Google is now allowing users to create customized short URLs for Google My Business listings.
These custom URLs, referred to by Google as "short names," are currently accessible to a limited number of businesses.
Although it seems not all businesses have access yet, it’s more than a test feature because there’s already a help center article dedicated to it.
Ben Fisher shared an example on a social media platform. In the bottom right corner of his screenshot, you can see he set his short name to ‘SteadyDemand.’
New: Shortnames for GMB Profiles – This feature is more than just vanity URLs. It’s an easy way to share your profile and is much better than a string of digits. Also, you can solicit reviews with a simple extension. A shortname can be between 5-32 characters.
After creating a short name, a GMB profile can be directly accessed by going to “g.page/[yourcustomname]".
You can also solicit reviews by adding ‘/review/’ at the end of the URL, which would look like “g.page/[yourcustomname]/review/”.
This makes promoting the URL exceptionally easy and user-friendly for customers to type into a browser’s address bar. It would also be effective in marketing pieces.
Google’s help center article indicates that short names are only available to verified businesses. Still, even among verified businesses, most do not have access yet.
If access is granted to you, create a short URL by following these steps:
- Sign in to Google My Business.
- Open the location you want to create a short name for.
- From the menu, click Info > Add profile short name.
- Enter your short name, which can be up to 32 characters long.
- Click Apply. Your short name will show as pending, and when it’s ready, it’ll appear on your Business Profile.
If you’re unsatisfied with your short name, it can be changed up to three times per year, so choose wisely.
It’s great to see Google offering this feature, particularly after discontinuing its own URL shortener service.
