How to add your business to Google? That’s a great question! Google is BY FAR the largest search engine in the world, with over 90% of the search engine market. Not only that, but in a recent court case, Google representatives made the claim that the word with the most searches on Microsoft’s search engine, Bing, is “Google”! How embarrassing is that?
That being said, many people find businesses in the Google-My-Business listings, or in the Google Maps application. So, especially if you are a business with a physical location that can be visited by customers – appearing in these listings can be a game-changer. For many businesses (depending on your business type), the Google listings can bring in as many as half or more of all customers! It’s a big deal.
Getting listed with Google is much easier than you may think, and we will walk you through it step by step in this guide.
How To Add Your Business On Google: Step-By-Step
1. Go to this link.
2. Sign in to your Google account. This should be the account you want to use to set up your Google-My-Business listings. Or you can just create a new Google account.
3. Search for your business by name, and if your business comes up, click on it. Don’t create a new business if your business already exists in the system- that could cause some issues later on.
4. If your business doesn’t show up then you can click on “Add your business to Google.”
5. Select your business category. You should stick with one of Google’s suggestions. This is a clear description of what type of business you are in. This could be “Law Firm” or “Marketing Agency” or “Plumber.” Then click on “Next”
6. Then, select whether or not your business has at least one physical location your customers can go to.
7. If you selected yes, then fill in the address and all the other information. Now, people will be able to find your business on Google Maps.
8. Now, complete your profile by selecting the area that you service, where you are based, and the contact information you want to display on your listing.
9. I would highly recommend selecting yes in the “Stay in the know” section. You will want to know any and all insights about your Google-My-Business because it might be a very important source of your income. This is worth your time.
10. Now, you will have to verify your address. As written on Google, “this address will be hidden from the public.” You will have to verify this address. Google will send you a postcard with a code on it. When you receive it, just follow the instructions on it to verify your business.
11. Then, you will be redirected to a page where you can “Add your services.” Make sure to spend some time and come up with a good service mix that correctly represents your business. It’s important that this information is accurate. If you can’t find a service that you think is important to include, you can create your own service.
12. Enter your business hours.
13. Then you can choose to allow your customers to message you or not.
14. Write a medium-size but concise description of your business (under 750 characters). After reading your description, people should have a good understanding of what your business is all about.
15. When you finish creating your business, you’ll be taken to your business dashboard. From here, you will be able to create posts, edit your business information, view analytics, manage your reviews, communicate with customers through messaging, upload business photos, edit your website information, manage users, and more.
Managing Your GMB Account
Now that you know how to add your business to Google, let’s talk about how to get the best results with Google-My-Business. As I pointed out previously, many businesses get a huge chunk of their customers from being listed on Google. Because of this, GMB can be one of the most important things for you to keep a close eye on. Plus, it doesn’t even take that much effort! Let me lay out the 5 best practices of optimizing your GMB account:
Keep Your Information Updated
Also, make sure the information on your GMB account is correct and complete when you create your listing using the process above. If any information changes, you should not procrastinate to update it. In addition, I would recommend routinely checking your information once or twice a year. Having accurate and up-to-date information will allow your prospects to contact, visit, or share your business easily and conveniently. In fact, it is unprofessional to display wrong or outdated information in your listing, and could hurt your image. Furthermore, you want to avoid angry or annoyed customers who arrive at your business after closing hours or something along those lines.
Utilize The Google Posts Feature
Posts are a great way to interact with your customers with announcements and updates. These posts are displayed on your Google business profiles as well as in Google maps. In fact, you can treat it almost like a social media post for your business. It’s an easy way to engage your customer base and stand out from the competition without exerting too much effort.
Ask for & respond to reviews
According to Trustpilot (2020), “nearly 9 out of 10 consumers read reviews before making a purchase.” Can you believe that?! Moreover, you better believe that a lot of that review-reading happens on Google. Knowing that number, wouldn’t you agree that it’s important to have a review section you are proud of on your listing? For that reason, I recommend asking for a Google review from every customer you serve.
Make it easy for them by letting them click a link or scan a QR code that will take them to your Google listing. Furthermore, you should always respond to bad reviews. Unfortunately, people are much more likely to rush to leave a negative review than a positive review. This is because people have grown to expect outstanding customer service. Therefore, when they receive it, they don’t think much of it. On the contrary, when people receive service that is less than great, they are more likely to rush to leave a bad review. However, you should always be professional and accommodating even when responding to negative reviews on Google. Remember, customers can reconsider, edit, or delete their reviews!
Google My Business Q&A
In addition, the Q&A section, introduced by Google in 2017, is an effective method to stay in communication with your customers. It is good practice to be on top of those and answer the questions promptly as they come in. That will add an element of customer service and entice customers to ask more questions and do business with you. Think of it this way: if all that is standing in the way of a customer doing business with you is a quick question, don’t let that question go unanswered!
Don’t Miss Out On GMB Insights
In conclusion, if you aren’t taking advantage of the powerful insight tools offered on Google-My-Business, you are definitely missing out. Moreover, you can find a lot of great data on your customers, how they’re finding your listing, what action they’re taking, and the volume of calls you are receiving. There are many other interesting things you can learn too.
Setting up and utilizing Google-My-Business can be a very powerful tool for you to get more customers and sales. It’s a free tool, and it’s very easy to manage. You can take care of all your GMB needs in just minutes, so it is definitely worth looking into. Good luck, and hopefully this helps you get the phones ringing and the credit cards swiping!
Want to learn how you can use Google Ads to drive phone calls or any other business goal? Take a look at the Google PPC Guide.
