Justifications: a powerful way to differentiate yourself on Google

More than half of the time, local search results include justifications. They are text excerpts that appear in the Local Pack or on Google Maps and justify your visibility.

65% of Google searches do not generate a click. This means that in the case of a local search, 65% of Internet users stop at the Local Pack. Therefore, it is essential for an establishment to have a Google Business Profile, that it appears high in the results and that it is different from those of its competitors. An excellent way to stand out is to highlight your offer through the justifications feature.

What are the justifications?

Justifications are additional information about the establishment’s offering that justify (literally) it’s presence in the results. They appear in the Local Pack and on Google Maps.

More than 50% of the time, local search results on Google include justifications. They allow the establishment’s listings to rise in the results and increase the number of interactions (calls, requests for directions and visits to the website) because they assure Internet users that the establishment offers what they are looking for.

Justifications come from several sources:

• The website
• The reviews
• Product data from Google Merchant Center
• Services” or “Menu” sections
• Google Posts

Each type of justification can be identified by the icon in front of it.

Sold Here Justifications

These are the hardest justifications to influence because they come from several sources: the website, customer reviews and/or Google customer feedback. They confirm to Internet users that the establishment sells what they are looking for and therefore help to gain new customers.

How can you take advantage of this? By listing the products you offer on the business’s website.

In Stock Justifications

Yes, In stock justifications are quite different from offer justifications. The information comes from Google’s Merchant Center tool. It allows Internet users to be sure of finding what they are looking for if they go to the shop and for the establishment to appear in the results at the right time.

To generate these credentials, it is necessary to have an account on the Merchant Center platform and to add product data.

Service Justifications

These justifications have an impact on the attractiveness and relevance of the listings. When the user’s search contains one of the services associated with the listing, it is highlighted in bold on the listing. You can influence them by completing this “Services” section from your Partoo or Google account.

Menu Justifications

Justifications can also come from the “Menu” section of the form or from photos posted by customers.

These justifications improve the relevance of the Google Business Profile. To take advantage of this, make sure you complete your Menu and encourage your customers to include photos in their reviews.

Posts Justifications

More rarely, the justification displays content extracted from Google Posts. The content comes from Google Posts published in the last 60 days. Older posts are not taken into account.

These justifications have an impact on the attractiveness of the Google Business Profile because they share topical content. To take advantage of this, we recommend that you post regularly (news, events, team presentations, etc.).

Website Justifications

Justifications can relay content from the website linked to the listing. This type of justification has an impact on the attractiveness and relevance of the listing. The extracted text comes from any page of the website and not necessarily the one whose URL is displayed on the listing.

Reviews Justifications

Finally, most often, the justifications come from customer reviews. In this case, the justifications have an impact on referencing because they allow the establishment to be placed in new keywords (here “fish and chips”).

How can you capitalise on review justifications? When you invite your customers to leave you a review, you can encourage them to add text (e.g. what they liked best, what they ordered, etc.) to maximise your chances of appearing on certain keywords.

Justifications are a powerful way to differentiate yourself from your competitors on Google. Don’t hesitate to contact us to discuss it!