Waze is a traffic and route-finding app that Google bought in 2013, though Google kept its original design and approach. Today, it has 30 million users in the US and 140 million worldwide. It is second only to Google Maps in the number of users who rely on it to locate businesses of interest. Monitoring and updating business listings are essential for many businesses, and Waze is one (of many) ways users find your business online.
Six Benefits of Waze Business Listings
Waze is a high-usage app with a dedicated community (known as “Wazers”), and its business listings are very important for putting your business in front of “local search” and “in your area” customers. Here we’ll look at the benefits of the Waze platform and Waze business listings.
1. Community Features
Waze sets itself apart from other similar platforms because it’s very community-centric. It provides users with a number of adjustable preferences, such as a section for finding carpoolers and dovetailing with iOS and Android, which allows Waze to plug directly into your vehicle’s infotainment display. There are also separate map modes for bicycles, taxis, and cars and constant traffic and accident updates.
However, the ability to plan a route while integrating specific stops or sights recommended by other Wazers makes it so loved among its users. These features mean that Waze users are far more interactive with the app than other navigation app users, meaning Waze business listings receive greater attention from the app’s users.
2. Turning Traffic into Sales
A major advantage of Waze business listings is how many people use Waze in the first place, especially in the US. With such a strong community and user base, Waze business listings will be in front of a guaranteed audience, which is especially important for businesses relying on walk-ins. With the traffic monitoring feature, you can turn the location of your business into a major selling point. For example, if a competitor sits on a much busier route, users can identify that your services are easier to access while saving time on their journey, literally turning traffic into more sales.
3. Local SEO
For many businesses, local SEO is the only SEO that matters. As such, achieving high-value spots, such as being in Google’s “Local Pack” (the listing of top three relevant businesses in an area), are what everyone is aiming for. Popularity on Waze feeds into SEO listings, meaning that the more interactions you get, the better it is for SEO in general (and local SEO in particular.) Though not officially noted (as Google rarely reveals its SEO algorithms), the fact that Waze is a part of the Google family means that it’s very likely they draw on their proprietary data from Waze business listings to improve their local search results.
4. Crowd-Sourced Knowledge
The difference between Waze and similar apps is how it embraces community. In turn, this community helps everyone else by inputting local knowledge. The nature of this community means that building positive interactions with Waze users can lead to them driving more business your way through trusted recommendations. Ensuring your details are always up-to-date and responding to reviews and questions within a reasonable space of time is key to having a positive Waze space.
5. Improving Visibility
Visibility, either online or in the physical world, is what marketing is all about. The more potential customers can see or hear about your business, the higher the chance that they’ll purchase from you. Not only does a Waze business listing achieve this on one of the most popular journey-planning apps in the country, there’s also the added possibility of people seeing their friends’ reviews of a business. Having an updated Waze business listing improves your visibility for potential customers.
6. Helps Customers Get to You
As Waze is a journey-planning app, it is also the best place to help customers enter your business in a literal sense. Once an app user has decided that they want to visit a business, they are immediately delivered the best route to get there, giving them the option to follow up on their decision straight away. A good Waze business listing should also look to be as accurate as possible in its pin placement for where its entrance is and also to provide clear photographs of the business from the street view perspective.
Are you ready to Waze?
Waze is a highly popular navigation app with a dedicated community that updates maps with traffic and route data and reviews of businesses and reveals “hidden gems” to travelers to the area. Waze business listings have a number of benefits in terms of reaching customers, building a community, and improving local SEO.
To make sure your Waze business listings and all the rest of your online listings are working as hard for your business as you are, it’s essential to keep them updated with your business details and to respond to community engagement with your listing. Bloom Ads’ BAX business listings solutions protect your brand and manage your listings everywhere online to ensure visibility across all local discovery channels.
To find out more about BAX business listings management, you can read more here or talk to our team.