Since its inception, the Internet has been a powerful platform to share knowledge, connect with others, and search for information. We turn to the web to learn how to look great, make a killer banh mi, impress a French woman, speak, play, learn, and live -- the list goes on. Indeed, more people search for “how” than any of the five “W”s, finding their answers in blogs, videos, online books, interactive tutorials and other corners of the web.

That’s why we’re happy to introduce .HOW as the latest domain from Google Registry, and the most recent addition to our broader effort to bring new spaces online. We believe .HOW can become an intuitive way for creators and consumers to share, identify and discover some of the best learning content on the web. Now you can buy a simple, memorable and meaningful .HOW domain name of your own, sending a clear message that your content is there to teach people something great.

People are already getting started. From sustainable renovators to a cappella aces, champion skydivers to video game makers; small businesses, nonprofits and teachers of all kinds are using .HOW domain names to reach their audiences.

What will you teach on your .HOW? Check www.get.how for more information, or to get your .HOW domain name now.

A domain name says a lot about who you are and what you do. For businesses especially, picking out the right domain name is often the starting point to building a successful online presence. With new domain endings like .recipes and .clothing, there are now more options to choose from than ever before.

Last year, we shared news that we were beginning to test a new service called Google Domains to help people get online starting with a domain and website. We partnered with some of the most reliable and easy-to-use website building providers on the web: Shopify, Squarespace, Weebly and Wix. Together, we’ve helped businesses like Scott Pincus Design and Hidden Springs Soap get a domain, build a website and find new customers online. It’s really that easy.

Today, we’re excited to make Google Domains more widely available by lifting the invitation restriction for those in the U.S. For those in other countries, you can sign up here to be notified when it is available in your country. And thanks in large part to the feedback we received from our early beta testers, we’re opening the doors with a new batch of features. Some of the enhancements include:

• Improved search and suggestion experience to help you find the perfect domain name
• Over 60 new domain endings like .company, .florist and .coffee (view the full list here)
• A simple dashboard to manage your domain, website and email settings
• The integration of +Blogger so you can create a blog and easily connect it to your domain
• The ability to quickly browse website template themes and compare the plans and features of our website building providers
• Dynamic DNS so you can setup your domain and keep it pointing to the same computer even when the IP address changes. Read more about it here.

We’re excited to share the open beta with you today and still welcome your input, questions and feedback. Don’t be shy!

Get started today at www.google.com/domains.

Is your business mobile-ready? It should be. With 1.75 billion smartphone users worldwide¹, you could be missing out on a lot of potential customers.

Here are 3 steps you can take to maximize the potential of mobile for your business.

Step 1. Optimize your website for mobile
Have you checked out your website on a smartphone recently? For the 65% of users who start their search on their smartphones², that may be their first and only exposure to your business. Make that a good one.

First, find out if your website is mobile-friendly. Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test can help you do that. You should also load your website on a smartphone and pay attention to these 3 things: How quickly does your page load? Does your page fit on a small screen? Is key information visible without scrolling?

There are many ways you can set up your website for mobile optimization. Google generally recommends responsive web design, where code is used to adjust the same page to different screen sizes. You can try to set up the code yourself, or you can use templates from sites like Strikingly or Wix.

Depending on your needs, you might want to consider creating a separate mobile site. Tools such as Mobify and DudaMobile can help you set that up easily. PageSpeed Insights is another useful tool that can suggest ways to improve the loading speed of your website for both mobile and desktop.

Listing on Google My Business might also be a good place to start. One of the great things about Google My Business is that all its listings are already optimized for different devices. It will also list your business info on Google Maps. Even if you already have a website, it is an easy way to start expanding your mobile presence.

Step 2. Engage your mobile users with social media
Social media is a big part of the mobile experience, and a great way to engage your customers. In the US, 42% of smartphone users visit social network sites at least weekly on their devices. This number is even higher in Asia, so if you’re based in Asia or thinking of reaching customers there, you should start thinking about social media³.

