Marvin Chow on raising up Asian-owned businesses through Google products

One of the simplest yet personally meaningful examples for me has been our work to make Google Search and Maps more helpful. Millions of people turn to these products to make decisions about which local business to support—whether it’s where to eat, shop or get a pet groomed.

Since 2018, we’ve made it easier for businesses and organizations to celebrate their communities and identity. We launched our first representation label, for women-owned businesses, in March 2018, followed soon after by the veteran-owned attribute. During the social unrest of 2020, when searches for Black-owned businesses spiked 600%, we added Black-owned—and 97% of Black business owners have seen positive impact when identifying as Black-owned online. We’ve continued to build on the momentum, adding Latino-owned in 2021, and most recently, last year, LGBTQ+ owned and Asian-owned.

As an Asian American myself, the launch of the Asian-owned business attribute in the U.S. was a bittersweet moment. While members of the Asian American and Pacific Islander community continued to face an onslaught of hate and violence, the Asian-owned attribute felt particularly symbolic of strength, solidarity and pride.

The groundswell of activism for #StopAsianHate had fueled hope, and in March 2021, while Google Search interest in the U.S. for “Asian hate crimes” reached record highs, so too did Google Search interest in “Asian-owned”—a clear signal that people were looking for productive ways to direct their allyship. So it was a notable milestone to deliver a scalable product solution for Asian-owned businesses to get spotlighted and found—and, in turn, for consumers to shop their values and show ongoing support for them.