New Google Business Profile feature: Manage Reviews Directly in Google Search

With the introduction of the Google Business Profile rebrand (formerly Google My Business), local businesses can now engage with customer reviews directly within search, removing the need to navigate to the Google Business Profile dashboard.

Our assumption is that Google's goal for this feature is to create an easy and accessible workflow for local businesses.

Using the new feature is straightforward, populating in your search results automatically if you're accessing Chrome via the same Google account that owns the Google Business Profile account for your business.

You'll find this information at the top of your search results:

Click the "Customers" button to access this panel, and then "Reviews" to engage with your customer feedback.

If you have any reviews without responses, select "Edit" or the given option for unengaged reviews (all of Widewail's reviews were already responded to at the time of writing).

The response window will appear next, providing you with a text field to author your response.

If you'd like a free way to request reviews by email, Google provides a link that will produce the popup window shown in the next image. To generate this link, click the "Get more reviews" button in the upper right (shown here) and copy the link.

Minimizing friction is key to increasing review volume, so take advantage of this functionality and drive customers directly to the review input box with the link Google provides.

As an added bonus, you can also respond to customer questions quickly and easily with access to the Q&A section.