You can do this by sharing interesting content about your business, such as stories, photos and videos on sites like Google+ and YouTube. Have a new shipment of 60s dresses for your vintage clothing store? Share some photos. New fall dish on your restaurant’s menu? Let customers know. They might even share your content with friends, and help you find new customers that way.

Set yourself a schedule so that you get into the rhythm of updating regularly. It doesn’t have to be daily, just something that you think is manageable for you. You can also use your social pages as a way to share updates like extended opening hours or holiday sales. Planning on selling everything at 50% off for Christmas? Share it.

You can also respond to customers’ ratings and reviews using Google My Business. This is a great way to have a conversation, get feedback and really give a human voice to your business.

Step 3. Advertise to mobile users on search
Search is the activity that smartphone users engage in most frequently, even more so than social media⁴. Maybe you own a ramen store in Tokyo that is open late into the night. Chances are, someone searching for “dinner in Tokyo” at 1am is a potential customer you’ll want to reach.

Advertising on Google can help you reach the kind of customers who are already looking for what you offer. If you have a brick-and-mortar store, AdWords’ location extensions feature can direct people to visit you in person. You can even design your ad campaigns so they only appear to people already near your store. Someone searching for “flower shop” on their phone, 500m from your store, is someone you could reach with a Search ad. Did you set up a Google+ page in Step 2? You can show off your excellent ratings on your ads as well.

Mobile opens up many new ways to grow your business and connect with your customers. Get your business mobile-ready so you can take advantage!

1. Forecasted, eMarketer (2014)
2. In the US, Think with Google
3. Consumer Barometer (2014)
4. Consumer Barometer (2014)

One group of people who will be working extra hard this holiday season are small business owners. And our data shows that consumers will be even more restless, with one third of all shopping-related searches now happening between the hours of 10pm and 4am.

Small businesses that sell their products or services online need to know that the buying experience is no longer confined to daytime or normal business hours. You can make simple tweaks to your online advertising strategy to accommodate sleepless shoppers, and further capitalize on this exciting buying period. To do this, we’ve compiled a list of 5 AdWords tips to help your small business navigate the holiday season.

1. Stay in the know. Every year, shoppers gravitate towards specific products, toys, foods, films, and more, to shape the season’s holiday trends. Google Trends can help you get a sense of the most popular searches by region, or help you identify searches that are just beginning to take off. Understanding search trends and where they’re coming from can help you focus your campaigns on the most meaningful terms for your audience.


2. Show up in your audience’s searches. Peloton Cycle sells stationery bicycles and streams live cycling classes into customers’ homes. They know that many shoppers will be looking for health and fitness solutions this holiday, so they’re using broad match modifier keywords, which allows your ad to show up in searches that include a keyword and controlled variations. Peloton added keywords like “+buy” and “+holiday” to reach users most likely to make a purchase. This, along with other targeting refinements, allowed them to lower their cost-per-click by 30% and increase their clicks by 474%.


3. Let AdWords work when you can’t. After a successful appearance on Shark Tank, the owners of Tower Paddle Boards have been hard at work creating unique and custom boards for first-time paddle-boarders. They’re serious about providing a quality customer experience, so they use website call conversions to track AdWords leads that kick off the consultation process for new customers, around the clock. Other tools in this vein are flexible bid strategies, which automate the bidding process and help you reach goals across specific campaigns, ad groups, and keywords. Some of these strategies are perfect for capturing night shoppers because they adjust bids using real-time details like device, browser, location, and time of day.


4. Mobilize your advertising. The owner of Novica, an online artisan gift and jewelry company, became discouraged when he noticed low conversion rates on mobile, and eventually eliminated his mobile ad presence altogether. But Google Analytics insights showed him that mobile traffic was still profitable; it just had to be set at the right cost per click. Now, they’re adjusting their mobile bids to find that happy medium and get the most out of their AdWords investment this holiday season.


5. Stand out in the crowd. Holiday shoppers visit up to 12 websites before deciding on a holiday purchase - so don’t get lost in the buy cycle! Make your ad extensions stand out by using information that will draw more people to your website, or use ad customizers to show highly strong promotional offers to your customers, in real-time, even when you have lots of products, services, and promotions—all changing by the day.

