As a retailer, take advantage of Google's dominance in local search and navigation

Profit as a retailer from Google's dominance in local search and navigation

n the year 2023, physical stores have made an impressive comeback in Europe, while e-commerce is struggling to hold its own. The pandemic is fortunately behind us and physical retailers have successfully embraced the digital world to strengthen their position. Google plays a crucial role in this because of its strong focus on locality. Google's index of the physical world provides billions of connections each month, including more than 1 billion calls to physical stores.

By: Arjan Ter Huurne, chief growth officer Abovo Maxlead

Published August 17, 2023 at 12:00

Recent research shows that as many as 77 percent of people prefer Google Maps for getting information about local businesses. Other platforms such as Facebook and Instagram (38 percent), Yelp (35 percent) and business websites (32 percent) follow at a distance. This has given Google a huge lead in the volume of local reviews. Nevertheless, Google does see a steady decline in new monthly reviews since the pandemic.

TikTok as a wake-up call

However, an interesting threat to Google's dominance in this domain has emerged on TikTok. There, totally different, richer approaches to reviews are appearing. Video reviews on TikTok offer social context with sound and images, making them much more engaging for users. Interestingly, recent research shows that nearly 40 percent of young people are more likely to use TikTok or Instagram to find a new lunch spot, for example. This should be a clear wake-up call for Google.

Still, it remains important for retailers to pay attention to their Google Business Profiles. Complete and regularly updated profiles get five times more views, enjoy three times more authority and customers are as much as 70 percent more likely to visit local businesses with an optimized profile. SEO research has shown that optimization of Google Business Profile elements, a high volume of positive Google reviews and geographic proximity are crucial to strong local visibility for retailers.

However, managing data from multiple locations across multiple platforms can be challenging without a location management tool. Fortunately, alternative tools are available that provide structured and automated content updates, message creation and keeping local ad data up-to-date. New features provide insight into the local search terms that lead to Google Business Profile impressions and allow you to run A/B tests across multiple locations to measure the effect of optimizations on local visibility.

Google has also introduced some new local campaign formats, including the standout Performance Max for Store Goals. These tactics ensure contact with the right audience, at the right time, with the right message and through the right (Google) platform. Leveraging Audience Signals to identify audiences with the highest likelihood of conversion is an advanced capability offered here. Smart bidding with Google's Smart Bidding algorithm plays a central role. The goal of Smart Bidding is to help advertisers get the most out of their ad budgets by adjusting bids based on real-time data and performance.

Digital goldmine

An undiscovered ad format in beta is: Online-Conversion Local Ads (OLA). It allows retailers to advertise on Google Business Profiles of their choice. With a potential reach of billions of consumers per month and inventory that was previously ad-free, this is a very interesting ad format for local businesses.

Physical stores have access to valuable first-party data that can be a goldmine for their digital strategy. With the right organization and tools, this location data can be digitized at scale. This opens doors to optimizing Google listings, increasing local visibility and enabling dynamic local campaigns. Ultimately, retailers can thus drive local visibility, reputation and ROPO (research online, purchase offline), or vice versa: research offline, purchase online.