Understand what attributes are and how they affect customer decisions.
Module 3 · Lesson 4
Attributes
Use attributes to highlight your business features and make your profile stand out in relevant searches.
Learning Outcomes
Add all relevant objective attributes to your profile.
Understand the difference between objective attributes and subjective attributes.
Use attributes to appear in filtered searches and reach the right customers.
Key Concepts
What Are Attributes?
Attributes are specific facts about your business that help customers understand what to expect when they visit or contact you. They cover things like: accessibility features, payment methods, amenities, health and safety practices, and business highlights. Attributes appear directly on your Google Business Profile and can influence which filtered searches your profile appears in.
Objective vs Subjective Attributes
Objective attributes are set by the business owner — facts that only the business knows. Examples include: "Free Wi-Fi", "Wheelchair accessible entrance", "Accepts credit cards", "Free parking", "Dogs allowed", "LGBTQ+ friendly". These are things you control and can set yourself in the profile dashboard.
Subjective attributes are crowd-sourced from customer feedback. Examples include: "Popular with families", "Good for groups", "Cosy". These are added by customers based on their experiences and cannot be manually set by the business owner. You can influence these by providing great experiences that customers will confirm in their reviews and feedback.
Available Attributes
The attributes available depend on your business category. Restaurants have different attribute options than plumbers or accountants. Navigate to the Attributes section of your profile to see all attributes available for your category. Take time to review every available attribute — many businesses miss attributes that would be valuable to their target customers.
Accessibility Attributes
Accessibility attributes are particularly important. Adding "Wheelchair accessible entrance", "Accessible parking" and "Accessible restroom" signals to customers with disabilities that they can visit your premises safely. These attributes also help your profile appear when someone filters Google Maps results for accessible businesses.
Attributes in Customer Decisions
Research shows that customers frequently use attributes to filter their search results. A tourist searching for a restaurant might filter for "Free Wi-Fi" and "Accepts credit cards". A parent might filter for "Kids menu" and "High chairs available". Completing your attributes thoroughly ensures you appear in these filtered results.
Step-by-Step Practice
Navigate to Attributes in your Google Business Profile.
Review every available attribute for your business category — do not just select the obvious ones.
Add all objective attributes that accurately describe your business.
Note any subjective attributes that appear and consider how you can encourage customers to confirm them through their reviews.
View your profile as a customer would and confirm the attributes display correctly.
Ian's practical tip: I understand what attributes are and how they affect customer decisions. I have added all relevant objective attributes to my profile. I understand the difference between objective and subjective attributes. I have checked that attributes display correctly on my profile.
Practical Activity
Complete and record this task
Attributes directly affect filtered searches on Google Maps. A customer searching for an 'accessible dentist with parking' will filter results by those attributes. If you have those features but have not added the attributes, you will be invisible to that search. Review your attributes quarterly as Google adds new ones regularly.