There was a LOT of changes in the Local SEO world in 2019 – 94 that I’ve tracked (most are listed here). I have to first give Google credit for working so hard to improve the Google My Business product so much. That being said, there are definitely still some items that I think are in drastic need of change.
Here are the top 5 things I’d like Google My Business to update or change in 2020.
1. Customization inside GMB Insights. When you log in to the Google My Business dashboard, the options for Insights are pretty limited. You can see a week, a month, or a quarter on the graph. I would love it if Google would allow you to customize the date range. They already have this option in the GMB API but it has yet to make its way into the dashboard. I’d also love to be able to visualize the data by month or by week instead of daily. With so many businesses having high or low peaks on weekends, it can be very difficult to analyze the graphs when the option is always set by default to show daily.
2. Add Questions and Answers to the GMB dashboard. This is long overdue. Many businesses still don’t monitor the Questions and Answers section on their listing because it simply doesn’t exist inside the Google My Business dashboard.
3. Make event posts show chronologically. Currently, when you add an event post inside the Google My Business dashboard, it shows the events in order based on when you posted them, not based on the date of the actual event. This has been confusing for users and I’d love it if Google could change it.
4. Make service areas in Google My Business actually impact ranking. Currently, the ranking of a service area business listing is based on the address the listing used for verification – not the service areas they enter onto the listing. This is really troubling for tons of contractors who work from home and don’t live in the city they service.
5. I’d love Google My Business to devote more resources to stopping known spammers. Spam is something that has always plagued Google Maps for as long as I’ve been in this industry. The frustrating thing is watching the same spammers continue to game Google over and over again. I would love it if Google could actually put in place some actual penalties for repeat offenders of the guidelines. Unlike organic search, there isn’t really any concept in the local search world that is similar to a manual penalty.
Opinions expressed in this article are those of the guest author and not necessarily Marketing Land. Staff authors are listed here.
About The Author
Joy Hawkins is a Local SEO expert who is a Google My Business Top Contributor. She regularly contributes to many online communities in the Local SEO world, including the Google My Business forum (Top Contributor), the Local Search Forum (Top Contributor), and the Local University Forum (Moderator). She is also a contributor to the Moz Local Search Ranking Factors survey. Joy is the owner of Sterling Sky in Canada and is the author of the Expert’s Guide to Local SEO, which is an advanced training manual for people wanting a detailed look at what it takes to succeed in the Local SEO space.