Overview
A few months ago, Google Business Profile (formerly known as Google My Business or GMB) launched a new feature that allows businesses to add products directly into their listings. For each product, businesses can display the name, a description, the price, and a photo directly in the knowledge panel—a handy way for multifamily marketers to feature available floor plans and claim more of that highly coveted SERP space in the process.
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After adding Products to all of our SEO packages, we were interested in seeing what impact it could have on a property’s organic site traffic from Google Business Profile. So, we designed a test to measure the difference in the performance of our $150 SEO Package versus our $500 SEO Package for the GMB Products feature.
Our $150 SEO package includes just one product, highlighting interior pictures that the property has to offer. This option is also referred to as a single card carousel, since there is only one product card displayed in the SERPs.
Our $500 SEO Package includes the implementation of several different products, each highlighting a different floor plan offered by the property. This configuration is also referred to as a multi-card carousel, since there are multiple product cards featured in the SERPs. The $500 package also groups each floor plan product option into specific categories (i.e 1 Bedroom Floor Plans, 2 Bedroom Floor Plans, etc).
You can see the visual difference between these two package implementations in the examples below.
Purpose
Over a 13-week period, we measured the performance of five different properties—three with the $500 package and two with the $150 package. The purpose behind this test was to determine which package produces higher engagement with users.
Findings
Based on the compiled data we collected over the 13-week course, here are the averages from the five properties tested.
Key Findings
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$150 GMB Product Package with a single card carousel received, on average, 105.2% more impressions/views than the $500 package.
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$500 GMB Product Package with a multi-card carousel increased average clicks by 66.67%.
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$500 GMB Product Package with a multi-card carousel increased average CTR 146.1%
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While average impressions were lower in the $500 GMB Product Package, users still had a stronger interest in the $500 GMB Product Package over the $150 GMB Product Package.
Conclusion
After conducting the test over the course of 13 weeks, we found that users have a stronger interest in the full floor plan offerings displayed in the multi-card carousel, which is included in our $500 package. In fact, users are more likely to click on a floor plan option from the $500 package over the $150 package.
We attribute this increase in CTR to users being able to browse the property’s many different floor plan options in the SERPs—there is simply more content for users to engage with. While the $150 package only highlights an interior picture of the property, the $500 package offers users the ability to find a floor plan that interests them, which entices them to click through to the website to learn more about the offerings.
Interestingly enough, the $150 package did show higher impressions/views when compared to the $500 package. We anticipated that this would be the case with a single card carousel, as there is only one product card displayed in the knowledge panel. This single card automatically appears above the page fold (in the knowledge panel), which helps significantly increase the total amount of impressions received.
Since the $500 package displays a multi-card carousel within the property’s knowledge panel—meaning that some floor plans are only accessible to users if they click into the corresponding product categories—it is no surprise that this offering does show fewer impressions and views per product card. However, being that the CTR for the $500 package is significantly higher than the CTR for the $150 package, this helps prove that users are more engaged and willing to click to the website when actual floor plan pictures are displayed rather than interior shots of the property.
We believe that displaying your floor plans directly in the SERPs entices users to click through to your site and possibly even schedule a tour of your community. Therefore, we highly recommend that you take advantage of this new Products feature, especially the multi-card carousel option that highlights several different floor plans all on one convenient place. Not only does it give potential renters a sneak peek at your available units, it also helps to cover a greater amount of the highly coveted SERP real estate.
Be sure to touch base with your Digible Account Manager for help adding GMB Products to your property’s knowledge panel.
