While COVID-19 had a disproportionate impact on Black-owned businesses, there was no simple way for people to find and support them. We built a product that allowed Black-owned businesses to self-identify, and then made that information accessible in Google Search, Maps, and Shopping. We evolved the way Google indexes information to make the first-ever identity attribute that people could search for, discover, and directly support at scale. And we innovated long-standing Google Products (Search, Maps, and Shopping) to connect queries to commerce in a new way.

In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic caused 41% of Black-owned businesses to close their doors, more than any other racial group in America, and nearly double that of their white counterparts. While COVID was devastating minority-owned businesses, Google Search Trends data showed that people were searching to support Black-owned businesses more than ever before, with 2020 searches spiking over 600% compared to the previous year.

The problem was that there was no simple way for people to find and support the Black-Owned businesses they were searching for. While Google’s business profile tool allowed business owners to self-identify some traits (including women-owned, LGBTQ friendly, etc) there was no tool that empowered Black business owners to self-identify, and enable users to connect search queries for Black-owned business to actual business results at scale.

Our creative idea was to connect Black-owned businesses with the Google Search, Maps, and Shopping users seeking to support them.

Google's scale allows new features on existing products like Search and Maps to have immediate reach. But in order to connect Black-owned businesses to users seeking to support them, innovations were needed both on the consumer and the business sides of Google products.

We added features into Google’s business profile tools that allowed Black-owned businesses to self-identify, and worked with Black Chambers and hundreds of Black business owners to build a representative “Black-owned” icon that would appear in Google business profiles. We then made that information and icon accessible in Google Search, Maps, and Shopping, evolving the way these products index information to make the first-ever identity attribute that people could search for, discover, and directly support.

July 2020 - Black-owned businesses can self-identify

September 2020 - B2B Black-owned campaign launches

December 2020 - Black-owned businesses can be discovered in Search and Maps

February 2021 - Consumer marketing campaign launches

February 2021 - Black-owned merchants without a physical presence could opt into the Black-owned shopping badge in Google Shopping

Our innovation works on both the business and consumer side of Google products.

On the business side, one of the main ways business owners connect with customers is through their Google business profile, which can be customized to include content such as website, photos, reviews, store hours, etc. Now, business owners have access to a new “attributes” tool that allows them to self-identify as Black-owned. When users enable this attribute, the Black-owned business badge automatically appears in their business profile, along with other key business info.

On the consumer side, The interest in Black-owned business was overwhelming (600% spike in searches for Black-Owned Business-related queries from 2019 to 2020), but Google product features lacked a way to direct these searches to the relevant businesses who met their search criteria. Now, when users search for queries such as “Black-Owned restaurants near me,” their search results show businesses that have enabled the Black-owned attribute feature.

This innovation evolves the way Google products index information to make the first-ever identity attribute that people could search for, discover, and directly support.

Since launch, more than 96,000 businesses have identified as Black-owned, with the majority saying the feature has already helped improve their business. By making black-owned businesses searchable for millions, we didn’t just keep doors open for businesses at a time when they need it most, we gave people a tool to shop their values.