In this week’s episode, I’m sharing the news about an exciting new feature that’s been added to bar and restaurant Google Business Profiles. Google has added a new element that’s displayed high in the GBP on mobile called “What’s Happening”, and it’s an awesome way to showcase specials and events. Check out the video for all the details.
Video Transcript
Welcome back to another episode of Local Search Tuesdays. This week, I’m sharing some exciting Local SEO news: Google has rolled out an awesome new feature to restaurants and bars called “What’s Happening”
Recently, Google announced the rollout of a new Google Business Profile feature for restaurants and bars called “What’s Happening”. The new feature appears in the GBP and it allows bars and restaurants to highlight specials, deals, and events at the top of their profile.
Google released a few screenshots to show how the feature works. You’ll see a “this week” callout like this:
Or potentially, if there’s no menu on the GBP, it’ll look like this:
When you click on the “this week” element, the full details of the special are displayed like this:
This is live, and so far, it appears to only show up on mobile. Apparently, all you need to do is share a Google Post with the info. In this case, the text in the post says “On Wednesdays, treat yourself to a classic! Our famous foot-long is $2 off at Franksville”. They’ve obviously got some sort of AI system running to check posts for these specials. In this case, the system pulled the data from the Google Post and shows the date and special, and if there’s room, even the price.
Google also said that you can connect your Facebook, Instagram, and/or Twitter profile to your GBP and the system can instead pull the information from social posts.
This is an awesome way to promote daily specials, price deals like happy hours, and even live music or special events. If you’re a restaurant or bar, or a marketer working with one, you should jump on this new feature immediately!
The initial launch is available to single-location bars and restaurants in the US, Canada, the UK, Australia, and New Zealand.
That’s it for this week’s episode, so you know what that means. Put your hand on the screen right here: We totally just high-fived ‘cause you learned something awesome. Thanks for watching, and we’ll see you again next week for another episode of Local Search Tuesdays.
