Google My Business | Optimize Your Google Listing

Here are some quick tips to help with Google My Business verification.

It is FREE. Your business contact information, hours, phone, website, reviews, photos, etc. are posted for the world to see at no charge to you. Sweet Deal! Have you verified your Google Page? Continue reading to find out what can happen if you don’t.

It’s Friday afternoon and I get a panic call from a franchisee of training services.

” I understand you are an expert in all things Google and I need your help, now.”

Due to business growth, they had recently relocated to a much larger and better facility. Corporate had recently unified all franchisee websites to a standard template and had migrated their website to the new format. This particular branch was well established and had great local branding. Almost overnight they went from page one to page none on Google.

Don’t worry I told this brand new client. Do you have access to your Google My Business page, I asked. Yes. Great. Let’s log in and update the information and get all the pieces talking to each other again. We login. They had never verified their Google My Business Page. In fact, there were multiple addresses and phone numbers on different pages as they had grown and relocated over the years. NONE were verified. A simple process just became unnecessarily complex.

Do you have access to your Google Analytics account? We can verify your page and delete the old ones. They did not have access to their Google Analytics and were not sure who did. This created a BIGGER problem. After numerous phone calls, we were able to find out who could grant access to their Google Analytics and as I write this blog we are still waiting on an email for access. They are still invisible on Google.

ALL OF THESE PROBLEMS COULD HAVE BEEN AVOIDED!

Here is what you need to do to prevent this from happening to your business.

• VERIFY YOUR GOOGLE MY BUSINESS PAGE.

• KNOW THE LOGIN & PASSWORD FOR YOUR GOOGLE MY BUSINESS PAGE.

• TAKE OWNERSHIP OF YOUR GOOGLE ACCOUNT BY KNOWING THE LOGIN & PASSWORD.

 Check out this helpful video from Google.

When you verify your business, you can check that your business information is accurate and that only you can access it. Most local businesses verify by mail. However, some businesses, like service area businesses, have other options like verification by email, phone, or Search Console.

Before you start the verification process, create or claim a Google My Business profile. 

After you enter your verification code, your business information will be eligible to appear in Search, Maps, and other Google properties.

Verify a business by mail

Important: Do not edit your business name, address, category, or request a new code while you wait for your verification postcard. This may delay the verification process.

Before you request verification by mail, make sure your address complies with our address entry guidelines.

Get your postcard

Important: Due to COVID-19, you may experience delays in getting your postcard.

On your computer

1. Sign in to

    

   Google My Business.

2. Choose the business you’d like to verify. 
3. Click

    

   Verify now.

4. On the postcard request screen, make sure your address is displayed accurately. To help deliver your postcard, you can also add an optional contact name.
5. Click

    

   Send postcard.

6. Check the mail for your postcard. Most postcards arrive within 14 days. 

On your mobile device

1. Open the

    

   Google My Business app

    

   .

2. Tap

    

   Send postcard.

3. Choose the business you’d like to verify.
4. Tap

    

   I don’t have a code.

5. Check the mail for your postcard. Most postcards arrive within 14 days.

Enter your verification code

On your computer

1. After you get your postcard, sign in to

    

   Google My Business.

2. If you have multiple locations, open the location you’d like to manage.
3. Click either

    

   Verify location

    

   from the menu or Verify now.

4. In the “Code” field, enter the 5-digit verification code from your postcard.
5. Click

    

   Submit.

On your mobile device

1. After you get your postcard, open the

    

   Google My Business app

    

   .

2. Choose the business you’d like to verify.
3. To verify, tap

    

   Enter code. 

   • If you didn’t get your postcard, tap

      

     I don’t have a code.

Source: Google