All About Google My Business

Google My Business is one of the most powerful tools in Local Area Marketing and is one of the first things someone sees when they search for you on Google! ESPECIALLY on mobile as it is THE first thing people see when searching your business name. As a listing, Google gathers information about your business from wherever it can. This includes old addresses and phone numbers which you don’t want to display.

Why should I have a listing?

You want to control the information about your business that displays on the internet, and Google’s native listing has an incredible amount of power over much of what gets shown to your customers. If your listing has an incorrect contact number or an old address you are losing customers when they try to call you or visit your location and can’t get in touch with you.

With a Google My Business listing you get:

• Prominence in search results (particularly searches with your business name)
• Your local search results a boost
• Higher visibility on mobile searches
• Added to Google Maps
• Legitimises your business as current with correct information
• Encourage Google Reviews (which increases your ranking in search engines)

What is it?

Your Google My Business listing is the “red flag” listing that gets displayed at the top of a mobile search for a business or on the right-hand side of a desktop search. It displays information like your location; phone number; and opening hours to users. You want this to be correct! If you haven’t claimed it the information may be incorrect. You’ll know if a Google My Business listing is claimed because unclaimed listings have a link saying “own this business?”

How do I claim my listing?

If you’ve found a listing for your business and it isn’t claimed you just need to click the link that says “own this business?” and follow the instructions given. To verify that this is your business you will be sent a postcard in the mail to the business address with a code on it. When you receive this postcard you will need to log in to Google My Business and input the code given. Congratulations! Your listing is now claimed and you can make any necessary changes.

How do I create a listing?

If your business doesn’t have a listing it is easy to create a new one with all the correct information. Just follow this link and click the “Start Now” button in the top right corner of the screen. The following screens ask you information on your business including name; location; business category; contact information; and website URL. To finish creating your Google My Business listing you will be asked to verify your business through having a postcard sent to the address entered in the same way someone would claim an existing listing.

What do I do with my listing?

Once you have either created or claimed a listing you can access the dashboard. From there you can utilise the following features:

• Post photos and videos
• Add your Services
• Set or change your Opening Hours
• Add special hours for individual days (Public Holidays or Christmas/New Year Break)
• Post updates about your business (Products, Special Offers, Events, News). These posts expire after a month.
• Receive and respond to reviews
• Answer Questions about your business

On top of these features your listing can provide you with information about its performance such as:

• Listing views
• Number of actions (eg. clicks)
• Drill down into search terms and engagement (which postcodes are direction requests coming from)

If you want to go a step further with gathering data you can link your Google My Business listing to your Google Ads account and get analytics and conversion data on how many people have clicked through to your website, called you, or asked for directions.

If you need help claiming or setting up your listing contact us today and we can help you make sure your Google My Business listing is claimed and properly set up.