Services Justifications Being Tested on Maps

Before it was uncovered in late December by Colan Neilsen at Local U, many local SEOs were under the impression that the services business owners add to their listing only displayed in mobile search on GMB profiles.

Thankfully, they have a new role as being added as a justification to listings in the local finder and on Google Maps.

What Are Justifications?

Justifications are an added snippet of information that will display on some searches that display local results. They will display under the last line of the listing’s information, which in most cases is the business hours as seen in the photo above.

The 4 Types of Justifications You Can Have

Currently, there are only four types of justifications that display in results:

Review – The most common justification seen in the local finder and on maps is a review. Google pulls a review that contains the keyword you have searched for to help you see more from your results.
Site Mention – Another popular result is a site mention snippet, which lets users know that the service or offering they are looking for is mentioned on the listing’s website.
Post – One of the newer justifications is showing a recent GMB post that mentions the term that the user is searching, and this helps show that the business is posting about the subject matter.
Service – As you now know, the “Provides: _____” is a new justification that pulls data from the services a business has added to their GMB profile.

How to Add Services in GMB

When you are logged into your Google My Business account, you should see a section on the left-hand menu that says “Services.”

From there, you are able to create your own list of services under each of the categories you have applied to your listing, while also being able to provide a price and description as well.

However, it’s important to note that depending on your main business category, this may not be an available option.

Are Services a Ranking Factor?

Sadly, at the moment, the services you add to your profile are not going to help you rank better for your desired keywords. But, with this new justification, it can make your listing stand out from your competitors, which can help you get more business.

Other Areas of Your GMB Profile to Utilize

As it seems that other aspects of your profile may in the future also turn into justifications, or even ranking factors, it’s important to optimize your profile completely and maximize the possibilities. Here are a few other areas you should utilize:

Business description
Products
Posts
Reviews
Images
Videos
Attributes
Additional categories