We hope these tips can help your small business connect with more holiday shoppers, as they hunt for deals around the clock from Black Friday to New Year’s Day. If you’d like some additional guidance, including free online courses, you can also visit our AdWords Help Center.

Start laying out your end-of-year strategy now, if you haven’t already - and best of luck meeting your goals this holiday season!

What if, as you browsed the web, you were able to quickly identify content that was directly relevant to you, your business, or your passion? That’s one of the ideas behind top-level domains (TLDs). Earlier this year at I/O, we talked about Google’s portfolio of TLDs that will be coming online over the next few years and how we’re investing in this space to develop cool things for the future of the web. A TLD helps you understand what a webpage is all about, like how you can tell that .edu domains are likely to be educational institutions. Today, we’re excited to announce our first new top-level domain in the United States: .SOY.


Built with the US Hispanic audience in mind (53 million strong and growing), .SOY means “I am” in Spanish and opens up a new place on the web for everyone to celebrate Hispanic culture - regardless of country of origin or language preference.

.SOY is a space for this influential community to create, discover and connect with culturally relevant content and ideas online. It’s a place where you can build a website for your growing small business or new business venture, or share your passion with the world. When you visit a site that ends in .SOY, you’ll know it was created with a Latino audience in mind.

To help jump start this new comunidad, we’ve partnered with several Hispanic organizations and small businesses, including the Hispanic Heritage Foundation. In addition, we’ve built HolaGoogle.soy, a place where Latinos can explore our products and be inspired by people doing really cool stuff.

Hispanic Heritage Foundation ELLA Institute LATISM Webs

Starfish*Global Republica Pix-l Graphx Queen of Tacos

The .SOY story is just getting started, and we’re excited to see where la comunidad takes it from here. To learn more about .SOY and claim your domain, visit www.iam.soy.

Posted by Jordyn Buchanan, gTLD Team

“Hey, how do I get my business on the web?”

In my nine years at Google, I've heard this question all of the time.

To answer, today we’re releasing a short video series (30 minutes total), sharing the same advice we’d give to our friends and family. It’s the advice I’d give to my sister, Marnie, who owns a jewelry store, or my cousin, Scott, who works as a realtor.

Video spoiler alert: You won’t need to make a website, but you definitely need a way for your local business to reach potential customers using their mobile phones, tablets, or desktop computers.


The great thing about video is that you can pause at any time and work at your own pace. Next time you hear the question: “How do I get my business on Google?”, please share the link and help get more local businesses online!

Series: Build an online presence for your local business

Video #1: Introduction and hot topics (3:22)

Meet my sister, Marnie, who owns a jewelry store and my cousin, Scott, who works as a realtor. Follow them as we talk about the big changes in the last decade, such as making sure your business can reach customers at work, home, or on-the-go using their mobile phones.

Video #2: Determine your business’ value-add and online goal (4:08)

With the example of Scott, the realtor, you’ll learn about the marketing funnel, setting an online goal, and highlighting what makes your business special.

Video #3. Find potential customers (7:41)

Marnie and Scott figure out their customers’ most common journeys to reach their business. We'll use their examples to brainstorm how you can reach customers on review sites, through search engines, maps apps, and social and professional networking sites.

Video #4: Basic implementation and best practices (5:23)

The fundamentals and best practices to take your business from offline to online!

Video #5: Differentiate your business from the competition (5:09)

With Scott’s business as a realtor, see how to demonstrate that your local business is the best choice for customers by adding photos, videos, and getting reviews.

Video #6: Engage customers with a holistic online identity (4:51)

We'll end the series by showing how Scott makes sure his online presence sends a cohesive message to customers and answers all their common questions. :)

Written by Maile Ohye, Developer Programs Tech Lead

One of the toughest things about running a successful business is standing out from your competitors. With Google Maps Business View, you can show the unique character of your business and service to more than one billion Google users around the world. Business View uses Street View technology to let your potential customers explore your location through a 360-degree virtual tour. Hundreds of thousands of businesses have already gone live with their tours on Google to help give people the information they need when booking a trip, making a dinner reservation, and more.

