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 searches spiking over 600%.

The problem was that there was no simple way for people to find and support the Black-Owned businesses they were searching for. Knowing that Google Search and Maps could provide a solution to reduce inequalities at scale, we immediately set out to update both products.

Google’s mission is to organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful. For the first time, businesses were able to identify as Black-owned on their Google profiles. We then made that information accessible to anyone looking to find and support Black-owned businesses near them.

2020 was a challenging year for the world, but the intersectional issues facing Black Americans was exceptionally painful. COVID-19 disproportionately affected communities of color in the US, with many of the deepest economic impacts affecting the Black community. Over 41% of Black-owned businesses in America closed their doors, more than any other racial group in America. Small businesses serve as the backbone of their communities, providing essential resources from employment to Wi-Fi to property values. Because of this, the barriers that Black-owned businesses faced came with exponential risks for their surrounding communities. As the tense backdrop of racial injustice in America — accentuated by the deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and countless others — amplified the striking disparities of injustice between white Americans and their Black and Brown counterparts.

Google Search Trends data showed that people were searching to support Black-owned businesses more than ever before, with searches spiking over 600% from 2019 to 2020. The problem was that there was no simple way for people to find and support the Black-Owned businesses they were searching for.

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

Google Search processes billions of queries per day, and this scale allows new product features to have massive reach if implemented successfully. 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 partnered with Black chambers of Commerce to identify key ways to engage the Black business owner community. Our research revealed that innovations were needed to 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 like websites, photos, reviews, store hours, etc. However, there was no option for an owner to self-identify as Black-owned. We needed to build a digital product feature in Google’s business and shopping profiles that allowed Black-owned businesses to identify themselves, and launch in record time to respond to an urgent need.

On the consumer side, interest in Black-owned business was overwhelming (600% spike in Black-Owned queries from 2019 to 2020). Before the feature existed, people didn’t know they could search Google to find businesses that reflected their values.

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.

Our 360 campaign included national broadcast, print in black-owned publications, and digital featuring the realbusinesses people were searching for in their communities. To amplify Black-owned businesses in the moments when people were searching, we created contextual digital ads that elevated the types of businesses people were searching for. To expand our reach we partnered with celebrities to share their favorite hometown businesses with their social followers in the cities people were searching for “Black-owned” the most.

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 needed it most, we gave people a tool to shop their values.