Google is rolling out a new feature for small companies: the Google Guarantee badge certification.
For a monthly fee of $50, this certification will place your business as an upgraded profile throughout the Google My Business (GMB) dashboard. After passing a qualification and screening course of, a “Google Guaranteed” badge will seem in your GMB profile and potentially on listings that seem in the Native Pack.
However, is Google Assure worth the $50 price tag? Here’s a rundown of the program’s pros and cons.
Madelyn Wing is Director of Product and Customer Marketing at CallRail
The way it works
Most entrepreneurs are already conversant in Google’s Native Providers Advertisements (LSA), which generate leads for native companies by means of paid search. The Google Assure badge is an analogous program for natural.
Google Assure’s flat-rate fee model is a new frontier for the tech giant. This rollout is just Google’s second subscription-based service. However whereas this program continues to be an experiment, it’s a bit extra secure than an Area 120 project like Calljoy. Count on it to stay around for some time.
The way it advantages prospects
For patrons, Google Assure whittles down the native competitors by constructing belief. Assume again to the last time you employed a handyman or a different contractor. Perhaps you appeared on Yelp, searched Google or requested recommendations in a neighborhood Facebook Group.
Your search possible turned up many promising listings with no web site or a storefront. The GMB itemizing could embody not more than a phone quantity and a reputation, or at most a social media profile. This lack of information makes it exhausting to confirm the contractor’s high quality and reliability.
The Google Assure program may very well be a response to the growing recognition of paid social promoting. It’s a common apply for small companies to create a social profile earlier than a web site. A verification with this upgraded GMB itemizing might lend legitimacy to these companies and enhance prospects’ trust.
Prospects usually tend to take an opportunity on a $70 contractor who doesn’t have a web site in the event that they know they’ll get their a reimbursement within the occasion of an issue. And since enrolment in this system is topic to Google’s eligibility guidelines, prospects can be extra prone to belief GMB listings with the badge within the first place. The peace of mind of legitimacy helps customers avoid fraud and gain confidence in new contractors.
How Google Guarantee is different from LSA
Compared to LSA, Google Guarantee is:
- Simpler for small businesses
- Geared towards natural traffic
- Charged at a flat rate
The Google Guarantee badge subscription is a similar program to LSA, but serves a different audience.
As a PPC (PPC) program, LSA can be tricky for SMBs. If a small business owner is skilled on the service they’re providing, marketing may be simply one of the many secondary hats they put on.
An inexperienced marketer could enroll in LSA, only understanding that it doesn’t cost without conversion. However, LSA can quickly and unexpectedly get costly when that enterprise all of a sudden will get 1,000 calls in per week. A flat fee of $50 for the Google Guarantee is similar to two PPC conversions. The typical price per conversion is $24, with a range of $5-$30.
The flat cost of Google Guarantee is enticing for SMBs as a result of it mitigates LSA’s potential downsides. LSA participation is just not required for a Google Assure badge. And whereas there isn’t any assure of a CTR enhance or engagement elevate with a Google Assure badge, these within the know predict that these GMB profiles will rise in search outcomes. So, participating companies could get a lift with out the dangers of LSA.
Why enrol?
The program will:
- Put you forward of opponents who do not show the badge
- Increase your leads
- Up your Google rating with elevated quantity
Circling back to the concept of a Google Guarantee badge as a driver of natural visitors, Google Home outcomes embody licensed native companies. That inclusion is significant as a result of the rankings for Google Home outcomes that are all-natural relatively than paid.
That means for Google Home searches at the least, Google Guarantee badge will place you forward of opponents who aren’t in this system. You’ll see elevated leads, and Google will enhance your rating for a flat fee.
Sadly, this system’s affordability might also make it a baseline advertising and marketing necessity over time, like Yelp. If most suppliers are verified, why would somebody name the unverified service? Though the service might symbolize a drop within the bucket when it shoots your corporation to the highest of natural search, solely time will inform if the badge is valued it.