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Why I’ve Joined The Google Local Guides Program

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Why I’ve Joined The Google Local Guides Program

The other day, I decide to join the Google Local Guides program (formerly known as the City Experts Program). I’ll be quite open about it, I joined because I thought it might eventually have a positive effect on my business. Not in a direct SEO way, necessarily – I have no data to even infer that might be the case – though I guess that it’s possible. But since Google knows who I am – I’ve claimed ownership of my two sites via the Google Search Console – I thought it might be time to *read with a wry smile* deepen our relationship.

Relationship?

Hot Doggie, yeah!

Both Google (and anybody else) now knows a whole lot about me. Over Christmas 2016, I wrote about 50 reviews, within a geographical spread of about 100 miles (160 km), predominantly centered around my home town of Wollongong, which is about 3/4 of the way down the map below, thought not named, for some Google Map cartographer’s reason.

In doing so, I quickly attained a Level 3 badge – WOO-HOO! – but more importantly, Google now has a genuine record of my impressions of 50 local businesses and tourist spots.

Google Local Guides: Telling Your Story Through Google My Business Reviews
Google Local Guides: Telling Your Story Through Google My Business Reviews

So, with Google increasingly favoring Local (and even hyperlocal) Search results when a query is made, these reviews capture me as an everyday person living in Wollongong. Indeed, if my reviews were to get the occasional “thumbs-up” vote of confidence, I guess that could excite some part of the Google algorithm and perhaps even benefit my sites, but I’m certainly not expecting that to be the case. However, from a potential customer’s perspective – if they can find my Google Local Guides ID – they now have the chance to drill down into my stream and if they’re from the Wollongong area, evaluate my opinions in relation to their own experiences, perhaps even for the same businesses.

NOTE: It’s my nature to avoid unpleasantness – so there are few gripes in my reviews – I kinda like to dwell on the positives and rave about the sublime. Many folks would like that, while others might feel cheated that I don’t dish the dirt. Consequently, some people would want to work with me, others, not!

So, that’s my rationale. I became a Google Local Guide because:

  1. it positions me – in the eyes of Google – not merely as a website owner but as a person living in Wollongong, making purchases through local businesses, using public amenities etc.
  2. there’s a possibility – my conjecture, entirely – that by making these reviews and continuing to do so, it could benefit my sites’ Search Engine rankings &
  3. it enables my potential customers to possibly “get to know me”

NOTE: Tim Capper, Google-recognized Google+ Top Contributor, kinda agrees with me (September 2016)

What Do Google Get Out Of The Local Guides Program?

Well, here’s the official Google view and it sure looks fine and dandy:

An Introduction To The Google Local Guides Program

However, I have to be blunt, there’s just no way for me to let you down lightly, on this one!

Google is developing the Local Guides program as a fundamental part of its business plans, dovetailing it into the Google My Business listings. There is enormously powerful line slipped into the seemingly innocuous video at 0.50, when Google spills the beans:

“Every photo, tip & review [that Google Local Guides] add,

helps…

…local businesses grow.”

That’s not strictly true, of course, though essentially, it is. Let’s not quibble about shabby photos or occasionally less-than-helpful user feedback – instead, we should qualify the quote above with Google’s 2014 research, which found

18% of local searches lead to sales.

So, despite the video presenting Google Local Guides as a feelgood love in, my guess is that the planning behind it is far more fiscally orientated. I believe that the Search giant is probably seeing that through the accumulated power of the reviews housed in individual business’ Google My Business listings, Google will not only be the Go To place for Search, it will soon become the Go To place for global online Shopping.

My advice: Buy some Google shares.

 

Google Local Guides INFO From The Web

Google Brings 75 Google Local Guides From 37 Countries Together For Summit VIDEO – October 2016

Excellent Google Local Guides Primer From Business Insider – October 2016

What Small Business can Learn From The Google Local Guides Program – January 2016
A really excellent read from English SEO expert, Chris Green. Do check the summary at the end, Key Takeaways For Businesses

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How Keyword Research Can Help Your Business

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How Keyword Research Can Help Your Business

Introduction

In a previous article, Waymo, Google’s Self-Driving Car, we looked at a fictitious business, the Jasmine Thai restaurant and what its plan of action should be, now that their Google My Business listing displayed that they had wheelchair access. My immediate suggestion was that any business should supplement the information with a photo or perhaps a brief video, shot on a phone, which could help ease the minds of customers for whom that was an issue. If it was very low-budget, it would probably consist of a spoken commentary, accompanying a visual walk-THRU of the wheelchair access area – up the ramp and into the restaurant. My guess is that the ad-lib commentary would probably include the keyword “wheelchair access” and be sprinkled with more than adequate colloquial descriptions of the ramp being “wide enough” etc.  – I hope you get the idea.

