Google Maps: new updates and what they bring to local businesses

Google Maps has recently added new features to its service. Two of them in particular will have a major impact on how local businesses use the platform.

These are positive developments, which we can only welcome, and which will make the platform even more useful for the businesses and users who rely on it. It's a good idea to start taking advantage of them right away!

Maps now boasts more than 150 million registered places, and with millions of users relying on its services, Google's goal, according to the Silicon Valley giant itself, is to make the platform increasingly a place of communication between businesses and consumers, rather than just a navigation service.

Following a business or place

In line with this ambition, the Maps app for mobile and tablet now lets users "follow" businesses or places they are particularly interested in, and receive updates from them. These can include events, news, sales, offers, promotions and much more. All this information will be grouped together in the "For You" section, which will thus become a semi-personalized panel packed with news and updates about the places and businesses that interest you. For now, the update is only available on Android devices, but we expect it to reach iOS soon too. What's certain is that it will change the way both businesses and consumers use Google Maps. The platform, much like Google My Business, will increasingly become a tool local businesses can use to communicate with their customers and draw them into the store, by promoting appealing events and/or promotions. And given the direction Google seems to want to take its Maps in, we can expect many more future updates working on this more social side of the platform.

Google My Business: new openings

Another new feature from Google, of particular interest to those with multiple stores, is the ability to create a Google My Business profile for a new store up to three months before it opens. The launch date (in countdown mode) will appear in orange on the GMB panel. This gives the business a chance to start posting information, updates and promotions – in other words, to start communicating with consumers and future customers – even before officially opening. Given this new direction Google is taking with its services, having well-maintained, closely monitored listings on GMB and Maps becomes even more important. Not just to avoid falling behind the competition, of course, but above all to improve the service offered to customers and optimize sales.

Overall, all these updates to Maps and GMB are positive signs of Google's ambition to keep connecting consumers and local businesses and to help strengthen the relationship and communication between the two. It's now up to us to make full use of these new tools at our disposal, making sure we take full advantage of all the opportunities Google offers us.

Claudio Agazzi, Founder & MD at RetailTune.ai