What is Google My Business Listing exactly? Many people believe that google simply picks up your website off the internet from day one. Build a website, host it and it should be on Google, right? Not at all actually. Google is just a website and they only automatically aggregate websites that have a large following or websites that have been specifically requested by their owners.
This is where Google My Business or GMB comes into play, especially for local, service based businesses. For example, if a Plumber wanted to make sure that his website was mainly broadcast to people in Kalamazoo or Grand Rapids, Michigan a GMB listing would be ideal for this situation.
How it works – Adding your information
In its simplest form a GMB listing is a formatted directory listing for a business’s basic contact information. Think of it like a modern yellow page listing. It requires a business’s name, address and contact information. On top of your basic info it also allows for some additional information like images, the business’s operating hours or even reviews that can be left by customers.
A Google Business Listing does require some work ahead of time though. In order to confirm that a business is actually owned by the person intending to create the listing a mailer is normally sent out from Google to the business’s main address. Once that mailer has been received, it will contain a code that can be entered to confirm the authenticity of the listing. Confirming a business listing unlocks a plethora of tools at the disposal of the business owner and their team.
Wrapping it up – Confirming your listing
Once a Google My Business listing has been confirmed and all corresponding fields have been filled out, the business will slowly start to appear in local searches for queries related to that business. For the example of the plumber above, searches in Google like “plumbers near me” or “plumbers in Kalamazoo” would typically yield results containing the plumber’s business.
If your business still isn’t coming up in a local Google search, give us a call at Above Media and we’d be more than happy to assist with any search related issue.