Your 2022 Comprehensive Guide to Google Business Profile Optimization (Part 1)

The most important listing for any local business to have is Google Business Profile. This listing allows your business to show up in the Google Map pack and can even have a strong influence on your organic rankings.

Regularly updating your account and ensuring that it’s properly optimized is critical – which is why we’ve put together this comprehensive guide to Google Business Profile optimization. Whether you’re old hat at SEO or just getting started, you’ll find something here to help you improve your Google Business Profile! 

Creating or Claiming Your Listing

In some cases, Google will create listings based on user search. If your listing already exists, you can claim it by searching for your business and then clicking the button that says “Own this business?” and requesting ownership.

You’ll have to go through a few steps to verify that you’re directly affiliated with the business or fill out a form to reach out to the current owner of the page. Generally, if someone else owns the page, it’s because you’ve worked with an agency in the past. You should be able to gain ownership fairly quickly and easily.

If the listing doesn’t already exist, you’ll need to go ahead and create it yourself! This process is fairly simple. You’ll go to Google Business, click “Manage Now,” enter your business name and address, and if it doesn’t already exist, you’ll start from scratch by entering all of your pertinent information.

You can also now claim your business by finding and selecting it in Google Maps. Recent updates allow you to edit directly from Google maps so you don’t have to go through the back end that was originally Google My Business.

Don’t worry about making it perfect in this step; you can always go back and edit once you’re through the initial setup.

Listing Verification

Once you’ve claimed your listing, you’ll need to verify that the business information is correct. There are a few different ways that Google may have you verify:

• Postcard – Google will send a postcard to your address with a code on it. You’ll need to enter that code on the verification page.
• Phone – You’ll receive an automated phone call to your listed phone number with a code that you’ll add to the verification page.
• Email – Occasionally, but rarely, Google will send an email to the address on the listing. This is the simplest way to verify, but the one that Google uses least often for security reasons.

Verification is arguably the most important thing you can do for your Google Business Profile. If your profile isn’t verified, Google will not display it. If you run into problems, you can always contact Google’s help team. They’re usually able to get the issue resolved in a week or two. 

Once your listing is verified and showing on Google Maps, you’ll be able to manage your business directly from search, as well. Google will be discontinuing the Google My Business app sometime this year, so it’s important to make sure that you familiarize yourself with updating business information through search or maps to avoid confusion later on.

Accessing Various Locations

Businesses that have more than one location can claim and access all of them under one Google account – and it’s advisable to do it this way. You’ll need to claim each of your locations and make sure that you go through the full verification process for each of them.

Once you’ve done that, you can create a business group under your Google Business Profile account. You’ll select which businesses you want to be a part of that group. Once they’re all under that group, you can even share the full group with others in your organization or your marketing agency so they can easily make updates and changes. 

Each location will need to be optimized with local information – make sure you don’t skip that step! We’ll be covering in-depth optimization more in part two of this guide. If you have any questions about part one, please feel free to reach out to us. We’re happy to help with any or all of these steps!

Give us a call at 410-696-3305 or drop us a note here.