Google My Business – Adding Business Descriptions to Google Dashboard in 2018

Google My Business is one of our favorite things with it comes to local marketing. Whether it’s their Google Posting feature, their Texting feature or the ability to add ‘women-owned’ to the business as an Attribute, we love it and often see great successes when implemented.

However, one thing that we’ve noticed that’s missing in the way of SEO is the ability to use keywords to describe the place of business. Back in 2016, when Google+ existed, you used to be able to add a short description about your business. You focused on keywords, what it is that your business does and address any real pertinent questions regarding your organization. This was an excellent way to optimize your listing for search, thus gaining traction in the search results with a really solid description.

When Google My Business came along, they did away with that feature within the Google My Business Dashboard. We were of course sad to see it go. It wasn’t until just the other week that folks started seeing that option populate in local listings once again!
Users of Google My Business can go into their accounts and click on the Info section on the left hand side, where they may see this business description section that can be edited. Not only can you see it within the dashboard, but you will also be able to see it in your local search panel for when you appear in Google local search results.

As always, this feature is slowly rolling out to all Google My Business listings. If you do happen to see the feature, Google came out with their ‘best practices suggestions’:

‘Enter a brief description of your business — what you offer, what sets you apart, your history, or anything else that’s helpful for customers to know. Descriptions must be no longer than 750 characters and can’t include URLs or HTML code.’

We are looking forward to adding such descriptions to our client’s profiles. If you don’t have your Google My Business listing claimed or are not updating it on a regular basis,  you are missing out. Contact Upright Communications for us to help get you started.