Google My Business Short Names/URL’s
Google’s been focusing a lot on local businesses lately and one of their newest features supports this notion. They recently unveiled a new feature for Google My Business (GMB) that makes it easier for customers to find your business called Short Names. A Short Name is limited to 32 characters and if you have multiple locations you’ll need to assign a unique Short Name to each one.
After establishing your new Short Name, Google automatically creates a URL in the form of g.page/[yourshort-name] which you can easily share with customers so that they can find your GMB profile, view business details, or leave a review. Navigating to the “Home” section on the left panel reveals a “Get more reviews” section with your g.page URL.
To setup your own Short Name start by navigating to the GMB listing of your choice and selecting “Info” on the left panel. Under the “@” section, you can assign a Short Name.
A search for your Short Name or short URL in Google Maps or Google Search should result in your verified Google My Business listing featuring your reviews, Google Maps address, and other details.
We recommend ACTING FAST before your desired Short Name is taken by another business. When exploring Short Names for my clients, I find that Google prevents you from using nonspecific, irrelevant Short Names and you’ll likely be required you to incorporate characters that distinguish your location. For example, one of my clients couldn’t register their corporate name as their Short Name, even though on search it appears as though nobody else has claimed that Short Name. To remedy this I ended up using their brand name + “-sf” for one location and adding “-california” to another location.Be careful when selecting your short name since you’re only allowed to change it 3 times per year. You can go here for a comprehensive set of rules regarding Short Names.
If your desired Short Name is taken by an impersonator or contains fake content you can flag the business for Google. Since Short Names are globally unique, Google is trying their best to ensure that Short Names aren’t confusing or misleading to searchers around the world.
We look forward to continuously improving performance for our clients with physical storefronts and GMB has been a free, proven way to increase awareness. Short Names are an easy, new way to request those important customer reviews and show off your Google My Business profile since the URL is simplified and less intimidating for customers to recall. Reviews are low hanging fruit that can exponentially boost your brand, but following up with clients can be difficult. We’ll keep you updated with the latest news and features for GMB. Happy marketing!
*For Yelp, we do not encourage you to reach out for reviews as this is strictly forbidden by Yelp’s review policy. Rather, have ample signage on your business that says ‘Find us on Yelp’ and let people organically review your business. You should still reply to ALL reviews good and bad to show you’re grateful for feedback.
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