New Google My Business Call History Feature Now In Beta
- 7 October, 2020
- Jason Ferry
- SEO specialist
Google My Business (GMB) is currently planning to add a brand-new call history feature. This feature will notify business owners and SEO specialists about the recent customer calls triggered from search results. This will conveniently allow local SEO specialists and businesses to see all these calls in one place.
With this feature, SEOs and business owners can easily track phone calls from customers on Google Search and Maps. This feature looks to be a game-changer, and can be especially beneficial for those who have difficulty responding to missed calls from customers. It will also help businesses stay engaged with their clients.
Moreover, owners can find potential customers and work with potential partners who use Google to find the business. Google will also send a short message to SEOs and business owners if their customer’s call came from their Business Profile.
Google will add a “Calls” tab to their GMB app, which keeps calls for 45 days. Here, businesses can view their call history, particularly those calls from customers who click the “call” button on a business’s GMB profile, regardless if they are answered or missed the call.
However, SEO specialists should remember that the Calls tab only works in the GMB application, so they can’t view it on the browser version.
Another thing to consider is whether one should activate this feature or not. GMB’s call history is indeed helpful for most companies, but some can choose not to use it. This is because it disguises the real contact number of a business owner.
For Google to be able to log calls from GMB profiles, it creates special forwarding numbers for clients to use instead of using the actual contact info on the business profile. Some companies see it as no big deal, but others see it as a huge problem. This is because some businesses prefer to have them contacted via their actual phone numbers.
As for this forwarding number that Google uses, they said it is based on the location it was dialled in, including the prefix number and the area code. The contact number will share the same prefix number and area code as your business. But if that’s not possible, they will use a local number in the geographic region instead. However, if such numbers can’t be used, Google will use a toll-free number.
This means that clients can still see the actual phone number of a business on the GMB profile, but a forwarding number will only be used if they tap the call button.
Google users will be able to turn the upcoming GMB feature on and off at any time they want.
The call history feature is still in the works, but Google is now allowing a few business owners to try this feature. Moreover, Google has already published a “help page” where people can gain more information before the feature launches.
Once the feature is available, GMB users can simply click the “Try it out” button once Google sends them a pop-up notification window about the beta.
If you want a professional to manage your website and Google My Business profile for you, you can look for local SEO specialists, particularly those who have already garnered years of experience in the industry.
With Position1SEO, you can rest assured that all SEO matters will be dealt with in a timely and professional manner. We guarantee you an in-depth SEO audit before proceeding to know which areas we need to improve – because it’s important to do things the right way from the very beginning.
Once we determine areas that need improvement, we will start writing content for your site, optimising your webpages, managing your social media, and performing other essential tasks as necessary. To get started, call us today via 0141 404 7515 or email us at office@position1seo.co.uk.