8 Policy Changes at Google That Impact Your Business

Google recently made an announcement of its plans to change 60 of its online user policies that will be designed to take effect on March 1, 2012. As a business owner you may be concerned about the impact these new policy changes may have on your online marketing strategy.

Here are some highlights and things to consider from our review of the new policy announcement:

1. The sharing of documents and information will become more streamlined to help increase the share value of information and the contributions of other online users. (For the business owner, this means defining what information should get released versus kept confidential is now more important than ever). What is your company social media policy?
2. The interests you have identified in your Google+, GMAIL, and YouTube profiles can now be tailored to fit your search results. (For the business owner, this means that the more accurate and optimized your data is, the better it will be found by visitors truly seeking the services and products you offer). How well is your company presence search engine optimized?
3. Your location data such as latitude and longitude can be shared directly with Google to identify your physical location. (For the business owner, if you have concerns about security, then ensuring that your locator options on your devices and accounts are accurate may be important).
   
4. Google does have a liability policy. (For the business owner, a loss equates to Google being liable for the amount you paid them to use their services, or, the amount supplied to providing you the services again).
5. Google respects copyright laws and has a process for removing users that infringe upon copy written materials. (For the business owner, this means that if you believe your copyright is being infringed upon, there is a process to file a grievance for removal of the infringing party). Is this happening to your company? Consider Monitoring Your Online Content.
   
6. Governments request information from Google on certain topics and users. See the list here: http://www.google.com/transparencyreport/governmentrequests/
7. Meta data of your photos may be shared throughout Google. (For the business owner, this means the description of your photos is your responsibility to edit and manage BEFORE uploading the content to Google).
8. Short Message Service (SMS) or email related information may be kept by Google to enhance user experience and deliver more relevant results. (For the business owner, this means deciding what information should be disseminated across Google’s platform and what information should be kept confidential such as agreements and contracts may be important).

For more information about Google's new policy and how it may affect the online aspect of your business, the team at BizHive encourages you to contact us.