Your business listing on Google (the information displayed on searches and Google maps that you can manage with Google My Business) can now include additional URLs, allowing you to provide links to specific actions such as online orders or reservations. These links make it easier for customers to take actions directly from Google Search or Maps. This means your business listing can include links to actions such as placing online orders or reservations. Once again, thanks to our friend and Google My Business expert Mike Blumenthal for keeping us up-to-date on ways your business can take advantage of the stream of enhancements and features that help potential customers find you and your business. Here is Mike’s explanation of the new features.
Recently, Google started rolling out the ability to add a “make an appointment” URL to physician listings and other professions and industry verticals.
Some of the professions and industry verticals with the additional URL options:
- Lawyers
- Doctors
- Insurance agencies
- Consulting firms
- Psychologists
- Construction
- Computer repair
- Flooring
- Plumbing
According to a new Google My Business help page about “Local Business URLs,” the additional URLs can be used for linking customers or clients to such actions as:
- Booking an appointment
- Placing an order
- Reserving a table
- Searching for items
- Viewing the menu
As many restaurants and professionals already have online relationships with other reservation services or software (for example, OpenTable.com), Google notes that “In some cases, links to ‘certain third-party booking services’ will appear automatically on business listings.”
How to add additional URLs to your Google listings
- Sign in to Google My Business.
- Choose the listing you want to edit. (If you’re using card view
, you’ll need to click Manage location, then click Info from the menu.)
- Click into the
URLs section. Depending on your business category, you may see options to add additional URLs.
- Enter your URLs in the appropriate fields.
- Click Apply.