Google makes it easier for businesses to stand out from the crowd

Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

• Google business process optimization has just been made simpler.
• List more detail about your business – especially your USPs.
• Compare your business alongside your competitors and see where you stand.

The minds behind Google’s search algorithm have added new data fields for businesses to supply key information that will aid an organization in its attempts to get seen more often and better known. That should make Google business process optimization significantly more straightforward.

In its developer documentation, Google has added Organization structured data, where businesses add ‘sameas’ (read, same as) records, addresses, number of employees, tax ID, and a half-dozen more. Besides the rich deposits of information Google already has access to, this data will let busy web browsers to locate the business or service they need more quickly. Before the addition of Organization markup, there was only support for companies to upload their logo and data such as their web address. Google business profile optimization is now much more detailed in its execution.

Appearing in the search knowledge panels, information can be given that will appear at the top of a SERP (search engine results page) to give a better understanding of a business to search users without having to click through to a company’s site to find out more.

Organizations that want to be among the first to optimize their Google profile can now get started. “You can test your organization structured data using the Rich Results Test by submitting the URL of a page or a code snippet. Using the tool, you can confirm whether or not your markup is valid instantly,” Google advises.

Google business profile optimization – from Google (who else?)

This latest iteration of Google’s extensive search portfolio further concentrates the data searched for by users on Google’s own pages, supplying pertinent details to users without them leaving the Google portfolio of sites.

Adding information like the ‘sameas’ field (the services of company X are similar to those of companies Y and Z) will allow search results to present more accurately-detailed comparisons between competing companies, supplying options to searchers looking for a specific product or service. By registering the fullest possible details into the new Organization schema, companies can gain some advantage over competitors that are slower off the mark.

It’s thought the changes will most benefit small to medium-sized businesses with a local presence to the searcher, especially in competitive markets where items have a low-ticket value.

Although many companies have previously resisted giving away their size (as described by the number of employees), it’s thought by many search engine marketing experts that, conversely, consumers will now favor a local, smaller business over the huge multinationals like Amazon, if given enough information to make that choice easy.

Many of the new fields that can be collected are subject to validation – proof by the site owner that the information given is genuine. “The existing logo report in Search Console and validations in the Rich Results Test are now replaced with more extensive organization validations in the Rich Results Test,” Google said.

Rich Results for searchers usually require relatively recent technology to be consumed, including media like image carousels, video, and animation. Best results are naturally achieved by the latest versions of Google’s own Chrome browser. Users of Safari, Firefox, and other browsers based on earlier Chromium code may not get an optimal experience: the days of websites needing to state the case for a certain web client may be back. “This website is best viewed in Internet Explorer” may be soon replaced in common web parlance with a call for Chrome for the best UX.