Google My Business 2021 : My 7 Predictions

Google My Business in 2021. What will change? Here are my 7 predictions and video to show you what is coming your way.

Google My Business has grown into a very powerful business tool. No business can underestimate its control over potential new customers and constant stream of business traffic. With over 68% of potential clients checking out your business reviews, 2021 is onyl going in one direction as far as Google is concerned.

So I decided to put my pen to paper and predict the 7 areas I expect to see develop in 2021. With 4 months left to go, I may get some of these things wrong, but it will be great to see how many of these thigns are also right 12 months from now.

Google My Business 2021 Prediction Video

For 2021 its easier to make a prediction video. So watch now as I list and show you on Google Business the 7 areas you may well see growing in next year.

Timestamps For GMB 2021 Video

The timestamp for those 7 predictions are links to the exact place in the video above.

• 0:00 Introduction to Zanet Design 7 GMB predictions
• 1:45 Better attributes, subjective and factual
• 3:41 Eradicate Spam in Google My Business
• 7:24 Increased online classes and video conferencing within GMB
• 9:15 Better user experience as always
• 12:09 Image Intelligence in Google beta coming into the mainstream
• 16:22 Google guarantee and Money Registrations
• 18:40 Improved Voice search for 2021

Google My Business Attributes

Better attributes in Google My Business will improve the user experience in 2021. THese refine the businesses into usable sectors in an organised fashion so searches can be even more accurate.

Every business fits into a category. You could liken attributes to tags, its another level down and generally falls into 2 types

What are Factual attributes?

• Factual attributes (like online training, Black-owned, outdoor seating, consulting or women-led) These you can control and edit from within GMB dashboard

What are Subjective attributes?

• Subjective attributes (like whether your business is popular with locals or expensive). These are controlled by your customers

Why GMB Attributes are important for 2021

Subjective and factual attributes together give a great breakdown of the business strengths and weaknesses

“Google My Business attributes will be massive in 2021”

Zanet Design

COVID has changed the health & safety aspect

Recently COVID brought lots of new facilities. Google wants more upfront information and rewards updated listings. Even last week they released COVID Health & safety.

This video will give you more detail on how attributes work and what you can do to be ready for the next huge batch from Google

Eradicate Spam in Google My Business

Dream on! I hear you say. But it’s about time Google totally readdressed the issues with business titles being too influential on results. Up to now its been easy for spammers to make up a new business name and register it with GMB so they can instantly cream off the top traffic with no work at all.

What spammers curently do this

As you can see in the image below, a business name can easily be added with the main category included in it. This breaks all the guidelines Google provide, yet nothing seems to stop it . One YouTuber recently claimed Google My business was broken. I wouldn’t go that far, but its not something to ignore.

So I’m not fighting against this. But I do think it’s a little unfair on the genuine businesses whose names don’t include the area or category. However, I know Google will continue to tackle this unfair advantage a business name currently has.

Greater use of online classes and video conferencing

The new Google My Business attributes seem to be leaning towards video conferencing including a Connect in real-time, with video. THese options are liekly to encourage online consultation and tutorials as chargeable services going forward.

Video tools include:

GMB give options to several well know video tools including

• Google meet,
• Webex,
• Skype
• Zoom

These tools have just recently been given the go-ahead to integrate with your Google business listing. So its best to get ahead of your competition and get connected. It’s expected Google will apply this to its recent updates for bookings too. eg. Online classes, Onsite services, Online estimates and Online appointments

Google Business Video Conferencing and other tools

Better user experience with Google My Business

Google My Business is likely to become a lot easier to update and manage. As managers of businesses dont always have time to keep everything updated. Google needs the top businesses in the results to broadcast reliable information. Unless GMB popularity will slump.

User experience

Google has recently explained that several area cause a good user experience including:

• Core vitals…
• Everything loading quickly within couple of seconds
• lCP largest content paint
• Speed of initial load

Images and Intelligence will be huge in 2021

I think its quite staggering how quickly Google can understand an image. Image Intelligence has exploded in the last couple of years. If you arent aware of this you will be in for a surprise in 2021.

I recently produced an article on reverse engineering images in a search. While researching I came across a lot of beta stuff from Google and all I can say is its quite mind-blowing what they have managed to produce.

What to do to your images to get ahead

Add images with text and logos to appeal to a more intelligent search result. Ive shown several videos to support this. So my advice at this stage is treat Google as if a person was looking at the images.

More paid benefits for Google

Google guarantee came out recently with no surprise. This is the start of a new way of advertising and business money registrations.

What is Google Guaranteed?

It was introduced to target local businesses. The program is a part of Google’s AdWords product. These listings top even the Google Search Ads from Google Ads. The program is under beta testing and is only available in specific areas in the US and Canada. But it proof in which direction Google is taking the GMB vehicle.

Cashing in on GMB?

In effect its now turning into a check-a-trade subscription process. So the free registration is soon going to be a distant memory, which is why its shocking so many business still havent registered while it is free.

Voice search

Have you noticed the importance of reliable opening hours, holidays, delivery facilities and takeaway delivery has recently had? No surprise its building up to the voice search popularity that’s slowly growing.

Voice search makes sense for 2021

To discover how voice search requires reliable opening hours, holidays, delivery facilities/takeaway delivery information to work well, take a look at this video

The video showed 5 SEO Tips for Business Owners. So you will need to get these optimised to be ready for these massive changes in user habits for next year.

Concluding thoughts

You can only hope and guess about this. I hope Google My Business in 2021 will eradicate GMB spam. With an algorithm that gives less importance to the keywords in the business name. This will improve in 2021. Additionally, I predict Google will aim to eradicate unverified businesses.

Other predictions for Google My Business in 2021 include greater use of online classes and video conferencing, a better user experience. Business sites loading quickly within a couple of seconds.

As you can see in my video above don’t forget more Image Intelligence from Google. Images similar to search results shows in the video that Google reads text and understands context and objects.

Finally, I’m sure Google will cash in with more paid benefits for a business prepared to advertise. Google is a business too so it makes sense.

What to do next

If you then want more support videos and learn how to really push your listing up another level head over to the Zanet YouTube Channel

Zanet Design Ltd is based in the Bournemouth. If you want a reliable web design manager or just need some type of benefit from my experience, then book a consultation with me and I will do my best to give you the best advice tailored for your business.