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    Does your law firm take advantage of Google Posts?

    The Google My Business dashboard that allows business owners to post updates about their business and have them appear directly in the search results. At the time of this writing there are five different Google Post categories your firm can take advantage of. These include:

    • Covid-19 Updates
    • Offers
    • What’s New
    • Event(s)
    • Product(s)

    There are a few different places where these show up in the search results, depending on where you are looking. Below are a couple of examples:

    Google Posts in Branded Search: The Post is Highlighted in Red

    Branded search GMB Posts Display

    Google Posts In The Local Finder: The Post is Highlighted In Red

    Local Finder Google Posts Display

    Google Posts on Mobile Devices: Below the Listing

    You will notice that I didn’t quite get the picture formatting right on my first few posts which cause the text to be cut off in the picture.

    Mobile devices below the listing

    What can you use the Google Posts feature for?

    This feature can be used for a variety of reasons with the options Google My Business provides. By default, you can have the post display as text, text with an image, an event, or an offer or special. The event option allows you to set a date and time and the specials or offers section allows you to link to specific website pages.

    Here are a few of the intended uses for Google Posts:

    • Promoting Events: If you host an event at your location there is an option to create one from the dashboard.
    • Sharing News Updates: You can upload photos and add text.
    • Sharing offers or specials: There are options to add links and buttons
    • Sharing Products: If your firm offers specific products you can highlight them here
    • Covid 19 Updates. Every business was changed with Covid 19 in 2020. You can provide updates such as if you allow in person visits in this section.

    How To Make A Post

    Google Posts Option

    To make your first post, start by logging into your Google My Business dashboard. Once you’re logged in you will want to navigate to the new “posts” option on the right side.

    Once you click here you will be given a variety of options and fields to fill out. First, you need to decide what the post will be about. By default you will be given two post options:

    • Write Your Post – This is where you will write the text for your update
    • Image Upload – This is where you can upload your image

    Pro Tip: Keep in mind that any image you upload will only show the middle 1/3 of the image in the search results.

    What Can Law Firms Use Google Posts For

    Half of the fun with new features is getting to play with them and testing how they will perform in search results. Thankfully the posts also have their own insights where you can see the views and engagements for each post which you can see below.

    Views and posts

    There are many ways you can take advantage of this new feature. Below are some ideas on how you can use this feature:

    • Business hours updates. If your hours change you can make a general announcement here.
    • Event promotion at your business location. Whether you’re hosting a class or giving away free accident kits.
    • Further, promote client reviews or awards (you can see a visual example of this below)
    • Offer a direct call to action where clients can go from the search results to a contact form
    • Use it like social media to promote local news
    • Promote new case results for your firm
    • Recognize employees in the firm publicly

    This example shows how we’re testing showcasing Awards and reviews to give them, even more, prominence in the search results for potential consumers wanting to contact the firm.

    Post Options in Google

    I would love to hear how you’re using this new feature and what benefits it’s brought you. Please let me know in the comments below:

    Casey Meraz Casey Meraz is an entrepreneur, SEO expert, investor, creator, husband, father, friend, and CEO of Juris Digital. Casey is a frequent speaker at industry events and the author of two books on digital marketing, including "Local Marketing for Personal Injury Lawyers" and “How to Perform the Ultimate Local SEO Audit”
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