A Guide How To Get Your Business To Show On Google Maps
Not sure how to display your business on Google maps? Or maybe yes, but with incomplete or incorrect information? In this blog, we’ll cover some (but not all!) of the common issues that can arise when creating or editing your location. Let us help put you on the map!
Google my Business v Google Maps
If you don’t already have a Google my Business account, this is the first step to getting found on the web! Google My Business is the dashboard that controls if and how your business appears on Google Maps. This is your business profile which contains all your business information such as your name, phone number, website, hours of operation and most importantly your address. Google Maps is connected to your Google My Business account.
How to setup your Google my Business
Go to https://business.google.com/
To continue, you need a Google account. So if you don’t have Google Business Profile now it is the time to create the profile!
Once you’ve logged in for the first time, you’ll be prompted to find your business. If you can’t find your business, use the button below to add your business to Google.
When creating a new listing, follow each step and make sure you enter all your business information correctly. Remember, the more accurate and precise information Google has about your business, the better Google can correctly categorize and display your business listing. The final step in adding your information is to verify your account. This is done by post card to the company address. Once you have received the postcard, you can log back into your account and enter the code provided. Until this verification process is complete, certain functions in your organization may be blocked and you may not have full editing power over your data.
If your business is already on Google but you don’t have access to it, you need to claim it. You can do this by clicking on “Owner of this company?”. This steps will walk you through the steps above and through a verification process so you can get the property back.
Verifying your account
Whether your business is already listed or you need to create a new listing, verification is the most important step. Most importantly, an unverified business will not appear in search results. This happens more often when your specific industry is competing for space with other verified accounts. It’s important to note that if your ad is shown as unverified, it may be edited by any member of the public. This means that incorrect or misleading information about your business may appear in Google search results.
There are several ways to verify your account, and Google provides an illustrated guide to help you with any problems.
Optimization of your Google My Business listing
Once you’ve created and verified your business listing, it’s time to optimize it. Optimizing the account makes it more accessible because it gives Google more information, including a website address so that Google can find more search information there. It is an SEO (search engine optimization) tool that you cannot ignore. Here are some quick and easy tips on how to do this:
Make sure the NAP (name, address and phone number) provided matches that of your website – Google will check this
If your address is correct on Google My Business, it should also appear correctly on Google Maps.
Add relevant, high-quality images to your ad. These should be photos of your business. It is recommended to add at least three interior photos, three exterior photos and a team group photo.
The business description should be short and to the point so customers can be sure they found the right listing. Your business category selection will affect how and when Google displays your listing. Be careful to choose well. Answer questions customers ask in the Q&A section. It’s helpful to set up email alerts to get notified when a new question comes up. Reviews – Encourage customers to leave reviews and engage with them once they do; Google likes that. More on this in the next section. Add an Eircode to your business, but be careful this doesn’t change your physical address, as the Eircode can sometimes have a slightly different variance to Irish addresses.