Google Adds Video Feature to Android Google Maps

Video. It’s everywhere. Scroll through your Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter feed and you’ll see fewer words and more video. Where will video go next? Potentially to your Google Maps listing.

In late August, Google quietly added the ability for select users to upload video content to a Google Maps business listing. The new feature gives these users the ability to do one of two things:

• Capture and upload a 10-second video using Google Maps on Android OR
• Upload an existing 30-second video directly to a business listing using Google Maps on Android

For now, the feature is only available to Local Guides using Google Maps on Android, not business owners. While currently only available to Local Guides, this feature is expected to roll out to more users, devices, and GMB accounts over time. Right now videos can only be uploaded on Android devices, but they’ll still show up in Google Search results for places in a web browser.

Google broke the news to their Local Guides in a blog post, writing, “The possibilities are really exciting: Take viewers on a mini-tour of a store you love, or show the bustling scene at your favorite neighborhood restaurant. You can even do a quick review where you showcase a place’s best item or offer tips to visitors.”

So what? Images have always been a key factor in local business listings, both from an organic visibility perspective and an overall customer experience with the brand. With the addition of videos to local business listings, it will be even more important to continuously monitor listings for user uploaded content to ensure that the brand is accurately represented.