Have you heard of Google Posts? They are a new addition to content you can create as part of your Google My Business page. Google has chosen to not make a big deal out of Posts at the moment, so information is fairly limited. This is what they have said thus far:
“Posting on Google is a new way to share relevant, fresh content with the people who are searching for you. Use image, videos and even animated GIFs to engage your audience, and ad inline links to drive traffic to specific content. This enhanced format allows searchers to hear directly from the primary source – you – and complements existing results from across the web.”
When you log into your Google My Business account, you will see the new Posts category has been added on the right hand navigation. You can click on Write your post to create a new post. Once you do, a lightbox will pop up where you can add a photo and write your post. For now, you have the option to add a photo, make your post an event and add a call to action button.
According to our research, videos and animated GIF files are also options for your posts, but they are not rolled out across all accounts at this point. As of today (September 13, 2017) we can only add a photo to our Posts. However, many Major League Baseballs teams have access to adding GIF files. See a search here for the Colorado Rockies
If you’re not using them, you should be. With Google’s push towards mobile-first indexing and AMP, Posts take a prominent position in the SERPs on mobile. We expect businesses to receive higher levels of engagement and CTR from mobile when compared with desktop, especially for branded searches. Let’s face it, the results pages in search are already extremely crowded, so the addition of Posts may just be the thing that helps your brand or specific event for your company stand out.
Here is how the posts appear in search results: