Google rolled out the Google My Business (GMB) Agency Dashboard with a lot of fanfare. It’s designed to streamline management of multiple locations for agencies, consolidating everything in one place. Sounds like a dream for SEOs, right? Well, not so fast.
While the new features offer a lot of promise, the local SEO community has had some mixed reactions. Let’s break down what’s working, what’s not, and why you might want to proceed with caution before diving headfirst into this new tool.
The Promise: A Streamlined Experience for Agencies
Google claims that the GMB Agency Dashboard is built for managing thousands of locations, which is great if you’re an agency juggling multiple clients with several locations.
The new features include:
Location Groups: You can now organize clients and their locations more efficiently.
User Groups: Managing teams just got easier with access control and permission settings.
Quick Search: Find specific locations quickly, which is a godsend for large accounts.
The goal? Make life easier for agencies and SEOs who were previously bogged down by logging into separate GMB accounts for each client.
The Reality: Initial Reception Isn’t All Sunshine
While the concept behind the new dashboard is solid, SEOs have quickly discovered some bumps in the road. Joy Hawkins, a well-respected voice in local SEO, didn’t hold back her frustrations on Twitter:
“Migrating a location forces you to become the primary owner, booting the business owner to a manager. Your employees can’t be added until they empty their GMB account.”
Not exactly the seamless process agencies were hoping for. Here are some of the other challenges reported by the SEO community:
Too Many Emails: Every time you migrate a location, both you and the client get bombarded with multiple email alerts, creating confusion for clients.
Invitation Errors: SEOs have encountered issues where invites to manage listings result in errors. Clients are confused, agencies are frustrated.
No AdWords Integration: As of now, there’s no clear way to link GMB listings with AdWords inside the new dashboard.
So, while the GMB Agency Dashboard may save time in the long run, there’s definitely a learning curve—and some bugs—that agencies need to navigate.
Is It Worth the Hassle?
For agencies managing a high volume of locations, the new dashboard could be a game-changer once Google irons out the kinks. The ability to manage everything in one place and set permissions for different team members is undeniably useful.
But if your agency is working with fewer clients or single-location businesses, you might want to stick with the traditional GMB setup—at least until Google fixes the current issues.
Moving Forward: BrightLocal to the Rescue?
BrightLocal is already working on some new tools to complement GMB’s new features. SEOs will soon be able to:
Manage Google Reviews: BrightLocal’s reputation management tools will help streamline review monitoring.
Monitor Multiple Locations: A single dashboard will allow you to manage multiple clients and their locations more efficiently.
In other words, if the GMB Agency Dashboard isn’t quite meeting your needs, tools like BrightLocal might help fill the gaps.
In a digital world where visibility is everything, GMB Fox ensures your business isn’t just online—it’s the first choice customers make. Let us handle the complexities of digital marketing, so you can focus on what truly matters: growing your business.
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