One Google My Business Trick That Will Blow Your Mind (Easy Hack)

how do you fancy spicing up your google my business panel with animated images like these ones so you can catch the eye of visitors stumbling across your listing if you want to know how sit down and relax because it's coming right up hi my name is luke duran the founder of rankingacademy.co.uk if it's your first time here today why don't you subscribe and click on the bell button before the end of this video so you get notified next time i publish a new one following the publication of my video called optimize your google local knowledge panel to win more clients i received a number of questions on how to create a product gallery and i thought it would be a good idea to make a tutorial about it as i was preparing the content for this video i stumbled across an article from darren shaw president of whitespark.ca who found an awesome hack to add animated images to the google my business product gallery i was so impressed with darren's hack i decided to add it to this tutorial so today not only you will learn how to create a product gallery for your listing from scratch but also how to add animated images to it and if you don't know how to create animated images for your products don't panic because i'm also going to show you how to design professional looking ones too step by step using one of my favorite online free software there's a lot to cover so let's get cracking before i show you how to do all of this let me recap why you would want to add a product gallery to your listing in the first place as a gallery uses images it's obviously very visually powerful but it also sits very high up on your local knowledge panel making it very compelling it's included in google mobile search results it doesn't only show when searchers are looking for your brand name anyone searching for a keyword triggering your listing in maps for instance will be exposed to the gallery finally most of your competitors are not using this feature if you read darren's article you'll find that only four percent of businesses are using a product gallery meaning if you start using it it will definitely give you an edge over your competition if you're not convinced yet you should create a product gallery for your listing i suggest you stop watching this video for the rest of you head over to canva.com if you're not familiar with canva.com it is a graphic design platform that simplifies the way to create digital assets for all your online needs using drag and drop technology and predefined templates you can easily produce visuals for all your social media accounts your website and more there are no skills required and it is completely free you can purchase premium images if you want but you will just use only the free resources available to create our animated images today first create a free account using your preferred method there are no credit cards required once you've created an account click on create a design in the top right hand side of the window there are plenty of predefined design you can choose from unfortunately there isn't one available to create an image for a product gallery on google so we'll need to create a custom size one instead landscape images work best for the google map business product gallery and for this tutorial i will be using an image with the following dimensions 883 pixels by 588 pixels but feel free to choose your own once you've set your canvas size you can start creating an image by dragging element onto it using the left hand side menu from photos text or elements there are plenty of options to choose from if you've never used canva before you can explore all of them later before starting my design i'm going to create some margins for my image this is because google crops images depending on where they are displayed especially on mobile making things a little tricky to do this i'm going to use a square element and drag its handle until the width is 150 pixels then snap it to the left on the canva then copy and paste it on the other side i will also create some top and bottom margins but this time i will use 100 pixels instead anything designed in the white space will not get cropped this is particularly useful if you want to add some copy to your design i will obviously remove those margins once the design is completed for the sake of this tutorial i'm going to add my own image using the upload feature give it a couple of seconds after which you can just drag it onto the canva too adjust it so it covers the entire canva then right click on the image and choose the send to back option then add whatever else you feel will help make your product stand out such as a headline or a price once you're happy with your design you can animate it to do this select the element of the image you want to animate then simply click on the animate option in the main menu there is a range of free animations to choose from each of which can be previewed when you hover on it you can also set the animation time and preview it to make sure it all works fine once again the choice is entirely up to you but here is my advice don't start going crazy and animate everything on your design because a you don't want your product gallery to end up looking like a christmas tree and b the more animation you add the heavier the files get and they may end up being too heavy and will not display properly in your gallery i recommend you use subtle text animations which will make your file a lot lighter and make your gallery look a lot more professional once you're happy with the end result delete all the margins click on the download options but don't click on the download button yet instead of the mp4 format suggested download your file as a gif and save it somewhere safe on your computer it's now time to create your product gallery head over to google my business and sign in to access your business dashboard from the left hand side menu click on product if you've never loaded products before your screen should look like this click on get started this will launch a pop-up you can use to create your first product let's not add the photo just yet and instead fill in all the fields starting with the name once you've added a name you'll need to choose which category this product falls into as this is your first product there is currently no category available so you'll need to create one you will be able to reuse it for other products later on at a price there is no need to specify the currency in the field by default google will be using the currency of where the local business is registered add a description you can use up to a thousand characters including blank space note you cannot format the copy in any way shape or form not even add a break line once you've added a description you have the option of adding a button which will display when searchers click on a product like this one although this is optional i recommend you use this feature as it can really make a difference to your bottom line there are five choices available all of which will require you to add a relevant link to it and now for the ps the resistance adding your photo scroll back up and click on the select a photo option and fetch the photo you created in canva when you try loading it you should see an error message at the bottom of your screen that says invalid file type selected that's because google will not let you add an animated gif in your gallery or anywhere else on your google my business listing for that matter but here is when the magic happens i'm going to click on the select a photo button again and fetch my animated gif file but just before trying to load it i'm going to change the file extension of it from a gif to a jpeg if you don't know how to do this just right click on the image and choose the option that allows you to change the name then replace the last three letters from gif to jpeg and if you can't see those letters press the window and e keys together on your keyboard this will open the windows explorer tab click on view and make sure the file name extension option is ticked so all the files extensions are showing let's go back to the photo loading process for a gallery select the animated gif from your photo rename it from a gif to a jpeg a warning pop-up will appear to tell you the file may become unusable just click on yes and continue and voila your first product is ready to be published scroll down and save it your file is now ready let's just check what it looks like in the main panel and when i click on it pretty cool right it might take up to 24 hours for your gallery to appear on your google my business listing so don't be impatient i would suggest you wait until then before you start creating and adding more images this will give you the chance to verify it displays the way you want it and that it loads properly on all devices i would also recommend creating more than one product category as it will expand the size of your listing and also make it easier for visitors to search through your product range final few words it doesn't matter if you sell products or not you should use the product gallery to advertise your services just like for this electrician unfortunately not all businesses will have access to a product gallery as it depends on a vertical you're in to find out if you have access simply sign in your google my business account and check if the product option is available in the main menu of your dashboard and remember this is a hack while it works for now google may correct this later as i'm sure they won't be pleased to find out about people adding animated images on some local listings so make the most of it while it lasts that's it for today guys please remember to like and subscribe if you have any questions post them in the comments below and until next time happy marketing [Music] you

Channel: Ranking Academy

Views: 24,944

Keywords: google my business, google my business optimization, google my business tutorial, google my business tips, google my business tips and tricks, google my business optimization tips, google my business secrets, google my business tips 2021, google my business tricks, google my business hacks, google my business tips and tricks 2021, google my business product gallery, google my business seo, local seo

Id: znPvUIWXBuU

Length: 10min 17sec (617 seconds)

Published: Tue Jun 15 2021