Google My Business Has Introduced Shortened URLs for GMB Profiles

Local SEO  |     |  

Google wants local businesses to be able to share their information on other platforms. Case in point: Shortened URLs are now available (for some “verified” businesses) and these can be easily shared towards a company’s marketing efforts. Search Engine Journal has more of what this means to local businesses.

Short Name URLs

Twitter and Instagram popularized the short name URL. For example, the official Microsoft username is “@microsoft” and Twitter and Instagram, respectively. Google My Business is getting on board with allowing local businesses to have short name URLs. This will allow these companies to market more efficiently.

Matt Southern of Search Engine Journal writes, “After creating a short name, a GMB profile can be accessed directly by going to “g.page/[yourcustomname]”. This makes it exceptionally easy to promote the URL, and easy for customers to type into a browser’s address bar. It would also look good in marketing pieces.”

Check to see if you have access to short name URLs. Follow these steps:

  • Sign in to GMB
  • Select the location you’d like to create a short name URL for
  • Navigate to the menu then click Info
  • Find “Add profile short name”
  • Choose and enter the short name you want
  • Click “Apply”

If you follow these steps, you’re all set! There are two very important notes with GMB short URLs. First, you can enter up to only 32 characters. After all, these are called short URLs for a reason: They aren’t supposed to be lengthy! And secondly, if you’d like to change your short URL you’re able to do that; however, you can only change it up to 3 times. So choose carefully!

Featured photo by Geralt on Pixabay