With the Hummingbird update, Google made several changes to its Search Results Page (SERP). One of its improvements is the appearance of the “Knowledge graph”. The “knowledge graph” is the box on the right of the SERP. It gives additional information about an item related to the research we are doing. At first, there was no indication that this tool would now include promotional ads through Google My Business.
The potential of this little box is extremely interesting for companies that appear in the “knowledge graph”. First, it does not go unnoticed. The company displayed therefore benefits from significant visibility. Then, their potential customers having faster access to a variety of information like the location of the store, the rating made by previous customers and even the comments of previous customers will gain confidence and convert into a buyer more easily. The Google My Business page represented in this way is a powerful tool for the local referencing of a business!
Some of you may have noticed this already; a new function of Google My Business begins to appear. It is now possible to display promotional ads directly from the Google My Business knowledge graph. These announcements are visible between the contact details of the company and the opinions of its customers. Although they look like a Google+ ad, these have nothing to do with this social media.
This promotional ads tool is still in the testing phase and is not available to all companies. It seems that only certain Google My Business listings have access to this option. This banner displays a small image, a title, a short announcement of approximately 150 characters and a call-to-action icon.
The new potential of Google My Business
Obviously, the use of this promotional poster leaves room for the imagination! With such high visibility, it is obvious that this banner will be able to attract a good number of new customers for a company. You will understand that we are not talking about acquiring notoriety here, since the poster is already among the company’s information. However, it is possible to add a promotional poster that will eventually convince a potential consumer to take action.
The first use that can be made of it is to display a discount or a promotion to obtain at the stores with a storefront by mentioning the advertisement at the cash register. This way, you will be able to generate more traffic in the store. In addition, you will be able to determine the reach of this banner for your business by evaluating how many customers were entitled to the discount.
Then it is possible to share a promotional code using this tool. In this way, it is the traffic to the online store that will increase. The call to action icon can therefore be used to direct the potential customer directly to your company’s website to start shopping. Again, it will be easy to trace the scope of such an announcement.
It is very likely that we will soon discover creative companies that will use this promotional ad in many other ways. Either way, if Google decides its test is successful, we’ll see more and more of these little banners popping up. The search engine giant shows once again that it is always able to innovate in its field!
