Video Transcript
Hey everybody. This is Joe Burnich with bigwestmarketing.com. In this short video, what I want to do is make an announcement that Google is now offering a $50 a month upgrade for your Google My Business profile so that you have a little guarantee badge. Let’s get into that right now.
Okay. So what we’re talking about here is this new upgraded Google My Business that has a stamp of approval, a guarantee badge that you pay for on your Google My Business profile. So let’s check out and see what I’m talking about here.
So let’s say we do a search for plumbers in San Diego. So we’re talking about service based businesses here. If you’re not a service based business, then this will not apply to you. So what you see here at the top are the … These are called local service ads, and you go through a certification process through Google, you get a background check, they check your licenses, and they make sure that you’re a real legitimate company in good standing in your city. And then they’ll allow you to put these ads up here and they’ll put this little Google Guaranteed stamp of approval on these ads. These are paid ads. Every time somebody calls you, you pay Google $20 to $50 depending on the service and the city. All right. Those are local service ads. But that’s not what we’re talking about today. I just need to show you guys what that is so there’s no confusion.
And then you go down from the local service ads and you start having the normal old pay-per-click style ads. That’s this section right here, where you just pay Google, there’s no certification, there’s no guarantee, you just pay Google every time somebody clicks on your ad, and anybody can do it. Doesn’t matter what kind of standing your business is in.
And then you get down here, these are the Google My Business listings. This is where you can sign up for free, and this is where people can leave reviews on your Google My Business profile, on your Google profile. Some people also call this the map section. You know what I mean? So, what’s going to happen here is in this section here, Google is now going to allow you to pay to have a little certification badge up here. So the certification badge will look very similar to this. But it’s going to be down here on these, what used to be, well, still are free listings, but they’re going to allow you to go through this verification process, get the background check, and this is actually a really good thing guys, and let me tell you why. Well, for most of you it’s a good thing.
It’s a good thing because it’s going to knock out all the scammy, fake businesses out there. Google is taking steps, this is a positive thing, Google is taking steps to get rid of the spam and leave only the most legitimate businesses a chance to rank in this box here. Now why is important? Because most people, when they’re looking for a service based business, they skip these ads here, they skip these ads here, and they go down here. This is where you’re going to get the most bang for your buck, the most clicks, the most high quality customers, because they’re looking at reviews and they’re really going to dig into your business and do some research on you.
If you have a little guarantee badge there, imagine what that’s going to do for your credibility. You already have a ton of credibility down here. This is going to amp up your credibility. And Google said they’re going to start charging $50 a month. It’s not fully available yet. I think it’s available for a few people here and there are being invited to do this. I have no idea the dates that it’s going to be available for everybody. But I do know that you will have to have a background check, possibly a credit check. You will have to prove that you are a licensed business in your city, so you go and get your city business license. You got to do all this stuff. You’ve got to prove to Google that you are the real deal.
So, my advice to you, besides me just announcing this to you, is to get your ducks in a row. If you don’t have a city business license, go get it. Every city is different. Google around business license and then your city name, and then get on their website, make a phone call, do whatever it takes. If you have employees that do not have a clean background check, you may have problems, because you have to get a background check for you and all of your employees, all your full-time W2 employees. All right. So that’s what you can do to prepare right now. Make sure that you have everything ready to go so when this is available, you can be one of the first. Usually there’s like a year or two lag before everybody jumps in and starts taking care of stuff.
If you’re watching this video, get ready, it’s coming, and if you have any questions, let us know. But like I said, we can’t do this for you. We’re not going to do this for you. We can’t push it through Google. We have to wait until Google allows it. For our clients that are currently, our search engine optimization clients, our SEO clients, we are going to do everything we can to take care of this for you so you have a little bit as work as possible. But that being said, you’re still going to have to make sure you get the background check. You’re going to have to make sure that you have your city business license. We can’t do that for you. All right. So, like I said, Joe Burnich, bigwestmarketing.com. Thanks for checking this out, and I will talk to you soon.