What Is Google Ask Maps and Why Does It Matter for Local SEO? | James Dooley ft Paul Truscott (James Dooley Interviews Paul Truscott)

James Dooley: Google Ask Maps. Today I'm joined with Paul Truscott, the co-founder of Maptimal.com and today I want to take a deep dive into what is Google Ask Maps. There's a few clients that's reached out and said they want to get more exposure in the conversational AI part of Google Ask Maps. So to start things off Paul, what is Google Ask Maps?

Paul Truscott: Essentially very, very simple. It's a chat platform or chat extension if you like of the Google Maps app. So distinctly separate from the Maps results in a SERP result, like when you just search within Google. You have to do this through the Google Maps app. But it'd be instantly recognisable to people. It's the same chat window that you see in ChatGPT, in Cloud, in AI Overview, etc. It's the one that we're all familiar with. It looks the same. So you just ask questions within that portal and it will give you answers. But the difference is that these are contextually around the Maps listings. So it's purely local. So it'll be, for example, anything to do with the geography of places. So it could be businesses, could be parks, could be points of interest, could be whatever. But that's basically what it is. So it's a chat bot for Google Maps app.

James Dooley: So why is Google Ask Maps important for local SEO?

Paul Truscott: Depends on the query. But on mobile, about 30% of what traditionally historically, obviously as time unfolds we'll see if that changes, but historically about 30% of inquiries through Maps have come via the Maps app. So people do use it. And this is just the ability for them to more personalise what they're looking for versus what they could do with the traditional keyword search at the top of the search bar in the Maps app. So people will use it to refine the query essentially and ask questions. Like they've done an initial search. I'm looking at this restaurant here, but can I take my dog and have a coffee there? Is there anywhere to tie up my bike? These are things that you wouldn't ask in a normal query, but somebody might ask if they were phoning. So think of it that way. It's like instead of having to phone the business to find out this stuff, you ask Maps.

James Dooley: So then with regards to Google Ask Maps, obviously all the work that you do within Maptimal.com, you're helping the clients get better visibility, not just in AI like ChatGPT and Google AI overviews, but also within Google Maps visibility. I'm presuming from the previous episode where we've done on Maptimal.com review where you talk about the semantics and getting the semantics in there, in the bio description, in the citations, in the posts that you deliver. I'm presuming because semantically you must be getting all that information in there that you are crushing it for clients when people are looking to increase visibility with Google Ask Maps.

Paul Truscott: A hundred percent. The key is where people are losing out right now, and this is not just in Ask Maps, it's generally across the board, but we'll confine it in this discussion just simply to Ask Maps. But where people are losing out is because they're not putting any context around their web pages, Facebook posts, videos on YouTube, if they're even doing them. I mean a lot of people aren't even doing any of that and they absolutely should be. But wherever you're posting information about your business, what are you actually saying? And is it answering the questions that people need to know? If I were running a business and I were giving advice to somebody that was starting up in the same industry in a different place, so there were no competition to me and they said, what do I need to cover? I'd say to them, what are your customers asking you when they come in and when they phone you? Because that's what they want to know the answers to. If you're not covering these things that you're telling them every day on the phone or telling them every day when they come in, if that's not being covered online, you're not doing your job.

James Dooley: Yeah, for sure. I mean, I'll revert it back to, when my wife is looking for hotels, she's normally looking for things like, has it got a sea view? Is it on the beach front? Does it have a water park? Does it have a kid's play area? How many restaurants does it have? You want to be covering all these different things. So like you mentioned about, is it pet friendly? Can I bring the dog? Is there an outdoor terrace area because they might want to sit there and have a coffee in the sun because they know the weather's good. And semantically, I suppose anyone who's watching this, check out the link in the description to the brand SSOT that we talk about. Having that branded single source of truth that defines everything of why you are brilliant on there. The more information you can give, the more information Maptimal.com can integrate throughout everything related to the maps to get featured more in the Google Ask Maps. It's so important to be trying to get those semantics out there to increase that visibility within Google Ask Maps. I was actually surprised, Paul, I don't know if this has gone on for a long time. The amount of clients that reached out to say, can Maptimal increase visibility in Google Ask Maps? Has Google Ask Maps always been where clients have been understanding the importance of that?

Paul Truscott: Well, Ask Maps is a fairly recent thing, but the Maps app itself has been quite popular for many years. But the difference now with these chats within Ask Maps and generally across the board is that people can ask follow up questions. So you made a really, really, really valuable point when you were talking about your wife booking hotels. Let's say you've got a vegetarian who wants to know, are there any vegetarian options in this hotel? And particularly, let's say they book a bed and breakfast. Do they do vegetarian breakfasts? You might just get a generic yes. But then you follow up and say, do they serve vegetarian sausages? And if you have that information in your single source of truth, then Ask Maps will be able to answer it. And if it's not there, they won't. So the more detailed, the better.

James Dooley: Exactly that. So anyone who's watching this and you didn't know what Google Ask Maps was, it's the AI featured conversational part of being able to ask it questions and it'll come back with the set of results. At Maptimal.com, everything is semantically built out to try to be optimized for Google Ask Maps. If you want more increased visibility when looking at Google Ask Maps, then make sure you reach out to Maptimal.com, fill in the form and Paul, a member of the team, will be in touch. Paul, it's been an absolute pleasure.

Paul Truscott: Same here, James. Thank you.