When it comes to finding local services online, Google is undoubtedly offers the best way to find them.
We are all well and truly familiar with Google’s browser based search capabilities on our desktops and smartphones, and many now use the Google Assistant App on their mobiles to do much more than just search, including setting reminders, checking the weather and latest news, and even turn on the lights!
And more recently Google’s other Assistant products have started gaining popularity as the preferred way to search around your home.
Products like Google Home Mini and Google Nest Hub make is so easy to simply speak your requests to Google Assistant, helping you find discount flights, broadcast messages, play your favourite Spotify tune and much more.
In fact, Google Assistant now had over a half a billion monthly users, and in terms of the virtual assistant market, Google is actually lagging behind Siri and Alexa, with only a 9% market share.
But this is most likely set to change with the user’s product awareness in terms of what it can do for you around the home, as will also become a massive part of business search results in the very near future.
See, many businesses and even SEO experts are still not aware that Google Assistant can greatly help in your local search results in two major ways.
Here’s how…
Google Assistant is basically a verbal search engine, so it relies on SEO data just like the Google search on your desktop. However as Google Assistant has the ability to answer your questions, you can ask it more elaborate details about a business more easily and quicker than having to type it in a search bar, and this means it can greatly help your business.
For example, if someone was to ask Google Assistant at 4pm to find a business that sells red balloons, it will most likely only provide results of nearby businesses which will still be open by the time you could drive there before close of business.
So this means as a business owner, by adding your trading hours and location to the footer of your website where Google can find them easily means you will be a first preference in results, even if your website is not well optimised for keywords, etc.
And if you then go through your website and optimise it up for specific types of products you sell, or even models of product, you are sure to come up in the results.
And this works with pricing as well. For example, if I was to sell Aluminium Extension Ladders on my website for $99, and then also added text on the page that said ‘extension Ladders for Sale for under $100’, then if someone requested Google to find extension ladders nearby for under $100, my website would probably be the first choice, because most likely my competitors are not thinking in the same manner for local search results.
And while the majority of the population are yet to get onboard the Virtual Assistant train when it comes to general searching, we are sure to find that in the next 5 to 10 years it will be the primary way to search for anything. Why? Because people are lazy.
No one wants to have to pull out their phone or open a browser and physically type things when you can just naturally ask a device to provide the same results, and much faster.
Another Way Google Assistant can help your business…
Many people are unaware of DialogFlow…Google’s platform for creating your own Google Assistant Application. DialogFlow is free and relatively easy to use, and allows you to create audio gestures that produce your own business assistant. So for example, you could simply start the conversation by asking Google Assistant to speak to your business, and once connected it would then let your potential customer have a conversation with your assistant.
So, for example, if you were a real estate, you could ask people what type of home they are looking for, how many bedrooms, type of lifestyle, etc, and then Google Assistant would automatically send them a list of recommended homes to their mobile phone as links to your website. Or it could allow them to make an appointment with you, which would automatically add the appointment details to your Google Calendar.
The power and potential virtual assistants have is almost limitless, and it is hear now, ready to be integrated.
All you need to do is learn how to harness it, and the business world is yours.
