A new way to stand out on Google Maps may be coming soon to business owners in select industries.
First reported by Google My Business Product Expert Tom Waddington on July 22 via Twitter, Google is starting to offer an upgraded GMB listing for $50/month that adds the Google Guaranteed badge to listings, showing Google backs the services that the business provides.
Google starting to offer an upgraded Business Profile (Google My Business listing) for $50/month that will add the Google Guaranteed badge to the listing and back services the business provides with the Google Guarantee. pic.twitter.com/x4bHLuVEi2
— Tom Waddington (@tomwaddington8) July 22, 2020
What We Know
The Guaranteed Badge Is Used for LSAs
Currently, the Google Guaranteed badge is used on Local Services Ads (LSAs) for businesses that have passed the vetting process, which includes background and licensing checks to verify the business is legitimate. We assume the same process will be put into place for the new profile upgrades.
Eligibility May Be Limited
As of now, the only businesses that are able to run LSAs are in the home services industry and similar fields, which leads us to believe upgraded profiles may only be open to certain GMB categories.
However, Google also has a program called Google Screened which is reserved for professional services. Search Engine Land suggests that this feature is next if the upgraded profiles are rolled out to other categories.
Google Is Calling It an Experiment
According to Search Engine Land, they received a comment via email from a Google representative who said the following about the new profile upgrades:
“We’re always testing new ways to improve our experience for our advertisers, merchants and users. This experiment will show the Google Guaranteed badge on the business profile. We don’t have anything additional to announce right now.”
Given this, at the moment we also do not know what additional features, such as enhanced support, spam prevention, and more, are included with the $50 monthly fee.
No Clear Way to Sign Up Yet
As of now, there is no direct way to sign up for the new upgraded profile. In the meantime, businesses that are in home or professional services can be on the lookout for new calls to action in their Google My Business dashboard to upgrade.
More Details to Come
Be sure to check back on our blog for more updates to come on this new feature.
