Google my business: library listings

The City has over 100 business profiles on Google, otherwise known as Google My Business listings. Google My Business is a free listing tool that manages how business information appears on Google Search and Maps. It’s a key way to communicate operational information (including opening times and location) along with facility photos and shared reviews online.

We have listings for our community centres, libraries, parks and even playgrounds. We saw an opportunity to optimise our existing listings, starting with our library network.

Timeline
September 2018 – July 2019
Project team
City Communications collaborated with Library Management and on-boarded front line library staff who, once trained, were empowered to manage all content.

Our objectives

  1. Increase the visibility of our library branch information in Google search
  2. Help potential library customers find out more about our branches
  3. Build trust and credibility through the reviews feature
  4. Answer customer enquiries
  5. Ultimately increase visitation to branches and membership
  1. Increase the visibility of our library branch information in Google search
  2. Help potential library customers find out more about our branches
  3. Build trust and credibility through the reviews feature
  4. Answer customer enquiries
  5. Ultimately increase visitation to branches and membership

Who we targeted

  1. Current library members
  2. Potential library customers

Our approach

Google is a powerful tool to help communicate our facility and venue information. Our listings were however inconsistent, incomplete and we weren’t optimising some of its key functionality.

The main approach therefore for this pilot project was to optimise our listings with quality content. We first verified our existing listings and updated all business-related information such as opening hours and location details. We commissioned a full suite of photography and created new listings to complete accurate records for each of our eleven branches.

An important component of the project was to facilitate ongoing content updates so the next step was to get our front-line staff on board. Face-to-face training was provided for 20+ staff covering social media and content management training. This has empowered staff to respond to reviews and questions about their branch directly.

In the process we have built trust and credibility through the reviews feature and gained ongoing customer insights from negative (and positive) feedback.

What we did

We used the following tactics to optimise our online presence:

Search engine optimisation

Content management

Photography

Insights and analytics

Highlights

increase in library listing impressions

(across Google Search and Maps)

increase in engagements with our listings

(since optimising)

The Google My Business project and generally positive customer feedback has led to a real boost in staff morale Catherine Flanagan, Area Team Leader North, Libraries and Learning