Google Allowing Businesses to Add Social Media Links to their Business Profiles
In a gradual rollout, Google is now allowing businesses to add links to their social media directly on their business profiles. Businesses can add their Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest, TikTok, (X) Twitter, YouTube, and other social media platforms to their listings on both search and Maps. While businesses can only add one link per platform, Google allows for the same link to be assigned to multiple profiles, meaning that each location can link back to its general brand social rather than an individual location’s account.
These links were formerly added only and automatically to a brand’s knowledge panel and were not part of individual location’s profile. This shift means that businesses are now able to, and are responsible for, ensuring their social links are present and accurate themselves. Consumers are trained today to expect social media and website links when researching a business, making this optimization a necessary step for all businesses. Adding social links is an expected business behavior on other platforms and now it will be a part of Google’s ecosystem as well. While Google has not yet implemented performance metrics on these new manageable social links, that is something expected after the full rollout. Business should still add social links where possible, the presence of them is something that will likely affect rankings once available in all regions.
