Local Search: What are Business Attributes and Why Are They Important for Your Brand?

When checking into a place on Google Maps, a user may notice that Google will ask them to volunteer information about the establishment they are visiting. If you are a restaurant, it may ask the visitor to answer whether or not the restaurant has a wheelchair-accessible entrance or whether or not the location has take out. For retail stores, it may ask for information such as store hours or parking accommodations. There’s a big reasons Google does this, and it’s called attributes.

Business attributes are descriptive “nuggets” of information about a business’s services, payment methods, store hours, etc. Attributes are important because they can influence an person’s decision.

Google being Google, they want to set themselves up as the ultimate place to find and search for information regarding a location; and it’s not just Google. Other publishers will such as Yelp and Trip Advisor will ask for the same details about whether or not a business is kid or dog friendly, or if they provide outdoor seating.

Accurate information makes these publishers useful, and being more useful attracts more visitors, which makes your business profile valuable to publishers.

What this Means for Businesses

Since these publishers (or data aggregators) your business’s data all across places people conduct local searches, it’s important to share as much information you can about your business in order to turn visitors into customers. Keep in mind:

Basic information such as name, address, website, store hours are musts. These are basic must-have information for all business profiles and just one-half of the the battle. Basic information ensures your customers find your store; business attributes help turn searches into business.

Attributes encourage action after a user has found you on-the-go, or during a micro-moment. Failure to include these attributes may cause a business to fall out of consideration for that searcher.

According to Google, the number of “near me” searches have increased 146 percent per year; 88% of those “near me” searches are conducted on a mobile device.

How to Add Your Business Attributes on Google

Visit your Google My Business page to add information about your business and ensure information is accurate. There are also options to verify your business, add photos, and respond to Google reviews as well.