Appearing on Google Maps through Google MyBusiness is free, even more so making it a fantastic opportunity for all those who want to increase the visibility of their online business.
Why introduce your business on Google Maps?
Signing up for Google Maps is one step to take to increase the visibility of your business online.
In this way it is possible for your business to appear in the local packs and search results on Google that report local services in a certain sector.
Appearing on Google Maps allows you to:
- provide up-to-date information about your business
- stand out from the competition
- prevent someone else from claiming ownership of your business listing, misleading your audience
- get visits from people interested in your services in a certain territory
- be discovered by new customers
- Sales increase
MyBusiness proves to be an excellent local SEO tool, that series of activities aimed at increasing the visibility of a brand in a certain geographic segment. Local SEO allows you to appear more prominently among local searches on Google, increasing your chances of being contacted by potential clients interested in your solutions.
Google Maps is integrated with Google MyBusiness, so it's just a matter of performing a single operation, registering the complete GMB page with all the details, to optimize your business for both tools.
GMB Page is a tool that allows you to display your business for local searches along with all relevant information: hours, address, phone number, photos and videos, reviews.
How to add the company to Google
Local maps in the local pack are visually highlighted on the first page of Google results. Below them are the name, address and times of the selected activities.
Adding your business to Google Maps allows you to:
- make your business appear in Google Maps searches
- appear in the local Knowledge panel
- appear in local package (local results highlighted in serp)
Optimizing your business for local searches allows you to increase your chances of getting traffic from potential customers interested in local services. Google, through the local pack and activities on Google Maps, aims to provide results that are more responsive to specific searches. and make them available in a more intuitive way.
How to enter your business on Google Maps
For Enter your business on Google Maps you need to perform a series of operations:
- create a profile in My Business
- enter your business details
- request verification by sending a postcard with a PIN
- enter PIN to confirm your MyBusiness card
It may also happen that your company's business name is already present on Google Maps: someone could have created it or it could have been reported to Google by third parties. In this way we can request to obtain ownership through the corresponding procedure made available by Google.
To appear on Google MyBusiness, you must first open a MyBusiness profile. This tab allows you to manage all the information that is offered to Google (and users) such as:
- Business Name
- category
- Address
- opening dates and times
- phone number
- reviews
When you create an account, you will be asked for your first name, last name, email address, and password. To create your page, enter MyBusiness and click on Try Now and start the wizard, with which you will enter all your data.
To register the page you need to receive the PIN code that is sent by postcard to the defined office. The address must be that of the business and not another location (such as your home) since Google must verify the actual existence of the business in question. The address must be complete, including the floor number if necessary, and any information necessary to locate it. If Google Maps cannot find the indicated address directly, you can manually mark it to locate the location.
Once you have received the postcard, simply log into your account and enter the code obtained.
Once this is done, we can estimate that it will appear in Google Maps results within 2 to 3 weeks. After entering the PIN, the card will be visible to everyone and its basic information can be modified. However, if you provide another location, you will need to receive a new code at the new destination to verify that it is operational. Each PIN is valid for 30 days; after this period it will be necessary to request a new code.
From the Administration panel we can manage all the information and update it when necessary. We may enter multiple locations, if our business operates in different locations, and characterize each with respective information (for example, phone number and address).
At this point we will have to periodically update the information in MyBusiness, since it will be displayed on Google Maps and among Google results.
Therefore, we must communicate when appropriate changes in opening days and hours, telephone numbers, address.
Managing the MyBusiness page allows us to insert exterior and interior images of the company, photos of the company team, videos of staff at work, all those contents that can improve the brand's reputation among the public.
Photos are important elements to attract the public's attention. To do this, you must upload original and good quality images that help attest to the authority of your business.
Taking care of your reputation through MyBusiness allows you to obtain useful social signals to increase sales, mainly reviews. Satisfied customers can leave motivated reviews that provide additional signals of social proof. Such reviews can help improve your ranking on Google Maps and therefore appear more relevant.
The proximity of the activity in question to the user who types the search also plays a crucial role in making it appear more prominent than the others.
Google MyBusiness also allows you to analyze traffic statistics obtained through searches on Google Maps, to get an idea of your visibility and estimate your attractiveness to your audience.
When a profile is carefully selected, for very specific searches (e.g. store name + location), it can appear in the Knowledge Panel at the top right of the search results, making it highly visible to users. users.
