Google Business Profiles is a great tool to get your business seen in local search, but are you using it to its full potential? One of the ways you can take your Google Business listing to the next level is by utilizing the Products feature.

There are a lot of features you’ve probably seen when setting up and managing your Google Business page that you haven’t paid a ton of attention to. This one however, is worth the time it takes to set up.

It may seem pretty simple, and it is, but it can be a game changer for how your business performs on local search that most businesses are not utilizing. In fact only 4% of businesses have products included in their listing. (Whitespark Study)

What Is The ‘Products’ Feature?

The Products feature is simply a space to promote the products your business sells. Sounds simple, right? It’s super simple.

Like an ecommerce site lets you upload all of the products you sell, this space lets you upload all of the products you sell in-store so someone who is searching for a brick and mortar business that sells something specific can find yours. You can also upload items that you may sell online.

Your listing allows you to showcase everything an e-commerce site typically does including…

• Photos of the product

• A description

• Name

• Category

• Price range

• Link to buy or learn more

The Products feature is available for a wide range of businesses but not for some including hotels, gun shops, adult entertainment businesses, vacation rentals, camps, casinos, cannabis shops and more. The features available to you also may vary depending on the category of your business but the general ones are universal.

Why Is It Important To Use?

The Product feature may seem boring and straightforward but it’s actually a pretty powerful tool if you want your business to get seen. So why take the time to upload your products when you have a million other things to do?

It’s Highly, Highly Visible

When you are looking at a Google Business listing in a search you will see a few key things first like the business name, hours, address, phone number and so on -- all the important stuff. 

Go search your business name in Google right now and look on the right side of the screen. What information do you see first?

If a business has included products in their listing just below the important stuff will be photos of the products. Right after the phone number in many cases depending on the information provided.

This is free advertising! You get a free space right in Google Search to show off your products prominently with images.

Not only are your products seen prominently right in the main search page but they appear right after your main information everywhere your GMB profile is seen including the Local Finder (the list of relevant businesses beside a map).

It Helps You In Search

One of the best ways to get a leg up in search is to get more and more specific about what your business offers. 

If someone is looking for a specific product in their area and you sell it then having it on your Google Business listing makes it much more likely that your business will come up in a local search for that product. 

This is called relevance, one of the three pillars of local SEO. The more relevant your business is to a search the more likely it is to show up.

Product Feature Hacks

There are a number of ways you can use the Products feature in interesting ways to boost your listing and put that visible space to work for your business.

Add Animated GIFs

Want to make your business stand out? Add some animation! Adding some animated GIFs will really make your listing stand out from the rest.

To make this work you have to do a simple workaround that will only take one minute. Google will not support GIF images but you can quickly and easily convert any GIF into a JPEG and easily upload that to your product page without losing any of the animation.

A few things to keep in mind…

• Keep the animation simple

• Keep the animation classy

• You don’t have to do it for every product

Services As Products

Say your business doesn’t sell physical products but rather provides services, you may think you can’t use the Products feature. You would be wrong! Depending on your business category, your Google Business Profile may provide you with the Products tab.

The prominent placement of the Products feature makes it a great place to showcase services as well. Though Google Business does also have a Services feature the placement is not always as prominent and there is no harm in doubling up!

Feel free to upload some of your services as products on your page as well. This will ensure they receive prominent placement in your profile.

Features and Brands

You can get creative with the Products feature if that suits your business better. Many businesses who have a ton of products opt to instead list all of the brands they carry instead of each individual product. This is a great alternative that also helps in local search and takes advantage of that prominent search placement.

Other businesses also list things like curbside pick-up, online ordering and various other services that their business provides as products so they are prominently seen in search. If these are services that are highly sought after and important to your business then they may be worth featuring prominently.

Final Thoughts

It’s time to get your Google Business local search optimized! Take the time to add in some of your most sought after or popular products now and continue to add in more later. This will only help more customers who are ready to buy find your business.

Continuously working on your Google Business listing to make sure it is optimized is one of the most important things you can do to make sure your business is taking charge of local SEO.