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Wondering how to register my business on Google? This no-nonsense guide provides the exact steps to list your business quickly on Google Search and Google Maps, ensuring you’re visible where customers are searching. We’ll walk you through creating your listing, optimizing it for searches, and cover the verification process – setting your business up for success without the fluff.
Key Takeaways
- A Google Business Profile enhances business visibility on Google Search and Maps, offering tools for customer engagement, trust-building, and improved local search visibility.
- Businesses must accurately create and verify their Google Business Profile by selecting proper categories, providing precise contact details, defining service areas, and completing the verification process.
- Maintaining an active Google Business Profile, engaging with customers, monitoring performance through analytics, and utilizing Google’s additional services like Google Ads can vastly improve online presence and customer interaction.
Understanding Google Business Profile
Google Business Profile, a free tool offered by Google company, promotes your business information on Google Search and Google Maps. It plays an integral role in helping consumers find local products and services through google searches and obtain information about businesses through business directories. This tool facilitates management of your business information across Google platforms, providing customer insights and enabling direct customer interaction.
Creating a compelling Google Business Profile not only helps businesses to:
- attract and engage with customers
- build trust
- significantly enhance your business’s visibility as listings receive priority on the first page of local search results
Optimizing your profile could elevate your business to the top 3 local search results, thus significantly increasing exposure to potential customers. Learn more about local SEO solutions on this matter.
Getting Started with Your Google Account
Before you can create a Google Business Profile, you’ll first need a Google Account. But don’t worry – setting it up is a breeze. Simply follow these steps:
- Visit the Google Account sign-in page.
- Click ‘Create account’.
- Follow the prompts to enter your name, choose a username, and set a password for maintaining account security.
- You can even add and verify a phone number for enhanced security.
If you’re using an iPhone, you can sign in to your Google Account by following these steps:
- Open Settings
- Tap ‘Mail’
- Tap ‘Add Account’
- Select ‘Google’
- Enter your credentials
You can then choose to sync your Google data with your Mail, Contacts, Calendars, and Notes apps, ensuring seamless integration across your device.
Creating Your Business Listing on Google
Once you’ve set up your Google Account, you can proceed to create your business listing on Google. Start by visiting www.google.com/business and entering the following information:
- Your company’s name
- Industry
- Phone number
- Website address
Remember, the business address you enter must be a physical address and not a post office box or mailbox at a storefront, as this is crucial for an accurate business location. Also, ensure your business name, business email domain, and business stand are spelled correctly to make a positive first impression for customers.
Selecting the Right Category
It’s of utmost importance to choose the correct primary category for your business in your Google Business Profile. This significantly influences how your business is perceived online and affects its relevance in appearing in Google’s search result rankings. Selecting categories that are irrelevant or too broad can detract from the user experience and diminish your search relevance, which is essential for reaching your target audience.
While you can’t create custom categories in Google Business Profile, you can choose secondary categories that complement your main business service. However, be cautious when changing categories as it can confuse customers and impact your SEO rankings.
Adding Contact Details
One of the key elements of a successful Google Business Profile is the accuracy of your contact details. Maintaining up-to-date contact details aids potential customers in finding and learning about your business. Remember, Google Business Profile tracks customer interactions such as phone calls and website clicks, providing vital data for understanding customer engagement.
Whether it’s your business phone number, email, or website URL, these details serve as the primary points of contact for customers interested in your products or services. Hence, ensuring their accuracy and accessibility is paramount to your business online success.
Specifying Your Service Area
For service providers, it’s particularly important to specify your service area in your Google Business Profile. To establish this, define your service area by specifying cities, postal codes, or other defined regions. Businesses without a storefront can still create a Google Business Profile by listing only the areas they serve, instead of showing their location on Google Maps.
Hybrid businesses should enter both their address and service area, while service-only businesses should only specify their service area. While your Google Business Profile may include up to 20 service areas, it’s advisable not to extend these areas further than approximately 2 hours driving time from your business’s base location, as reaching closer areas in just a few minutes can be more beneficial for your clients.
Seeking Help? Use The Agency The Best Agencies Use
If you’re finding the process a bit overwhelming, there’s good news. You can consider using a professional white label agency like That! Company to help with your Google Business Profile. Here’s why you should choose the best white label digital marketing like That! Company:
- We provide the best local SEO / GBP Optimization Service
- We service over 500 agencies across the US, Canada, Europe, and Australia
- We’re not just software; we handle client communications too
Outsourcing to us at That! Company offers the following benefits:
- Allows you to focus on your core business activities
- Leaves the specialized task of digital marketing to our experts
- Offers a full suite of digital marketing services
- Allows you to offer a more comprehensive solution to your clients without needing to develop these capabilities in-house
- Ensures expert execution of services delivered
- Enhances client satisfaction due to our professional handling and results
Verification Process
Once you’ve set up your Google Business Profile, it’s time to verify your business. Verifying your profile ensures the accuracy of your business information and restricts profile access to the owner or authorized manager. Google offers various verification methods such as:
- Postcard
- Phone
- Others depending on eligibility.
