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Google My Business Adds Safety Attributes to its Listings for Retailers

Localistico

In the past months, we have all witnessed how retail experts have made great efforts to reopen the doors of our favorite bars, restaurants, hotels, cinemas and shops, following the COVID-19 safety protocol. As a retail owner, how do you know that you are properly communicating the safeguards your business is implementing? Are you doing everything you can to help your customers feel safe when they visit your brick-and-mortar stores?

In a Mood Media study, 71% of consumers across the globe shared their levels of confidence in returning to physical stores, as long as there were sufficient “retailer safety precautions” in place. Consumers are demanding transparency and therefore, the challenge lies in encouraging them to make informed decisions about the places they visit and ensuring their safety when they decide to do so. 

Google My Business, aware of this change in consumers’ behaviour, just launched a new set of attributes that can help you satisfy customers´ current needs. At Localistico, we always stay ahead of the current online trends, so we’ve already integrated these new features onto our platform. Keep on reading!

New GMB attributes

Google My Business just added health and safety attributes that you can now add to your listings and highlight which measures are being taken in your commercial establishments. These snippets of information allow you to provide details on what your place has to offer, so that customers can make informed decisions about where to visit and enjoy a safe shopping experience. But, what new attributes are available to you? Take a look at the list below:

  • Appointment required
  • Mask required
  • Staff wear masks
  • Staff get temperature checks
  • Temperature check required

How can you add these new attributes?

Adding these new attributes to listings can take some time, but the benefits from doing it make the effort worth it. If you want to make this process easier, check out the Localistico platform and how it helps businesses simplify the management of all their location data. 

Steps for you to add attributes from your GMB account (per location)

  1. Sign into your Google My Business account
  2. Choose the venue you want to edit
  3. Find “Add Attributes” and click on “Edit”
  4. Search for the attribute you want to add or scroll through all the available options to choose the ones that suit your business best
  5. Once you have finished, tap “Apply” to save and publish

Once you have done this, the new attributes will be visible to customers who will find the updated business on Google Search and Maps.

Steps for you to add attributes from a Localistico account (all venues at once)

  1. Log into your Localistico account 
  2. Click on the company’s logo and go to ‘Settings’
  3. Inside the ‘Business info’ tab, scroll down to the “Extended attributes” section
  4. Click on “Edit” (on the top right of the section) and in “options”, you can add as many attributes as needed. By default, five options will be shown: Appointment required, Mask required, Staff wear masks, Staff get temperature checks, Temperature check required
  5. Save and click on the publish all button in the venues tab to update this info on your Google profiles. Now, the listing is ready to publish the new attributes in Google.

Check the following video to see how it’s done:

Previous changes as a response to COVID-19 

The Health and Safety Attributes previously mentioned are not the only developments Google my Business has launched in the past year. Soon after the COVID-19 outbreak, the tool added some other attributes that have become relevant guidelines for those consumers searching for information on a venue’s activity. Here’s a summary of the GMB attributes that were launched for food establishments and retail:

Previous additions for Restaurants 

  • Dine-in
  • Takeout
  • Delivery
  • No-contact delivery
  • Curbside pickup

If you want to learn more, take a look at the 3 GMB attributes that restaurants can use to battle the COVID-19 post.

Previous additions for Retail

  • Pickup
  • Delivery
  • Curbside pickup
  • In-Store shopping
  • In-Store pickup

Localistico and the new GMB features

Managing GMB profiles for hundreds or thousands of stores can not only be time-consuming but also nerve-wracking. In order to continue making this process simpler for you, we have already integrated all the new features previously mentioned into our platform so that you can update all your venues at once or just a few of them.  

Would you like to learn more? Book a custom demo session with one of our local marketing experts and learn how Localistico can transform your local marketing tactics.

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