What's New?

Businesses can now add a Logo, a Cover Photo, a Dynamic Photo Module and Welcome Offers to their GMB profile. Also, businesses can now create and order custom offline materials straight from GMB, such as printed stickers and posters to promote bookings and reviews.

Who does it impact?

All local businesses, especially those with physical locations, will be impacted significantly by this in their Maps and Search results visibility. Google historically rewards early adopters, and businesses that embrace these features early (and continue to keep them updated) should see positive effects across all of their organic traffic channels. Businesses that leave these features empty or allow them to get stale will begin to see decreases in organic traffic as their prominence in rankings decline.

The official announcement briefly mentions a “Local Favorite” designation which will be awarded to the top five percent of businesses in each category. These awards will be displayed as digital and physical badges and will undoubtedly play an important part in the ranking and display of these profile listings. Given the high implied value, the “Local Favorite” designation will be highly sought after and competitive as Google announces more details this later summer.