Google Photo Team Working OC

OCEAN CITY – The Google Business View Photo Team is in Ocean City expanding its search engine website by creating virtual tours of local participating businesses.

The team shoots pictures of businesses creating a virtual tour to be placed on their Google Places page as part of search results within Google Maps. Businesses can also add the tour to their own personal websites.

On Monday morning, the team started with a photo shoot of the Clarion Hotel and had plans to move onto Old Pro Golf by the end of the week. Last month, the team shot A Perfect Face Day Spa, the Kite Loft, the Country Side Café and Culver Antiques & Framing in Ocean City, Delaware and Berlin.

According to Google Certified Trusted Photographer Frank Clark, the team has been on ground in Maryland for six weeks, working in Annapolis and moving toward Baltimore but Ocean City has become a primary focus at this time.

“It has graduated now and the cat is out of the bag that we are out here,” Clark said. “Ocean City is a gem of Maryland and Google feels that this is the place to start.”

Google consists of many different physical views of a search. Starting with Google Earth, which is one large map of the planet and beyond, moving down to Google Maps, which is a map of individual cities.

Next is Google Street View and now Google Business View takes you from outside on the street to inside of the business.

The virtual tour allows Google users to walk through the front door and take in a 360-degree view of a business before they even step foot into the establishment.

“For the consumer, the benefits are you can look at places before they actually go to them, see what it is about and if it excites them,” Clark said.

Google Business View benefits a business by having their name added to Google’s search engine, as well as gaining a spot in Google Places if one doesn’t already exist. Google Places is unique in that it creates a business profile for consumers to review when searching on Google. Consumers can also write their own review of the business on the site.

“It is a place where all of the information of a business comes together,” Clark said.
Interested businesses can call 410-449-2127, or visit www.trustedphotomd.com.