to the physical store.
“By posting relevant and timely content, businesses can significantly improve their visibility on Google and boost customer engagement,” SEO expert Jane Smith said.
Why is this so important?
When searching for your business or for a service relating to your business, if the customer is fortunate enough to see something new and updated then that adds great value to the query. Otherwise, this feature won’t. Google tries to reward businesses that provide relevant and current content higher in search engine rankings.
How to Use the “What’s Happening” to Increase Customer Engagement?
Now that you already know what it is, the question that does come next is: Would you have this to your advantage somehow? Here is a list of options:
Advertise the Regular Updates: These should include information on upcoming sales, product launches, or special events held by the business. The more fresh content that gets out there, the more the customer base feels engaged.
Exclusive Offers may be used in the “What’s Happening” area for short-term promotions and to put pressure on hesitant prospects to make quick decisions.
Customer reviews and testimonials: Update the “What’s Happening” section with good customer feedback. Positive word of-mouth greatly influences first impressions on potential clients, thereby convincing them to do business with you.
It all boils down to consistency; when carried out regularly, the updates will bring in more attention to your company and clients’ engagement on Google Search or Google Maps.
How does this affect SEO and the ranking for Local Search?
Local SEO is a sort of SEO which is used by those businesses that want to be shown during a search in Google related to the business locale. Updates provided on Google Business Profile using content on the “What’s Happening” screen allow Google to recognize the activity, which may help these updates rank well in local search. This is very useful for those businesses trying to attract customers locally.
Another SEO Tip: Always remember to use keywords relevant to your business in your post. If you are a coffee shop located in New York, you can use keywords such as “best coffee in NYC” or “New York coffee shop deals.” In this way, your post has a possibility of showing up for searches related to the keyword.
Frequently Asked Questions:
1. How often should I post updates in my Google Business Profile?
At least once a week. More postings keep the profile fresh and interesting.
2. Can I promote sales or events through the “What’s Happening” feature?
Yes, definitely! That is one of the better purposes of the feature! Promote your events and sales to get more traffic toward your business.
3. How to get into the feature called What’s Happening?
You keep this feature inside the Google Business Profile dashboard. Log in, and then search for the option called Update Post.
4. Will these still be viewable on Google Maps?
Indeed! This extension determination means that the post will now be placed on your Google Business Profile and then on Google Maps, which tremendously boosts the visibility.
5. Does the “What’s Happening” feature help my SEO?
Sure does. Constant updates of the profile holding relevant local news make it active, which Google takes as a good indicator for local search ranking.
Conclusion
In the meanwhile, being seized upon by any medium to expand the original feature of “What’s Happening” in Google Business Listings is a blessing for any business sitting at the customer base end of the attention gradient. An extra set of fresh and relevant posts coming down to the customers helps to foster a relationship while simultaneously having the business with higher standing listed on Google, which, by itself, is reason enough to go for it in this day and age of technology. Such opportunities should be taken by businesses while the door of such opportunity remains open for them, hence affects how customers discover and interact with their business online.