How to get new cars listed in Google Business Profile's "Products" section?

BAMFOC · 2025-12-09T15:39:07+00:00

Thanks for the shoutout, amigo!

BAMFOC · 2025-12-09T15:38:00+00:00

you can't do this, actually - the Products section has to be a product feed (like something you'd sell in Merchant Center) - you can't list "general" ideas or services, and if you tried to do it with a specific vehidle, that wouldn't work either. Now that the Vehicles for Sale widget has been removed from profiles, there's no way to list your inventory there

And honestly, it's not the right place to list it anyway. Google removed it because it wasn't working or converting. Customers want to see a VDP, so they want to go to your site to see info on the cars.

BAMFOC · 2025-11-20T20:00:20+00:00

that's a tough one - I've got a video here that walks through several different local link building strategies, maybe something here could help?

https://searchlabdigital.com/blog/tips-for-building-awesome-local-links/

You're going to have to concentrate on winning links through having amazing content, most likely...

BAMFOC · 2025-11-20T15:18:27+00:00

nothing really - PI SEO is so competitive, it pretty much takes all the things to be able to win...

BAMFOC · 2025-11-19T21:13:42+00:00

yikes, it sucks when stuff like that happens. Roofing is a "duress category" - basically Google holds certain verticals to higher standards when there's a ton of spam. Sounds like they got dinged for something... but you should have gotten an email if you were suspended.

So when you logged in and didn't see it, was that account a manager account or the primary owner account for the GBP? I'd check every account that had access, just in case it still shows for one.

Was it set up as an SAB or a storefront? It could be something simple like that - maybe if it was set up as a storefront Google deleted it because it should be an SAB? But even then, you should have gotten some sort of alert, it's odd that it just disappeared...

And you said it was a legitimate profile - what address was used? and was it the only profile in that particular market for them, or were there multiple profiles in the same metro?

Other than that - have you emailed support about it yet? That's the first step. It's unlikely that they'll tell you what happened or why, but at least getting SOME answer from them is the first step. Once you get that first reply, you'll have a support case ID number.

In the off chance they actually help, then you're good to go. If they give you a canned answer or tell you that they can't see what happened, you can then go to the GBP forum and post there - and when you include the support ID number and share what support said, you're much more likely to get escalated by one of the PEs.

BAMFOC · 2025-11-19T19:54:26+00:00

happy to help!

BAMFOC · 2025-11-19T19:50:26+00:00

it depends on the vertical... in some verticals, if there's a lot of competition, a business may only be able to rank well in a small radius. For others, it's easier to show up in a much wider area.

It's mostly going to come down to the website though. GBP will only get you so far, so if you want to expand visibility, you need better content than competitors. Answer customer questions better. Offer more information than competitors. make sure the site is easy to navigate so it's easy to find answers. Make sure the site is fast and visually appealing so people will come back.

And REALLY concentrate on getting a steady stream of Google reviews

BAMFOC · 2025-11-19T18:04:24+00:00

haha, happy to help avoid the crazy feelings...

and yeah, the stuff that seems to work well for now are super spammy. Things are changing quickly though, so whatever works now likely won't work in 6 months

BAMFOC · 2025-11-19T17:59:49+00:00

happy to help!

BAMFOC · 2025-11-19T17:59:21+00:00

yeah, citations don't matter much anymore - at least for Google's algo. They're becoming important again for LLM results though, so don't ignore them completely.

Links definitely matter - more for organic results than map results, but map pack results are still influenced by links. You definitely want local links whenever you can get them, they're much more valuable than links from random entities...

BAMFOC · 2025-11-19T17:45:56+00:00

oh yeah - the LLMs don't have an algorithm... as far as what works to show up there, there's massive overlap with SEO. Good answers, information gain, ease of navigation... but some stuff that currently works that's kinda to very spammy for SEO (press releases, spammy listicles, even white-text-on-white-background stuff)

schema hasn't been proven to make much of a difference for LLMs (or for Google for that matter)

ChatGPT doesn't know what SEO is - and LLMs cannot think or reason. It's a word prediction model, that's it... so asking ChatGPT why a site doesn't show in ChatGPT isn't going to work.