 

The Keyword Research Twist

However, if the Jasmine Thai were my client, I’d suggest developing that same video into something through which they might maximize their benefits with just a little planning and the addition of some relevant INFO. The first step would be to do some Keyword Research on the phrases like “wheelchair access restaurant wollongong” & “wheelchair access restaurant wollongong” . Here’s a range of the kind of information-rich keywords that we might then consider weaving into the voice-over accompanying their modest, hand-held video:

wheelchair-friendly restaurants
improved street access for wheelchairs & prams
disability access
handicap requirements
Disability Discrimination Act guidelines (Australia) / Americans with Disability Act accessibility guidelines (USA)
entrance / entrance doors / table height / tables / bathrooms /

NOTE: With amateur talent, it’s often better to allow them to improvise around points rather than get them to read a script but I’d hope that the final version would go something like:

Establishing shot: The Jasmine Thai is proud to be a wheelchair-friendly restaurant.
Walking up the ramp: As you can see, we’ve got plenty of room on our ramp for wheelchairs and prams – it’s been built along Disability Discrimination Act accessibility guidelines…
Entering the restaurant: …so, entering should be no problem for you…
Shot of interior of restaurant:…Our tables, table heights and bathrooms are also DDA compliant and of course, if you need any assistance, our staff is always ready to help you.

So, while keeping the voice-over reasonably chatty and colloquial, we’ve still got plenty of keyword-rich information that should satisfy both the Jasmine Thai’s clients and Google My Business.

Possible SEO Benefits

Now, this is where it gets interesting. Here in Wollongong, Australia, December 2016, the Search results for “disability access restaurant wollongong” is pretty dire for individual restaurants (there are 3 in the Top 20) and Windjammers is the only one on Page 1, discovered via a well-regarded Directory listing (for more INFO on what they are, see: Citations)

Keyword Research Experiment - Google SERPs for "disability access restaurant wollongong" December 2016
Keyword Research Experiment – Google SERPs for “disability access restaurant wollongong” December 2016

Since Youtube videos tend to rank well – all things being equal – it’s likely that the Jasmine Thai’s video would rank #1 in Google for that (and similar) Search terms, possibly even for terms like “pram access restaurant wollongong” and end up landing them a steady trickle of new customers. My prediction is that the video would also provide them with them an overall SEO boost (resulting in more traffic), which would probably continue until one of their competitors came up with a better or more professional video.

And finally

So, that’s how Keyword Research can help your business. By broadening the range of keywords – while still remaining within the parameters of normal language – you can widen the scope of the information on your site’s pages and probably, help your business grow. So, if you want some help with that, we’re here.

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SEO & Waymo, The Google Self-Driving Car – What’s The Connection?

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SEO & Waymo, The Google Self-Driving Car – What’s The Connection?

Do you remember back in 2007, when Google Maps launched their Google Street View cars with the idea of mapping the world?

At the time,many considered the mission quaint and eccentric, though there were soon worries about Privacy, when some Google Street Views “show[ed] men leaving strip clubs, protesters at an abortion clinic, sunbathers in bikinis, and people engaging in activities visible from public property in which they do not wish to be seen publicly” wikipedia.

Irrespective, Google Maps has powered on to become the standard (Apple Maps was initially so bad that it’s become a Silicone Valley joke), used by hundreds of millions of people, throughout much of the world.

 

Waymo: The Google Self-Driving Car

And now, in 2016, Google has finally launched Waymo, their self-driving car. It functions through 10 Astonishing Technologies, such as various cameras, radar, GPS tracking etc. and one can only surmise that Google Street View is somehow integrated into Waymo’s Artificial Intelligence, as well.

So, you might be asking yourself, “That’s all fine and dandy but what does Waymo have to do with SEO?”

Well, from a normal point of view, nothing. Waymo is a futuristic mode of transport that’s almost arrived and SEO consists of a series of techniques to make your website’s pages more valuable to the Search Engines, with the intention of getting your site more traffic!

