DEPARTMENT of TOURISM Partners with GOOGLE MY BUSINESS as TRUSTED VERIFIER

These days one cannot undersell just how much convenience and customer reach potential can be gotten from putting one’s business on the internet. And one of the many online services one can count on to get their business on the digital track is Google My Business (GMB), which provides options for business owners to control what business names will show up when looking in Google’s heavyweight search engine. But getting accreditation for one’s business to be verified on GMB can be a long process. Fortunately, Philippine business owners might have a leg up in that regard, if they happen to be accredited by the DOT.

Inquirer.net reports that the Department of Tourism (DOT) has forged a partnership with internet giant Google, which would make the government agency a Trusted Verifier in the Philippines for Google My Business. This was hammered out in an agreement with Google’s Philippine offices, and as a result the DOT is the very first verifier that GMB has for this country. The tourism department’s new duties as a Google verifier is to shorten the application process for Filipino businesses looking to get listed in Google My Business, by instantly verifying micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME’s) that are accredited to them.

Normally, a business owner hoping to take advantage of GMB’s search result information control must first submit documentations on their enterprise, after which follows a vetting period that ranges from 30 to 60 days. With the DOT acting as a verifier for Google, they can use a Quick Response code to Google to immediately vet any MSMEs that have received official accreditation from them, usually business that have something to do with the tourism industry. The most likely beneficiaries of such an arrangement would be travel-and-tour ticketing offices or souvenir stores, to give an example.

Department of Tourism Secretary Bernadette Romulo-Puyat issued a statement remarking on her cabinet agency’s eagerness to work together with Google to more conveniently digitize tourism-related businesses in the country via their tandem accreditation and GMB verification powers. In doing so, she says, it will help in “showcasing to local and foreign tourists alike all the best that the Philippines has to offer.” The Google-DOT deal was signed Friday of last week, October 11, between Sec. Romulo-Puyat and Google Philippines’ Gabby Roxas and Yves Gonzales, marketing and public policy heads respectively.

Upon becoming part of Google My Business, DOT-accredited businesses can list products and services for quick reference searching of their profiles on Google.com, which includes number of profile views and ratings from their current customers.

Image courtesy of Rappler