Google is the undisputed king of search, but when it gets to the explicit topic of local search there’s currently not a champion, but Google is up there. So how do you get your business listed in Google’s local search solution - Google Maps?
Firstly go to the Google Local Business Center and enter in the information for your business to see if it’s there.
If there is a match/matches, the next screen will offer you a choice to select an existing listing, or to add a new listing. If you select an existing listing you get a map, and the choice to either edit the existing listing, or suspend it. So what’s to stop your competitor from editing your listing and changing your phone number to theirs to steal your online customers? Google has 2 ways that they use to resolve this issue upon receiving a request to edit or suspend the listing. The first is to send a letter with a pin and activation instructions to the address on the listing. The second is only available if the listing is one that is listed with ‘information providers’, which means that the data has been sent to Google from their data partners such as SuperPages. The second method is a phone call to the number on the listing. Putting that aside for now, what information is Google looking for you to enter? Besides the expected address and phone number information you can also enter hours of operation, payment methods, web address, and several other items, as seen below.
The next step is to select the category / categories that your business falls in. Why does this matter? Well, this is used in two ways. Firstly for searches that directly match that category, and secondly for searches that match synonyms for that category i.e. flowers for florists.
Following that you are given the ability to add custom attributes. If there’s something special about your business, then here’s the place to put it - i.e. certifications, bonding, specialty brands, etc.
Next you can upload up to 10 images of your business, products, services, etc. Following that you just have to review the information and wait for the call/postcard, and once you’ve verified your information, your listing will start show up in the google maps results. If you have multiple locations, then you can use a different process through Google Base, which allows you to batch process your listings, but that’s a different topic for a different time.
