How do I get my business to show on the Google Map?
Google Business Listings Setup, the Whys and Hows
Originally Google business and Google plus were one entity. They have broken off into two separate systems with completely different purposes. Below are instructions on how create a Google Business listing that shows in organic search results and in the Google Map. See below two views.
Organic Listing Search:
Map Search:
Why is this important?
Aside from the great looking business card that shows in organic search and the ability to find your company with GPS is google’s hard core focus on location, location, location. Search results, especially mobile searches, are filtered based on the user’s physical location. Your business’s proximity to the user performing the search plays a big role in where you rank for that search term. This is also the place where you start getting Google Reviews and a star rating. Your star rating will not show until you have enough to create a good average from. I believe its closer to 8 or 9 reviews.
**Note: Negative reviews for property managers are to be expected. Combat this by being proactive in getting good reviews.
Some Benefits:
- Its easy to setup
- There is little to no maintenance required
- Its FREE
How do I get my business listed on google?
Creating your listings is pretty simple. Start by going to business.google.com
You will be asked to sign in with your Google account. If you do not have one, its time to create one.
Once you are signed in just follow the form to fill out your company information. The address entered must be a location that you can receive mail and cannot be a P.O. box.
**Note: If you do not yet have an office, we suggest something close to what Google considers the city center of your main market. Any city search done “Denver Property Management” will start from the center of the city. If the user searches just “property management” then the radius will be centered on the user’s physical location.
Make sure to select yes I deliver goods and services to my customers at their location.
Selecting this option allows you to set a list of the areas that you service, basically the areas that you want to show up on the map for. You have the option to do a radius search or a list of cities/postal codes.
It is important to know that your listing will not appear in the map until you have verified your location. Majority of the time verification will be handled via postcard as seen below. If you are one of the lucky ones, you will get to verify by phone. If you check this option be ready to answer that call from google immediately. If you have a phone system with prompts, it will need to be disabled prior to clicking on verify.
If you choose you can verify now or later. If you choose to verify now be prepared to close the tab in the browser as soon as the postcard is sent. Any edits to the information after clicking verify will have Google stopping the send of the postcard. I have seen people wait weeks and weeks for a card that was never going to come. If your card does not show up in 5-7 business days you can contact Google support to verify that it was sent out.
The next few screen shots are continuing the verification process now. If you want to edit the information before verifying you can click Verify later. You will have the ability to edit the account after it is verified.
Congratulations, you have a Google business account. Don’t worry, its not going to show on the map until it is verified. When you are ready click the Verify Now button that will be at the top of the page.
If you are ready to edit the account and add more information just follow the steps in the blue box.
If you want to make edits to the core business information click on the edit button a the top right. You can get back to this screen anytime by hitting the Home button in the left side navigation.
Add your company information to this listing as you see fit using the edit icons to the right of each section.
You can add photos of your business by clicking on the photos link in the left side navigation. Google recommends at least 3 images for each category that it has listed.
Business listings can have more than one manager. To add additional administrators or owners click on Users in the left side navigation. The users must have google accounts. An invitation to manage the page will go out to any user that is invited.
**The creator of the account is set as the owner. Ownership can be passed to another administrator after a specific period of time. Only the owners can add administrators or pass ownership to another administrator.
Be sure to select the correct role for each user invited to the account.
If you have not already done so, verify the account. Once the postcard is sent please close down the tab and do not access it again until you receive the postcard with the verification code.
When you have the verification code go back to business.google.com and login. Click the verify button and it will allow you to enter the code on the back of the postcard. These codes have a 30 day from date sent expiration on them. Do not let the card site in your to-do pile too long or you will have to start over with the verification process.
Anytime that you need to make updates to your account you can do so through the business.google.com link. You can even add more listings for additional locations or manage multiple business pages here if you have them.
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