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Google Adds Reviews, Menu, and Other Listing Information Under Local Photos

October 22, 2024 /
All industries  /   Ratings and Reviews 

Google wants businesses to utilize every aspect of their Google Business Profiles, and now the search engine is encouraging this even further by combining different listing attributes. Reviews are already a major part of rankings, with Google taking into consideration not only star rating but also volume, freshness, and the text content of those reviews. All of this is done to better match review content directly to user queries. In the same vein, Google wants businesses to show photos of all their products and services so that they can be scanned by AI tools, allowing the most relevant photo to be displayed for the user’s search. These once individual optimizations are now being combined, with users who view local photos on a listing sometimes also seeing reviews related to the image being viewed.

This combination of photos and reviews again demonstrates how both matter. Google wants to give its users as much content as possible for every query, which means utilizing everything uploaded onto a Google Business Profile. Photos, menus, and reviews have been primary sources for matching keywords in a query, and Google will certainly prefer listings that have matching aspects in multiple categories rather than just one. Users, too, will have a better experience when they can view a menu item that interests them and then see reviews about that exact item right below the images. All of this means that businesses must focus on having an abundance of content, even when redundant, in every aspect of their listing. If you wish to outrank your competitors, you need to have just as much, if not more, information on your business profile.