Google Gives Small Businesses Quick-and-Easy Metrics with Free Dashboard
Traditional brick-and-mortar businesses, those old-fashioned businesses with a physical address, now have even more reason to like Google: free analytics. As reports TechCrunch, by claiming their listing profiles on Google Local, businesses now will receive a free dashboard that shows stats including how many times their business comes up as a search result, how often people click through to their listing, how many times people use Google Maps to get driving directions to their address, and from where those people are coming. The free dashboard is like the interface Google Analytics users get for free, minus integration with Google AdWords.
The new arrangement is a win-win situation for Google and small businesses alike. Google gets more accurate data, as currently, only a few hundred thousand business listing profiles have been claimed by small businesses out of an estimated 20 million small businesses in the United States. Small businesses get free analytics, which includes the ability to see the top search queries that yield their listing in search results. This way, small businesses can consider buying those keywords via Google AdWords, or optimizing their web sites to include those keywords.
By Robert Pothier
