Google My Business, also known as your Google Business Profile is free to set up. It is a free tool by Google that allows small business owners as well as nonprofit organizations to promote their business information on Google Search page, Google Adwords, and Google Maps. It means it showcases your business features and makes it easy for consumers to discover and learn more about your business.
As the owner of a small business, a startup company, or just starting a business at home, your Google Business Profile makes it easy for consumers to discover, learn about, and contact your business online. Creating a Google My Business account and verifying ownership of your business is crucial if you want to provide accurate information, respond to reviews, attract customers, and rank higher in local search.
Importance of Google My Business
- Reviews: Google My Business account helps you get reviews and respond to your Google reviews, which is important to your Business.
- Competition: A Business without a public profile is like having an invisible company. Consumers can’t trust you over your competitors if you don’t come up in the search results.
- Get more customers: With a Google My Business account, you can connect with new customers, post updates to your business profile, and see how customers are interacting with your business on Google. Many consumers would stop using any business after finding incorrect information about it online.
Criteria for Google Business Profile
Google Account: This is the free account you create with Google so you can have access to Google Docs, Google Drive, Google Photos, and Gmail. If you don’t have a Google account, visit google.com/accounts. Since this is a free business listing by Google, you’ll be able to create a free account with any email address and this helps your business appear on Google Maps and Google Search.
How to Create a Google Business Profile
1. Sign up for Google My Business
How you claim your Business Profile on Google is through a Google My Business account. Provided you have a standard Google account here’s how to sign up for a Google My Business account. Follow the steps below.
1. Go to accounts.google.com/signin.
2. Click “Create account.”
After you sign into your Google Account for your business -> Go to google.com/business. -> Select “Manage now.” After this provide the following information. These including:
- Your Official Business name
- Your office Address or Location
- Your company’s official Website
- Your company’s official Phone number
- Places your company delivers services to
- Your Business Category
- Official Working Days
- Official Working Hours
Don’t forget that each piece of information is necessary to optimize your business for Google SEO and attract more customers through your free listing. As you complete each form additional fields will open up automatically so you can provide each information about your business as each field comes up.
2. Complete the Business Profile
Your Business Profile is the official term for your Google business listing. A Business Profile can exist on its own, without a Google My Business account. The problem with this is that the business owner has no control over the information in that Business Profile until they claim it, and this is done through Google My Business.
3. Verify ownership of your business
According to Google, to manage your business information in Search, Maps, and other Google properties, depending on the type of business you have, if you created the Business Profile and you’re logged into your Google My Business account, you might get validated on the spot you must verify your business listing.
The verification process helps Google make sure your business information is accurate and that only you, the business owner or manager, have access to it. Also, depending on the circumstances of the security requirements of your industry, you may be given regular verification codes via regular mail and text.
How to Claim Your Google Business Profile
There is a good chance that your Business Profile already exists even if you didn’t create it as a real business owner. This is because any person can add a Business Profile. If someone else has added the business in the past, especially on Google Maps or you notice that multiple profiles are coming up and you are sure they all lead to your business, you will need to tell Google to connect them, and you do this by verifying ownership of each of the business profiles. To do this, you can request to claim them by:
- Go to Google.com/maps.
- Search for your business name.
- If your business name shows in the drop-down, this means your Business Profile already exists.
- Select “claim this business”
- Provide the requested information.
