By now, you may already know that Google My Business can help you increase roofing leads, traffic, and brand awareness of your roofing business provided you know how to use it properly.
Not only can a well-optimized GMB profile help you rank higher in local search, but it can also prevent spammers and competitors from ruining your reputation and stealing your customers.
It allows you to interact with your existing and prospective customers at any time you want. Needless to say; an expertly managed GMB profile goes a long way in making your brand more reliable and trustworthy than other companies.
The best part? Google My Business is completely free and very easy to use. For local businesses, there’s virtually no excuse for not taking advantage of GMB, especially in the roofing industry.
As I indicated in my last post, Google made a major announcement recently regarding GMB. This may be a game-changer as far as a local search for roofers is concerned.
Welcome To Updated GMB Profiles and the Google Guaranteed Badge
On July 22, 2020, a Google My Business Gold Product Expert named Tom Waddington mentioned in a series of Tweets that Google was testing a new paid-for service for GMB profiles. With $50 as a monthly subscription, the paid-for profiles will be positioned as Upgraded GMB profiles and have a ‘Google Guaranteed Badge’ to make them stand out.
Why Is It A Big Deal?
A GMB page is at the core of local search. And, how you manage it largely determines the performance of your listing in the local search results. Now, a GMB profile with a Google Guaranteed Badge will obviously stand out from ordinary profiles and may even get a higher CTR as compared to the businesses without the badge.
Google Guaranteed and Local Service Ads
Google Guaranteed badges are not new. They have already been an important part of Local Service Ads (LSA) for a long time. Google Guaranteed Badge is just new for GMB profiles. Profiles with guaranteed badges are called Upgraded GMB profiles.
Will it make any difference? You might be wondering
In practical terms, Google Guaranteed has the potential to make a huge impact on the way visitors look at businesses in their local pack. When looking for a trusted roofer, they will go for a company that offers some sort of guarantee right on their listing.
To understand Upgraded GMB profiles with guaranteed badges, you’ll need to know a thing or two about LSA or Local Service Ads.
Let’s try to delve deeper…
What Are Google’s Local Service Ads?
Google’s Local Services Ads or LSA is essentially a ‘pay per lead’ advertising program that, if used wisely, can easily elevate any local business marketing strategy to a whole new level.
So, what differentiates LSA from regular PPC ads is that in LSA, you will be charged on a ‘Pay per Lead’ basis rather than the number of clicks. And it is designed to help eligible businesses connect with the valid leads easily and more efficiently.
The Google Guaranteed Badge we discussed above is a crucial part of the LSA program. Once approved, visitors notice a green checkmark and Google Guaranteed badge on the Local Service Ads of eligible businesses.
But most importantly, Google Guaranteed badges do much more than just grabbing the attention of visitors.
As the name suggests, Google Guaranteed badges are created to offer a sort of guarantee and coverage to the customers if they are not satisfied with the advertised services.
For instance, if a searcher books a service through LSA or Google Guaranteed ads and they are not satisfied with the job, Google protects them with coverage of up to $2000.
Now that you know the basics of Local Service Ads, let’s dive right into Upgraded GMB Profiles.
How Guaranteed Badges Can Revolutionize Local Marketing For Roofing Companies?
Having a Google Guaranteed Badge on your profile conveys that Google has confidence in your business, so much so that it is even willing to reimburse your disappointed customers.
Let’s look at a few prominent things you should know about Upgraded GMB profiles:
•The Upgraded GMB profiles work on the subscription billing model and are still in the testing phase. Google loves to change things all the time.
•Upgraded GMB profiles will cost $50 per month for each profile. If you have a separate GMB profile for each of your locations, you may have to shell out $50 for each location.
•The Google Guaranteed Badge will be displayed on the qualified profiles. Your visitors will see a green checkmark along with Google Guaranteed Badge on your profile.
•The badge is only available for profiles that pass Google’s qualification and screening process.
•The screening and approval process for GMB is quite similar to that used for local service Ads (LSA) approval. If approved, it will appear on the dashboard.
At ‘Raise the Rank’, we feel that upgraded GMB profiles will become the norm soon. It is a big deal for any business that wants to rank well and attract more clients using the local search.
What Does Google Guarantee Cover?
•According to Google, this paid-for program is designed to provide a better business experience to both customers and businesses.
•Pre-approved, Upgraded GMB profiles with a Google Guaranteed badge are backed by Google Guarantee that covers claims of up to $2000. This amount is the lifetime cap for the guarantee coverage. As you can see the coverage is nowhere near the actual price of the roof.
•To be eligible for the claim, the service must be availed through Google Local Services. Some of the things that may not be covered include damage to the property, future projects, cancellations, and responsiveness of the service provider, to name a few.
Now it’s Your Turn
We hope that all the tips, guidelines, and instructions in our GMB series will help you get a consistent flow of new leads and sales for your roofing company every month with local search. Give us a call today to know how you can boost your sales and leads by implementing time-tested digital marketing and local search strategies.
