LONDON: The tech giant Google has announced a major new small business initiative called Let’s Put Our Cities on the Map. The aim is to help every business in every city in America get discovered across its services.
To materialize this aim, Google has produced a custom website for “virtually every town and city in the U.S.,” 30,000 in all. The sites provide small business owners with step-by-step directions on how to create a Google My Business listing, as well as how to improve the information that shows up about their companies on Google search, Google maps and Google+.
“We wanted to make the process of getting online easier for small businesses, and help them find their customers in those moments that matter,” Soo Young Kim, head of marketing for Google’s Get Your Business Online Program told Entrepreneur.
Google says it’s localized Let’s Put Our Cities on the Map websites also give small business owners access to a new diagnostic tool that shows them how their companies appear on Google Search and Google Maps. The sites also enable them to have their companies verified for Google searches, add photos, location and hours of operation to their business listing and, if needed, secure a website and domain name from Google partner Start Logic that will be free for a year.
Visitors to Let’s Put Our Cities on the Map sites will also be directed to local in-person training workshops hosted by Google in partnership with small business growth-focused local organizations, like Chambers of Commerce, Small Business Development Centres and SCORE chapters.
In short, Google is all set to help people in every possible way to make business bigger and more efficient.