Fair enough -but from a more abstract, Google-centric perspective:

  • Waymo, powered by Google Maps and other groundbreaking technologies, takes a passenger to their intended destination &
  • Good SEO enables Google to take a searcher to what will probably be their most likely destination

And that difficult leap – towards a Google world view – is what I believe businesses should be doing, to ensure that their websites remain successful. I’ve gone into this in some detail in Future Shock, which looks at the coming Virtual Reality revolution but it’s also relevant today, when you look at how Google is updating INFO in your Google My Business listing, such as the addition of  wheelchair access INFO, (in the USA) in December 2016.

 

The Google World View, Today

Let’s look at an example of someone with a disability that needs wheelchair access, Fred. He is in his Waymo and decides that he wants to go to a Thai restaurant for dinner.

  1. Fred does a quick search and chooses one restaurant from the Local Pack (for what that is, see: Google My Business), the Jasmine Thai
  2. He clicks THRU to their Google My Business listing and checks out a few reviews. Recognizing his work-mate Donna, he gets sold by her enthusiastic four stars review and decides he’d like to visit
  3. However, first he searches the Jasmine Thai‘s listing for details of wheelchair access
  4. Seeing that they have wheelchair access, Fred uses Google My Business’ LIVE CHAT (coming soon) to order his meal. Presently, he’d just phone the order through
  5. Then, getting his estimated time of arrival at the Jasmine Thai from Waymo, he arranges for a staff member to meet him and help him get out of the car and into his wheelchair. Within a few minutes, Fred’s happily crunching away on his Thai Spring Rolls entree
  6. After his meal, another staff member helps him back into his Waymo
  7. Since the meal was so good and both the staff members who helped him were so kind, Fred decides to write the Jasmine Thai a glowing Google My Business review on the way home [NOTE: I’ve assumed that Fred has a remote controlled wheelchair that he can get into, when he arrives home!]

Why I’ve gone through these individual steps is not to be pedantic but to try to help business owners understand that increasingly, from Google’s perspective, your website / business is becoming part of a process, where Google’s FREE tools are integral to the way that customers do business. In Fred’s case, he’s used:

  • Google Maps
  • Google My Business Listings
  • Google My Business Listings LIVE CHAT
  • Youtube
  • Google My Business reviews

In the process of using these services, Google users like Fred will probably occasionally click some Google ads and as a result, Google will continue making billions. Your business, then, is the variable in this model and in effect, Google feels it’s taking a risk on you! I’ve found a very interesting quote from a Google spokesperson that provides invaluable insights into understanding the Google universe. It follows the first serious accident involving a Google self-driving car (a LEXXUS, not a Waymo), which a van drove into, after running through a red light.

“Thousands of crashes happen everyday on U.S. roads, and…human error plays a role in 94% of [them], which is why we’re developing fully self-driving technology to make our roads safer.”

That quote may appear innocuous but look beyond the obvious. With cars, at least, Google wants to eliminate human error by having an Artificial Intelligence become a superior human-like driver on the road.

I believe that the company would have a similar ethos for their Search Engine. As stated elsewhere on this site, your site’s rank in the Search Engines is determined by about 200 factors, presently, and Google sees your site as a variable in their economic model, a risk.

 

The Best Ways For Your Site To Remain Valuable To Google & The Other Search Engines

The best ways to become less of a risk are:

  1. Use SEO – keep presenting your website’s info in a style that works for both your customers and the Search Engines (NOTE: In the Get Your Website Found world, that includes keeping your website looking contemporary and inviting)
  2. use changes or updates in Google My Business to create new media that will be of interest to your customers e.g. with the addition of wheelchair access INFO, the Jasmine Thai might consider making a brief video detailing their restaurant’s wheelchair access. It need not be expensive – in that particular case, a brief phone video would probably suffice – but title it informatively, using relevant keywords e.g Jasmine Thai Wheelchair Access Video. [See also, our follow-up article: How Keyword Research Can Help Your Business]
  3. continue to provide great service and monitor your reviews

 

And finally

Many business website owners complain that “Google keeps changing the rules”. Interestingly, I don’t know of any consumers who complain that Google Search is getting worse.  If you want your website to become or remain successful, it’s imperative that your site evolves with the web. And if you want some help, as I say at the end of many of our articles, we’re here to help.

NOTE 1: To date, with one million miles driven (1.6m km), there have been about a dozen Google driverless car accidents. Most were minor – with Google accepting responsibility in only one case.

NOTE 2: The May 2016 well-publicized, self-driving car fatality was a Tesla, which had both human control & self-driving capabilities. The accident occurred while it was self-driving.