Hashtags in Google Maps Reviews (Android)
Google supports up to 5 hashtags in user reviews on Android
The News
Analysis
For Android users of Google Maps, hashtags are now supported, meaning that users can include them in their Google Reviews. Google recommends that they be left at the end of the review, so as not to distract from the text of the review, itself.
Google also clarified that specificity in the hashtags is ideal. Unlike on Instagram, where hashtags like #love and #peace are platforms for effective promotion of certain businesses and ideals, Google directs users to leave specific hashtags like ‘#datenight’ or ‘#tacos’ or — for Google Local Guides, ‘#letsguide’ — and within the Google Maps app on Android, hashtags appear in blue and clicking one can connect users to other listings with the same hashtags.
Since Google is communicating to Local Guides that they can go back and add hashtags to their prior reviews, it seems likely that we will see further implementation/rollout, meaning that getting in early can give you the edge on other businesses.
Firstly, create a one-click link for customers to leave you Google Reviews. And you might consider, when soliciting reviews on Google, to educate your clients about the functionality of hashtags, in the hopes that they might add a few to their review of your business.
It’s early days, but given that we’ve seen how hashtags are utilized on nearly every other conceivable platform, it’s fairly easy to imagine how this might roll out to the rest of Google’s users. No matter how, exactly, that rollout occurs, early adopters will benefit the most from hashtags in their client reviews.