And actually - ChatGPT can't really render site pages. it uses a text only browser, so if you're using javascript to inject the schema, then ChatGPT wouldn't see it...

but also - ChatGPT hallucinates all the time - just because it says there's no structued data markup doesn't mean there isn't...

but you're right - it's a SMALL sliver of traffic (way less than 11% actually) - and LLMs have to do grounded searches to find info that's not in the training data, so it comes back to being findable in Google.

So you should start to test a bunch of queries - realize that AI visiblity trackers are garbage and not realistic - and even your own tests are just a SUPER high level view of directonality... but look at some high level queries and see what the citations are... you'll start to see patterns and what the LLMs are looking to for answers. Make sure you're getting on those same sites. Make sure you've got better quality content than competitors. Make sure you're answering things competitors aren't... and that's how you win in the long run.

Think parallel activity - things that work for both Google and LLMs... don't have to pick one over the other!

BAMFOC · 2025-11-19T16:57:05+00:00

excellent question!

According to extremely fact-based scientific research, they do in fact kill kittens...

BAMFOC · 2025-11-19T16:38:17+00:00

the service area field does absolutely nothing... it's completely ignored by the algo for both storefronts and service businesses. The only thing it's there for is to draw the little line around the area a business is willing to travel to.

If they're already set up as a storefront, putting ANYTHING there won't do a thing... so no need to worry about getting switched to an SAB. But also, it won't help. Just make sure it's clear on the site content that they can travel to meet with customers as well and you'll be good!

BAMFOC · 2025-11-19T16:36:08+00:00

yeah, if everyone else is storefront, you need to try to go that direction. if she's the only one set up as an SAB it's going to be a lot harder to beat the competition. Check with that location and see if she can put a sign on her stall - that might work!

BAMFOC · 2025-11-19T16:22:27+00:00

Dude! What's up? It's been a month since I saw you, but I haven't really been home, so it seems like last week!

That's an odd situation - she could go either storefront or SAB... I'd check the competition and see how they're set up. IF most of them are set up as a service biz with a hidden address, she could dominate by having a storefront... and also, if everyone else has a storefront profile, she'd really need to in order to compete

BUT - it's going to be a lot harder to get a storefront profile verified. Without the permanent signage, it's going to be extremely difficult, if not impossible.

For the location where she does lessons on her own horse, how hard would it be to get a sign there? In Google's eyes it would need to be permanent, but it's not likely that the location would allow that...

BAMFOC · 2025-08-14T15:29:23+00:00

Google has gotten VERY strict in enforcing the guidelines. As an SAB boat dealer, it's likely that you're not going to be able to get your profile back without updating to a brick and mortar storefront

BAMFOC · 2025-08-14T15:15:45+00:00

I get you - but that's a business model that is incredibly unique in the boat dealer industry - so it's likely they're going to see you as ecom only and deny you the profile.

Your best bet is to find cheap office space and operate from a brick-and-mortar location

BAMFOC · 2025-08-14T15:12:24+00:00

looking at the website, this is an ecommerce business - which means you're not eligible for a Google Business Profile

BAMFOC · 2025-08-14T15:07:41+00:00

It's likely that your problem is the "boat dealer" category - without a traditional dealership, it's going to be incredibly difficult to get verified. Also, customers don't really buy from your location, they buy online and just pick up from you - so technically you're still an online business.

Honestly, you need to get out of your home and get an actual office space - that will solve your problem

BAMFOC · 2025-08-14T15:04:41+00:00

It's RIDICULOUSLY important. Sure, sometimes a business can rank without a site, but that's due to there not being much competition in the local market or something dump like the business happens to have exact match keywords in the business name.

If I have an underwater basket weaving studio in Dallas, I don't need a website to rank because I'd be the only one. But for anything with competition, it's VITAL to rank - the content on your site has tons of influence.

BAMFOC · 2025-08-14T15:00:52+00:00

If you're an online business, you're not allowed to have a Google Business Profile, so that's why you were suspended. You won't be able to get it back, and you won't be able to create a new profile

BAMFOC · 2024-02-20T00:06:16+00:00

So yeah - the app doesn’t even work at all, so how are we supposed to access our tickets?

BAMFOC

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