When you meet someone new and you want to find out more information about them, what do you do? If you’re like a lot of people, you’ll head straight to Google and search for their name. I would bet that a large number of potential customers perform an Internet search on your dealership after they’ve decided to purchase from you. How often do you think they do the same on the name of the salesperson they are considering purchasing their vehicle from?
Typical search results are your social media accounts (Facebook, LinkedIn), as well as website on which your name appears (dealership site, news articles, etc). Google is now allowing users to create “profiles” in which you can upload images, link to websites and write a personal bio. This tool is available to anyone who creates an account on Google after you go through a screening routine to verify your identity.
What’s great about this tool is that, from a business standpoint, you can have full control over an entry in the search results pages. Those who have completed the verification process have found that this “profile” is being shown on the first page of search results very quickly (though this isn’t much of a surprise since Google will of course want to promote their own products).
To start the process, go to Google Profiles. It looks as though this could be another great way to manage your online reputation as well as increase the search engine optimization results for your personal brand as well as your dealership. Let us know how it works out!
