Have You added your short name to your Dealership Google My Business listing yet?
What Are Google My Business Short Names?
Short names (or short links) have come to Google My Business. The brand new feature announced in a limited fashion in April appears to be available to most verified GMBs now.
There are still some businesses that have not received this new feature yet, so check your GMB dashboard.
As Google continues to add features and data points to your Google My Business Listings, it is now one of your most powerful marketing tools on the Internet. It makes sense that they would eventually add a way for you to shorten your link to it and make it easier to share with customers.
How does having a short name added to your Google My Business listing help your dealership?
Google has quietly released this feature that allows you to create a short name for your GMB, making it much easier to share your Google My Business listing with customers.
This newest addition to the Google My Business data portal was long overdue because it now makes it easier for users to follow a simple link and get access to your GMB profiles without the humongous link that Google now provides.
GMB Short Names Make it Easier to Direct People to Leave Reviews and Find Your Dealership!
For dealerships that are actively seeking 5 star reviews from Google it has been a nightmare emailing or directing satisfied customers to your GMB review link. The link is huge!
Google’s new release of short names is a huge step towards helping your dealership connect people to your GMB by eliminating the long URL that is easily lost in translation or cut off in emails.
Here’s How Google My Business Short Names Works!
Inside your GMB dashboard you will be able to choose a short name between 5 and 32 characters in length. It can contain the name of your dealership, location, and certain keywords, as long as you stay within the Google guidelines.
The shortened URL you can share with customers will look like this:
g.page/(shortname)
Google announced that short names will be first come first serve, so if you are looking for a short name with your city and keywords, it may get taken by your competition if you hesitate to take action.
If you have several GMBs – like sales, service, parts, body shop, you need to get into action quickly. I just helped a Ford dealer grab g.page/fordservice for their service department GMB.
What is the long term outlook for GMB short names?
At this point in time your GMB short name is a simple 301 redirect and has no SEO significance. In the short run a simple to remember name makes sense.
However, from my 20 years of following Google, there is a good chance it may evolve into much more. It is just another sign that Google is all in when it comes to local search and Google My Business profiles.
For right now having a short name will enable you to easily send satisfied customers to your Google My Business listing to leave a review at g.page/yourshortname/. If you hand review business cards to customers, it will be much easier for them to find the GMB .
If you have multiple dealerships or multiple brands under one rooftop (Chrysler, Jeep, Dodge, Ram) or (GMC, Buick) it is time to sit down and put together a good strategy before moving forward.
Things to consider:
- Five to thirty two characters
- You can use location in name (your city)
- You can use keywords (honda dealer) (auto repair shop)
- Must have verified listing in good standing
- You can change your short name 3x per year. Once you relinquish one, it goes into the open market again.
Why Should You Care About Google My Business Marketing?
Google has been adding features to your GMB at an accelerated rate. With the huge growth of mobile device use, they see the revenue potential in local search, and have purposely placed your Google My Business listings in front of thousands of eyeballs every day.
Here are just some of the major GMB features that have been released in the past several years:
- Google Posts – Events – Offers
- Google Q&A
- GMB Website
- Services
- Messaging
- Videos
- Videos in Google Posts
- Multiple Offers – (2019)
- Products (2019)
- Short names (2019)
If your marketing strategists or digital agency gurus are not paying attention to what is currently happening on Google and cannot articulate a Google My Business marketing plan, it is time to engage with GMB experts that can effectively lay out a plan.
Great Article: When it comes to GMB Marketing Who’s Got Your back?
Want to see how you can drive more traffic to your website, increase phone calls and sell more cars? Let’s schedule a FREE, full analysis of your current situation and an online Demo of our proven GMB marketing platform in action.
Do you have a few minutes to learn the truth about what your Google My Business profile really does for your dealership? Are you tired of inefficiencies in your GMB platform that is costing you traffic and leads? Seriously, when it comes to GMB marketing, Who’s Got Your Back? AutoNet Media has Your Back!
Contact us right now by phone at 904-796-8527 (that’s the direct number of the top dog Jeffrey Taylor, our GMB expert ready to answer your questions) or fill out the form on this page and we will contact you promptly to set up a date and time. Just like Google, we move fast!
