[Free+] COVID-19 update post type added to plugin
Google has recently added the COVID-19 update post type to their Google My Business platform. This post type lets you share updates and announcements about the way your business is dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic.
Some example announcements:
- Different opening hours
- Your business is temporarily closed
- Changes to your service, only take-out/delivery for example
- Safety precautions your business is taking
- Products that are not in stock because of high demand
These COVID-19 update posts are featured very prominently at the top of your business listing in the search results.
They are a very effective way to keep your (potential) customers in the loop about how you’re dealing with the situation!
Post to Google My Business for WordPress has been updated to allow you to create this new post type (Version 2.2.17 and up).
[Business] Create COVID-19 posts on Google My Business in bulk
Google My Business has also temporarily lifted the limitations for location chains (10+ locations). This means they are now also allowed to create posts on Google My Business.
If you need to share important announcements regarding the COVID-19 pandemic across multiple businesses at once, the plugin allows you to do just that. You can select as many locations as you need to share your announcement. The feature to post to multiple locations at once is available in the Business package.
[Free+] Post Calender
Never lose track of when the plugin is posting something to GMB again! With the new Post Calendar you can see when things have been posted to GMB, or when they are scheduled to be posted.
[Free+] Full editor for auto-post template
Fine-tune one auto-post template for all your automatic posts to follow. The auto-post template editor is now a fully featured editor with the familiar post editing interface.
[Pro+] Auto-post based on categories and tags
You can now enable auto-post for specific tags or categories. When you assign a category or tag to your WordPress post where this option is enabled, it will be auto-posted regardless of the auto-post checkbox. This allows you to really finetune what content goes out to Google My Business, and what doesn’t.
Other notable new features & improvements
- Improved compatibility with the Gutenberg editor. The auto-post toggle is available in the sidebar and displayed again in the Pre-publish checklist!
- Added location specific variables such as %location_primaryPhone%, %location_websiteUrl%, which will be automatically replaced by their corresponding value
- [Starter+] Added “Event all day” checkbox for all-day events without a start and end time
How to update
The 2.2.17 update should be available as a direct update in your WordPress dashboard.
Free
If you want to manually update the plugin, or no longer have it installed, you can download it from here.
Premium
Download the latest premium version from the Freemius user dashboard.