Does Google My Business Page Help Search Rank?

Improve your local ranking on Google

In a word, yes! Every business that want to show up on Google should have a Google My Business page.

Getting listing in the Local search results of the major search engines is an easy way to increase the visibility of your business.

You don’t even need to have a web site to get your business listed.

What Is Local Search?

Google knows your general location when you do a search and will, by default, provide results for nearby places. For small businesses whose clients are local – repair people, medical professionals, entertainment venues, to name just a few – coming up in the search engine local search results is a real advantage.

Why Have a Google My Business Account?

By setting up your Google My Business account and claiming your business, you can manage how your local business shows up in Google search. Add your logo and photos, opening/closing times, link to your website, contact info and customized business description to your business profile.

How to get a Google My Business page

It’s relatively easy,

Step 1: Get your info ready

The easiest way is probably to prepare a text file with your info that you can copy and paste into the submission form.
You’ll need:

• Your business name
• Address
• Phone number
• Web site address
• A brief description of your business – include your keywords.

You can choose up to 10 categories to be listed under. Google also lets you upload photos. You may want to upload your logo or representative photos for your business.

Step 2: Sign up with Google My Business

1. Go to google.com/business. Click on “Sign In” or “Manage Now:
2. Log into your google account (gmail) or create a new one just for your business.
3. Type in the name your business. If google already knows your business name, it will show and you can select it. Otherwise, just click on the link “Add your business name to Google.
4. Enter your business name (again). Click “next”
5. Enter your business address.
6. Next, there are 2 checkboxes. Check “I deliver goods and services to my customers” if you go to your customers’ locations, rather than having them come to you. If you work from home or another address you don’t want publicly shown, also check “Hide my address (it’s not a store)”.
7. For delivery area, you can enter the names or zip codes of nearby towns and cities in your service or delivery area. The service area feature is designed for businesses who visit or deliver to local customers. If you don’t enter an address, your listing will only show your service area. Click “next”
8. Choose your business category that best matches your business. You can choose up to 9 more categories but the first one chosen is your “primary” category.
9. Add your website and primary business contact phone number
10. Add your primary business contact phone number and your website address, if you have one.
11. Choose your verification method.

Step 3: Get Your Business Verified

Google wants to verify that your actually business exists in the location that you say it does. This is to prevent businesses from getting multiple listings when they only have one address.

There are 2 choices for verification:

1. Have a postcard mailed to your business address. It will have a code and take up to 2 weeks to arrive.
2. Verify by phone, Make sure your phone number is correct and can receive texts.

Once you get the code, you can log back into your business page. Clck the “Verify now” button and enter the code Google sent in the code box.

If you don’t receive your postcard after 2 weeks or so, you can log back into your business page. Clck the “Request another code ” button.

Simply having a Google Business page will help boost your ranking for local search. But to get the most out of your page, it should be optimized. This is a topic for discussion in another post.

Want help setting up your Google Business page?

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