Google My Business listings can now emphasize the health and safety measures they’re taking to protect customers during the pandemic.
Making customers aware of the steps being taken to ensure their safety can significantly influence their choice of one business over another.
Attributes on a Google My Business profile are designed to grab the attention of searchers by highlighting essential service offerings.
Searchers can use these attributes to make more informed decisions about which businesses to visit.
The new health and safety attributes businesses can add to their listings include:
- Appointment required
- Mask required
- Staff wear masks
- Staff get temperature checks
- Temperature check required
These attributes are reportedly starting to appear on Google My Business listings on both desktop and mobile platforms.
These health and safety measures join an expanding list of attributes Google has added in direct response to the pandemic.
Google’s efforts to implement these changes might have been slow, but it’s better than not rolling them out at all.
In case you missed some earlier updates, here’s a look at all the new attributes added to Google My Business over the past several months.
Pandemic-related Google My Business Attributes
Attributes for Local Restaurants
Google began adding new attributes for local restaurants in response to the pandemic back in May, starting with:
- Curbside pickup
- No-contact delivery
- Dine-in
These were introduced when businesses started reopening after forced lockdowns.
The attributes make it immediately clear which restaurants are open and to what extent they’re operational.
This removes the guesswork for customers seeking restaurants to order from.
Attributes for Online Services
Google continued its rollout of new attributes in June with a focus on online services.
The new attributes for online services include:
- Online Care
- Online Appointment
- Online Estimates
- Online Classes
The importance of online services has remained constant since June, making these attributes still highly relevant.
Back when this update rolled out, it was predicted that the next wave of attributes would relate to health and safety:
“As businesses start to reopen now, I predict the next wave of attributes will be related to businesses’ safety measures. In the future, businesses may be able to highlight whether masks are mandatory, for example.”
It took a few months to get those updates, but the prediction was accurate.
What’s Next for Google My Business Attributes?
If I had to make another prediction, I believe the next wave of attributes will relate to locations’ maximum capacities.
As the weather gets colder, many restaurants and bars will be forced to close their patios.
When that happens, knowing the maximum number of patrons allowed inside, the number of people that can sit at one table, and similar information will become crucial.
This information will be useful when planning a night out, especially for those venturing out in a group.
How to Add Attributes to Your Google My Business Listing
Businesses can add the new attributes, or update existing ones, on their Google My Business listing by following these steps:
- Sign in to Google My Business.
- Open the location you’d like to manage.
- From the menu, click Info.
- Find Add Attributes and click Edit.
- You can search for the attribute you want to add or scroll through all the available options for your business.
- When you’re finished updating your attributes, click Apply.
