If you’re a business owner, you absolutely must ensure you show up in the Google Local Listings. These are the search results that show up on Google Maps when you search for a business or type of business. If you include a location in your search terms, Google will pull up local listings for that location; otherwise, it will default to listings in your current location.
And given that the top three local listings will show up near the top of the Google search results, not only do you want your business to have a Google Local Listing, you also want it to rank in the Top 3 local listing results for your chosen keywords.
Sound daunting to you? Fear not – hire a Melbourne SEO agency like Rock Solid Marketing to take care of it for you!
Whether it’s an SEO agency in Melbourne or you yourself, here’s how to set up your Google Local Listing on Google My Business.
Setting up your Google Local Listing
First thing’s first: Navigate to the Google My Business page and add your business!
Keep in mind that the address you enter here should be the address at which your business resides, and it should match the address you list on your website.
Once you’ve signed up for Google My Business, you’ll be asked how you’d like to verify your business. Usually this will be by mail, where Google mails a postcard to the address you’ve included on your listing which includes a verification code. They just want to make sure your business is actually located at the address you have stated, to maintain accuracy on Google Maps. Otherwise people could list businesses at any address at all, legit or not.
Once you receive the postcard from Google, simply log back into your Google My Business account, enter the verification code, and your business will officially be verified. This means it will start showing up on Google Maps and in the Google Local Listings for your specified location.
Filling Out Your Google My Business Profile
The information you provided when signing up should carry over to your new Google My Business profile, but if you need to make any edits or additions to it you can do that while you’re logged in to your account.
A few things you’ll definitely want to work on:
- Photos – Add photos related to your business, including office interior and exterior, products, and your employees at work.
- Reviews – Ask satisfied clients to leave you a Google review! These are super important when it comes to SEO because, if your keywords are used in these Google reviews, they contribute to the local search rankings for your website.