For postcard verification, follow these steps:
- Sign into your Google Business Profile.
- Select your location.
- Click ‘Verify now’.
- Provide the mailing contact name for postcard delivery.
- The verification postcard typically arrives within 5 days.
- Upon receipt, enter the verification code into your Google Business Profile to complete the process.
- If the initial method of verification is unsuccessful, you may be prompted to select a different method by clicking the ‘Get verified’ button again.
Enhancing Your Google Business Profile
A well-maintained Google Business Profile can be a game-changer for your business. Here are some benefits of maintaining an updated profile and regularly posting engaging content:
- Reach a wider audience
- Position your business as an authority in its field
- Increase brand visibility
- Improve search engine rankings
- Build trust and credibility with customers
- Drive more traffic to your website
- Increase customer engagement and interaction
- Stay ahead of your competitors
- All without running ads.
Businesses with complete listings and regular activity updates are twice as likely to be considered reputable, and those with over 100 photos on their profile tend to get more customer engagement. Monitoring site statistics can help businesses understand their online performance and make necessary improvements. Hiring a social media marketing agency white label can be huge help as well.
Engaging with Customers
Actively interacting with your audience is a key tactic to amplify the impact of your Google Business Profile.Here are some strategies to consider:
- Responding to customer reviews on your profile can significantly enhance customer support. Businesses that respond to at least 25% of reviews have been linked to an average of up to 35% more revenue.
- Regular posting of updates, announcements, offers, and products is associated with heightened customer engagement and increased profile activity.
- Engaging with customers through comments and messages can help build relationships and improve your Google search ranking.
By implementing these strategies, you can make the most of your Google Business Profile and improve your online presence.
When posting updates, ensure to include all essential details to retain customer interest and efficiently convey your message. Sharing content that resonates with customers, such as new business updates, staff introductions, and holiday celebrations, can be used effectively in your posts to keep your customers informed and engaged.
Monitoring Performance
Keeping tabs on your Google Business Profile performance is key to making necessary adjustments and improvements. The integration of Google Analytics with your profile enables you to effectively monitor and optimize your marketing performance. Google Analytics provides a wealth of customer insights, such as cross-device and platform usage, leveraging machine learning for predictive analytics to improve ROI. Additionally, google services track outages, ensuring that your business profile remains accessible and up-to-date.
Additionally, Google Business Profile offers insights into customer discovery and interaction, such as:
- The paths customers take to find your listing
- How they engage with it
- User views
- Direction requests
- Calls
- Website clicks
- Product views
- Menu clicks
- Total interactions
Utilizing Google’s Additional Services
Google’s set of additional services can greatly enhance your business’s online visibility. Google Business Profile is integrated with other Google tools like Google Ads, creating a comprehensive online ecosystem for business advertising and visibility. For instance, you can utilize Google Ads to display your advertisements at prominent locations on Google’s search result pages, effectively reaching your initial online customer base.
Google Ads offers various targeting options based on factors such as:
- geographic location
- age groups
- search keywords
- time of day ads are shown
These options allow for the creation of tailored ads based on the most relevant audience.
The pay-per-click model means you’re charged only when users interact with your ads by clicking, rather than paying for mere ad impressions. Coupled with the Quality Score metric that assesses the relevance of your ads, Google Ads can significantly boost your online visibility and customer reach.
Summary
In today’s digital landscape, building a robust online presence is crucial for business success. Google Business Profile offers businesses a powerful platform to manage their online presence, engage with customers, and improve visibility on Google Search and Maps. From setting up a Google Account to creating and verifying your business listing, selecting the right category, adding contact details, and specifying your service area, each step is crucial in shaping your business’s online identity.
However, maintaining and enhancing your Google Business Profile is an ongoing process. Regularly updating your profile, engaging with customers, monitoring performance, and utilizing additional Google services such as Google Ads can significantly boost your online visibility and customer engagement. Remember, if you’re having trouble, you can always turn to professional agencies like That! Company to help you navigate the process.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is it free to put your business on Google?
Yes, it is free to put your business on Google by creating a Google Business Profile account. This will allow you to manage how your business appears in Google Search and Maps results.
How do I set up my business on Google?
To set up your business on Google, log in to Google My Business, enter your business information, including name, category, address, service areas, phone number, and website, and then complete your listing. Once done, your business will be visible on Google.
How do I register my business website on Google?
To register your business website on Google, log in to Google My Business with your business email, enter your company’s details, and verify your business through phone, email, or mail. This will help your website appear in Google search results.
How do I get my business to show up in a Google search?
To get your business to show up in a Google search, log in to your Google account, go to “Google My Business,” and follow the steps to add your business, including providing your business name, category, and location. This will help increase your visibility on Google.
What is Google Business Profile and why is it important?
Google Business Profile is a free tool to promote your business on Google Search and Maps, helping manage your online presence and engage with customers to enhance visibility. This is important for businesses looking to improve their online presence and connect with potential customers.
