Google has confirmed that they are expanding the test of a “write directly to the search” results product first seen in January for presidential candidates and in the March time frame seen for small businesses. According to Google the test is expanding from “10’s of small businesses to thousands”.
The yet-to-be-named feature gives small businesses the ability to create cards with short messages in search results that are presented in a similar way to how Google presents AMP carousels. When the business’s name is searched for, the most recent messages from that business will appear on the front page of search results.
The messages/cards — which can feature text, links, pictures, and videos — will live on a Google server but can be shared or linked to by others. Apparently the posting of content is facilitated by a dedicated app that only select businesses have access to at this time.
