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Google Announces Curbside Pickup Promotion Options & Free Support for Small Businesses

There’s a long path ahead of us before we fully recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, but many communities and businesses are starting to recover. In late April, many PPC advertisers noticed stronger performance than they did in the first weeks of the crisis.

As communities begin to relax stay-at-home orders and businesses adjust to new ways to serve their customers, many retailers are reopening their storefronts for customers in the form of curbside pickups. With searches for “in-stock” products growing 70% recently, Google is looking to help searchers find local retailers with their products ready to go. On Monday, Google announced that retailers could now indicate options for local curbside pickup in their shopping ads.

How to promote curbside pickup on Google

Advertisers interested in promoting curbside pickup options on Google are required to submit account and pickup information to Google through this form. Once Google reviews and approves, the pickup badge will show alongside the retailer’s local inventory ads. The badge is available for retailers in 14 different countries where local inventory ads have launched—including the US, Canada, UK, Australia, Austria, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Japan, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, and Switzerland.

Retailers that do not use local inventory ads can also highlight their curbside pickup and in-store shopping options within their Google My Business profiles. By adding these new attributes, businesses can highlight their current shopping, pickup, and delivery options to potential customers on the SERP and in Google Map results.

More free resources for SMBs

Last month, SMBs noticed ecommerce traffic grew a whopping 40% in their Google Shopping campaigns. Retail searches continue to surge today, and with Google’s newly announced free shopping listings available to all retailers, there’s never been a better time to get your store online.

However, of the 30 million small and medium businesses in the US, nearly half do not even have a website today. The barrier of creating a basic or ecommerce website, creating an online store, supporting delivery, selling gift cards, and promoting your business online can be an overwhelming (and costly!) one for many small businesses. Luckily, Google also announced partnerships with several popular services and tools providers to help small businesses get started online for free or with heavily reduced pricing. These offers include:

  • 3 months free of Toast Now to help restaurants set up their menu and online ordering.
  • Waived order fees for restaurants on The Ordering.app, allowing SMBs to build their menu and take orders online.
  • Free 90-day trial of Shopify to design their online store.
  • Free gift card listings through Gannett’s Support Local Listings.
  • Reduced Pricing on HubSpot’s Starter Growth Suite.

And more! So if you’re advertising with local inventory ads, get started with Google’s new curbside pickup display. If not, head to your GMB page to make some updates. And either way, take a look at Google’s free resources for SMBs.

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Mark Irvine

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