There has been a lot of buzz in the last several weeks about Google My Business (GMB) moving toward a pay-to-play model for it’s business listing service. Many SEO experts have weighed in on what that would mean for small businesses and how it might affect SEO in general.

For those of you wondering what exactly Google My Business is:

Google My Business is an Internet-based service for business owners and operated by Google. The network launched in June 2014 as a way of giving business owners more control of what shows in the search results when someone searches a given business name.

Wikipedia

So what if Google monetizes it’s Google My Business listings?

Typically [Google will] monetize for search ads, not simply being listed in the search results. This would somewhat change that model and it may make things complicated within Google’s internal ethics to support.

Barry Schwartz

Barry Schwartz is the News Editor for Search Engine Land and owns a New York based web consulting firm. He also runs Search Engine Roundtable, a popular search blog on SEM topics. Barry wrote a great article explaining what the possible complications of a pay-to-play GMB might be, here.

Jamie Pitman, Head of Content at local SEO tool provider BrightLocal discusses whether businesses should have to pay for a listing service, and if that’s even the biggest concern about GMB, here.

What do with think?

Anytime you add a pay-to-play component it becomes impossible to maintain a level playing field. If GMB does move to a paid listing model, we see consumers eventually catching on and moving away from the service. Ultimately, the focus will fall back to organic SEO which has the best track record when it comes to authenticity.

To see if your needs align with our skills; tell us a little about your brand.