A fundamental tool for all local businesses is the care and management of their Business Profile card, formerly known as Google My Business.
In our article “How to optimize your card on Google Business Profile” we explored all the main features of a card, from how to write the business name to how to correctly choose the category.
Google Business Profile also offers a series of statistics to monitor performance trends, such as monthly interactions, received calls, or requests for directions to the physical business.
In particular, for local searches, the SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages) are increasingly populated by Google cards and all the information they contain.
From this perspective, Google constantly works to refine this extraordinary free resource.
Recently, the chats that offered users the possibility to privately contact card owners have been removed, as they were indeed little used. But fortunately, they have been replaced by SMS and the WhatsApp channel.
If you don’t see these options appearing on your cards, don’t worry! They are being rolled out in Italy as well.
To use SMS, simply enter the phone number, while for WhatsApp, it is necessary to enter the URL formatted in this way with the initial prefix: https://wa.me/393937001000
Additionally, Google emphasizes that the same link can be inserted in multiple Business Profile cards.
This update brings several advantages:
- Improves communication between users and brands: with a simple click, customers can start a private chat with businesses, without having to use email or phone calls.
- Increases accessibility: WhatsApp, among the most popular apps in Italy, is intuitive even for those less familiar with technology. For those who prefer traditional tools, SMS remains available.
- Promotes an increase in local requests: SMS and WhatsApp are direct and immediate channels. It is likely that in the coming months, local requests through these tools will grow further.
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