Google My Business App Updated With Ability to Receive Review Alerts and Provide Responses

In a blog post titled “Businesses, start your smartphones”, Google has announced updates to its Google My Business and AdWords Express apps, which are intended to provide increased functionality to assist small and medium-sized business owners.

In recent times, marketers have been realizing the increasing prevalence and importance of smartphones to manage effective and efficient advertising campaigns, and Google is meeting these needs by providing robust new features in its apps.

A major improvement in the recent Google My Business app update is the ability for businesses to receive real-time alerts for Google reviews, as well as the option to respond directly through the app. Considering the growing expectation for dynamic correspondence between businesses and customers, this functionality should prove to be extremely valuable.

“Nothing makes your day like a great review from a happy customer,” wrote Google in its blog post. “Starting today, business owners can see reviews from across the web in the Google My Business Android app (iOS update soon). Business users have told us how much customers appreciate a response, so we are also making it possible to respond to Google reviews in the app, along with real-time alerts if you want to keep a pulse on your reputation online.”

Although this may seem like a minor change from a technical perspective, it could provide major assistance to businesses who don’t have the available time required to sit by their computers to watch what customers are saying and respond to them in a timely fashion. Marketers know that negative reviews can have an extremely destructive effect on businesses, so providing them with a method for staying on top of these on their mobile phones could be a major asset.

Google has also announced the expansion of its AdWords Express Android app to 20 additional countries, with an iOS app to be released soon. It is cross-pollinating the Google My Business and AdWords Express apps as a way to emphasize and reinforce their mutual usage.

“When you advertise your business through AdWords Express, you can reach potential customers right when they’re searching for the product or service that you sell,” wrote Google. “Your top stats for the month are displayed in the Google My Business app, and you can switch over to AdWords Express to see more detail or edit the ad to promote your next big event.”

Google’s blog post explains that these updates and upgrades will be rolled out over the next several days.