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SEO: Latest Corona Virus Updates

 In SEO, SEO Strategy

GMB Gift Card Update for Local Businesses Needing Support

Most small, local businesses suffer continuing financial stress from the lack of walk-in local traffic. With a positive eye toward the future, many are turning to sales of gift cards to generate cash flow now. And many are also requesting community support from their loyal customer base.

Google recognizes local businesses as the heart of our communities and is releasing this new donation/gift card feature for GMB. This feature will enable you to add support links to your Google My Business profile.

There are options for platforms to use for both a gift card and a donation. Here are some screenshots that show the interface and the platforms for both. Use this feature to display your gift card or donation request in Google’s local search results on your GMB panel.

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Many ecommerce companies are seeing strong demand for their products as consumers are shying away from brick and mortar stores, or can’t shop in them.

Nonetheless, supply chains are not fully up to par in some cases, especially those which are dependent on parts from China. So Vault Light, a savvy affordable luxury lighting company, has addressed customer concerns with a new category on their site called Quick Ship Lighting. The category contains light fixtures that that are in-stock and available to be shipped to customers immediately.

Here are a few more ideas to keep your SEO going through the slow down (partial thanks to Search Engine Journal https://www.searchenginejournal.com/seo-marketing-combat-coronavirus-impact/354780/ )

Google My Business and your Temporarily Closed Status


If your business is closing temporarily due to Covid-19, do not mark your business as temporarily closed in your Google My Business listing. In many cases we see this leading to the unintended consequence of these businesses disappearing from Google maps. We do not know how long it will take for businesses to recover their rankings from this action. What can you do instead?

Here’s how to inform searchers that your local business is temporarily closed:

  1. Add a GMB event post listing your current status and revised hours.
  2. Date the event from today until one month (it can be deleted when you re-open).
  3. Update your GMB business description to describe your current status and hours.
  4. Consider providing a special offer post as well with a link to your website with a discount to be used in the future (ex: 15% of all purchases on re-opening)

Stay safe. Protect yourselves and your clients. And protect your business!

Let us know if you have any questions or if we can help!

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