How to make my business appear in Google

The essential first step for a physical business to start to be positioned online is to appear in Google. After this, potential customers will be able to find a physical store or service provider, will find its opening hours and contact information.

How to register a business in Google

Google provides a platform that is called Google My Business (shortened GMB) where businesses can be registered, so customers can find them when surfing Google. Once a business is registered in GMB, it will appear both in Google and Google Maps.

Below we describe the process to register a business in GMB, fields that need to be completed, verification process and settings.

Where to find GMB?

Visit google my business link and start the process. https://www.google.com/business/

Fields to fill in

• Name

• Category

• Physical Address (if wanted)

• Telephone number

• Do you serve customers outside this location? (Y/N)

• Website (if developed)

• Updates and recommendations on your business in google

• Services provided: based on the business category selected, some are pre-filled. More can be added or changed

• Add business hours

• Business description - What your business is about. recommended length 4 to 6 lines. Short and to the point

• Pictures to be uploaded. Will appear in upload order

How to verify your ownership

After introducing all the info and details in the previous step, the GMB account will be created and we will be able to manage it. However Google needs to ensure that this is a real business and it exists where we have said. So they need to verify it to allow the business to appear in Google. There are different ways to do it, but the most common is a postcard by mail to the address set. The postcard will include a code to introduce in GMB as a way to verify the existence of the business and once activated, the GMB account is operative and the business will appear in google in the location set.

Options & Settings once registered

Once registered (even before having our GMB account verified by Google), we can already start managing in more detail the info and look of of our business in Google.

We will be able to adjust the info, business hours, pictures, website and other links. Another important section refers to the list of products / services that we provide, we can detail them. We can even write posts and content about our business.

But the most importante features are Insights and Reviews.

• In Insights we have access to specific Dashboards that tell us how many times our business has been seen or searched (in certain period), how many times our pictures have been seen. Also which search queries have brought the customers that saw our business. Very powerful as a first basic SEO analysis regarding our business.
  

• In customer reviews, we can read the reviews posted by visitors / customers. Customer reviews play a very important role in how Google ranks the different GMB registered business as a result of a google search.

Those 2 dimensions will be developed in further Blog posts, due to its importance as a first SEO experience.

Summary

As described in this post, the mandatory 1st decision for a physical business to be visible online is to register in Google My Business. The business name, address, description, contact details, web, pics, etc… will appear in Google and Google Maps and will be able to be found by future customers. Here is where the online journey starts.