Sans the conspiracy theorists and anti-monopoly folk, Google is more than a household name; for better or for worse, it is a beacon of trust. After several decades of trusting that a searcher’s answer lay in those “10 blue links”, consumer behavior has become galvanized to using the search giant to find what they are “looking for”– if not through the site directly, perhaps through your Android phone or a third-party search platform that at the end of the day is reliant on Google’s own results. Realizing this, a decade ago, the search giant created a new avenue of “Trusted” search results through their “Google Guarantee” and “Badged” programs. OMG National is a pioneer into this avenue and as a trusted Premier Partner, we have seen the evolution built around the Wild West the internet is. At the end of the day, Google realized that they could profit from verifying businesses in a way that was not easy to game. In the past month, Google recently announced that it would be sunsetting the main advertising trust elements. But why? From an industry expert’s standpoint, this all has to do with the trust dynamic and the answer lies in the tsunami of suspended GBP profiles this year.

Whether you like it or not, your Google Business Profile is one of the most important pieces of advertising real estate you can own, both online and offline. While it is free from a currency perspective, there is no denying the cost in man-hours it takes. Claiming your spot can be no easy feat as Google wants to make sure you aren’t pulling a fast one on the market. Great, so Google let you claim that profile — now you have to spend hours and hours building it out to achieve peak performance and keep it enriched with content as in many ways, it takes more immediate prominence than that website you spent thousands on. Already have it built out optimally? Here comes some digital vandalism, by way of a negative review, and it is 11PM and you are busy pointing out the flaws in some jackass who tried to juxtapose their own sense of reality onto a business transaction that they barely paid you for. Even failing to thank the lady who gave you a glowing review comes across as dereliction of duty to the Google gods. You quickly realize this is not a set it and forget it, but it is a marathon of endurance, with a new path you never planned for at every turn. This is where OMG National comes in.

We were there at the beginning: when Google acquired Orkut, attempted to challenge Facebook with Google+ on Social Media, and with a bunch of mis-steps landed at focusing on the one component that they needed to control most — Google My Business. We embraced it early, built out the Google real estate for our clients as a standalone directory, for the most part as a bastard child to the Facebook Business Page that was at the time our Reputation Intelligence staple. At the time, it felt like there were more up and coming directories than there were sites; it was a rat-race to see who could gain the leverage in structured data, and even Google was quick to feature those directories in their “10 blue links” results. But they learned, iterated, and evolved, and within several years created a new interface that was heavily reliant on the “Google Knowledge Graph.” If you can control what people see, why not have 30% of the GUI reflect your own directly? (Pause for a period of monopoly and anti-trust lawsuits.) At the other end of it was a rebranded Google Business Profile filled with as many, if not more, bells and whistles as any platform has, related to businesses. From the simple maps, directions, and hours, to the information of Google Q&A and Review Aggregation, to the enrichment of Photos, products and services, this became an unavoidable foray for any business owner interested in converting online business.

OMG National uses a decade+ in experience and best practices to build it out for you. Suspended? We have backchannels through Google Product Experts and other non-mainstream levers that we can pull to make sure you are found online. This is where it begins with a lot of our clients — they come to us seeking help to deal with the evil Google overlords. We can’t blame them, and have seen horror stories of legitimate businesses taking months and years to get their profile unsuspended, unable to counter the draconian verification process. As an aside, and to Google’s credit, their current verification process is intended to weed out the online scams, the offshore phishing, and to make it so you can trust and rely on their results. In many cases, this is to the business owner’s benefit once the profile is up. Once up, it is about optimizing that piece of real estate you just bought through time or agency. Don’t let the weeds of online slandering grow over your windows; have online events, publish your success with confidence by featuring content that enriches your result and entices that next prospect to stop by in-real-life. This is also where we come in, to champion your business, soapbox to all of your market the benefits of doing business with you. 

This is not a simple process for anyone not directly in Digital Marketing. If you are a lawyer, you hire a roofer to handle your roof. If you are a roofer, you don’t go to your barber for primary medical care. If you are a doctor, you don’t engage your vet to deal with your divorce papers. In an increasingly noisy world, the one constant is specialization, and our bread and butter, our specialty is handling your online presence, within that, making sure you are found on Google. Sure you can do it yourself, but you’ll end up improperly medicated with a leaky roof you just lost to your ex-spouse in the settlement. Jokes aside, we invite you to consult with us on what we can do to make sure you are found online, whether it be to get you unsuspended, claimed, or to make sure that you are putting your best foot forward with your most valuable piece of real estate. Trust that your one most trusted piece of digital property online, has dividends to be cashed on, and OMG National is ready to be your partner in success.