Alright, Google. Everyone loves working their business listing with you. They love the courteous phone call immediately after it’s submitted. They’re comforted in knowing it’s posted as soon as the PIN’s entered. Whatever gets the website some quick LSV love is numero uno in the hearts of every owner. But, that little handicap for the business description: a limit of 200 characters! Not 200 words…characters. How can companies get their message across in such a tight window?
Say a local pet store finishes their website and wants to start syndicating. They log on to Google’s Business Solutions and go to work on their business description:
“We have lots of pets of all shapes and sizes. We sell food for them. They need a home and that home could be yours! And we have lots of accessories for those pets to play with. Come on down to Peter’s Pet Store and see these little guys for yourself!”
See anything wrong with this? Well, not only does this example exceed the character limit (255 to be exact), but the description’s so vague and fails to mention where the store even is. Sure, they can see where it is on Google Maps, but for the sake of the search engine, the location must be made clear and include key phrases such as “pet store online”, “local pet store”, “pet accessories”, and so forth. With a little help from Wordtracker, Google’s Keyword Tool and concise delivery, Peter’s Pet Store can find Mittens and Cujo a home:
“Peter’s Pet Store is a local pet store in Kansas City. From dogs and cats to fish and frogs—they’re all here. With the most popular pet products in Kansas City, come on by and get a glimpse for youself.”
Now this description tips the Google scale at exactly 200 characters. It’s been targeted in Kansas City and uses keywords “local pet store” and “most popular pet products” as trails for the search engine. Only problem is they can’t do anything else with it. They can’t go into specific products, special pet breeds, etc. They would have to omit the spaces between each word, which if they do that, the customer might as well be cracking The Davinci Code.
That last line might be a bit of a stretch, but it simply goes to show what kind of parameters a business would be dealing with. By limiting the character count, the company website may be shielded from customers who judge a search based off unique, wholesome descriptions. In such cases, having a solid grip on saying so much with so little is a necessity.
Who knows, maybe Google will decide to play nice like most other local search sites.