If you're in the travel and tourism industry, Business View can help give potential visitors a glimpse of where they're going as they plan their trips. A great example is GeoVegas, a new website from Las Vegas Convention & Visitors Authority. GeoVegas incorporates Business View to enable people to virtually experience hotels, restaurants and other noteworthy locations in Las Vegas before making their reservations. The site even lets them tailor their experience so they can plan their dream vacation. vacation.


On a larger scale, as part of Andorra’s goal to grow tourism, the Actua Initiative helped get more than 95 percent of the country’s businesses online with Google. Visitors from across the globe can use Business View to preview restaurants like La Borda and salons like Anna Barroca Perruquers. This has resulted in an increase in online traffic and extended time spent on the business’ websites.


Business View can also be a powerful way to communicate your brand story to customers. For example, if you’re in the product manufacturing industry, you can show your customers not just what you make but how you make it. The Chrysler 200 Factory Tour gives consumers an interactive look inside the auto making process and allows them to tour aspects of the assembly process, bringing them inside the local Michigan plant.


Getting the virtual tour of your business live on Google is easy:

• How it works: A Google Trusted Photographer collects a series of high resolution panoramic photos of your business interior to create a 360-degree interactive experience. Google Maps Business View appears in Google Search results, Google Maps and Google+, whether your customers are using computers, smartphones or tablets. For hotels, Business View will also show up on Google Hotel Finder.
• Why you should try it: People like to see photos of a location when deciding where to go, and Business View allows owners to put their best foot forward with a high quality interactive tour. Our testing has shown that "See Inside" drives more clicks to a business' site. This imagery also allows you to build unique experiences online for your potential customers to enjoy.
• How to get started: Find a Google Trusted Photographer or Trusted Agency on the Google Maps Business View website and set up a photo shoot.

We look forward to seeing your business’ virtual tour going live on Google. And to learn more about other ways to connect directly with your customers on Google, check out Google My Business.

Posted by Soufi Esmaeilzadeh, Google Maps Business View Product Manager

The Robot Garage was a past recipient of a Mission Main Street Grant from Chase.

Small businesses are driven by turning big ideas into reality. A few weeks ago, we posted news that we’re once again teaming up with Chase for this year’s Mission Main Street Grants program, an effort helping small businesses across America bring some of those big ideas to life.

This year, twenty businesses will each get a $150,000 grant from Chase, as well as a Chromebook, $2000 towards one market research study with Google Consumer Surveys, and a trip to Google for a small business marketing workshop with Google experts.

We know how important the web can be to help small businesses grow, so we also worked with Chase again to build a marketing toolkit on www.MissionMainstreetGrants.com. The toolkit shares tips that every business can use, like best practices for digital marketing and social media, as well as how to make the most of online advertising and analytics.

ABL Denim, a small business based out of Los Angeles and a 2013 grant recipient, understands the benefits of the grant full well. The company produces a premium denim jean line designed with features that make dressing easier for people with limited mobility or sensory integration disorders. The grant has allowed owner Stephanie Alves and her team the opportunity to hire staff, rebuild their website, create a product catalogue, and learn more about investing in marketing and advertising - which lent tremendous credibility in their talks with bigger retailers about business partnerships.(Google to confirm that this has been verified by ABL)

The program is open to current businesses that have been operating for at least two years and have less than 100 full-time employees. Businesses must receive at least 250 votes on www.MissionMainStreetGrants.com via Facebook authenticator to be eligible for the opportunity to receive a grant. The deadline to apply is October 3, 2014, so hurry and sign up soon! You can find out more information about the program and all of the eligibility requirements at www.MissionMainstreetGrants.com. On the website you can also check out videos and a Google Hangout with last year’s grant recipients as they share how they used social channels to rally support and improve their applications.

The web opens up countless opportunities for small businesses to grow and reach new customers, and we’re excited to see your great submissions. Get moving before time runs out, and good luck!

Posted by Jon Kaplan, Vice President of US Sales & Operations