Google Maps is of central im­port­ance to local busi­nesses. The online business card service is part of the most suc­cess­ful search engine provider in the world’s product portfolio and is directly in­teg­rated into their search engine. Google is the internet starting point for most user’s research, and not just for searches that target specific in­form­a­tion.

Searching for products, services and providers is also primarily done through Google, and not just at home on the PC but also with smart­phones while on the go.

Business owners who want to provide potential customers with in­form­a­tion about their business on Google Maps, Google Web Search or other Google products just need to create a Google My Business listing or claim an existing Google business listing entry for their company.

Entering a company profile in the Google business directory

To sign into Google Maps using Google My Business listings, follow these steps:

Note

Google My Business is a free tool that enables en­tre­pren­eurs to create and manage their company’s online presence on the entire Google product range.

Step 1: Call up Google My Business on your web browser.

Step 2: Click the “Start Now” button, either to the top right of the login button or at the bottom of the screen.

Image: Google My Business Homepage
Google My Business: A good way to attract customers, and not just for bakers!

Step 3: Sign in with your Google Account or create a new account.

Image: Google login area
If necessary, you can use and manage all Google’s products with the same Google account.

Step 4: Enter the name of your company in the des­ig­nated field and confirm the entry by clicking on “Next”.

Image: Google My Business: Choosing the company name
Selecting the company name; By clicking on Next, you accept Google My Business’ Terms of Use and Privacy policy.
Note

If your company is already re­gistered with Google My Business, you will see the name as a sug­ges­tion when you’re typing.

Step 5: Choose where to enter your company on Google Maps. Type the address in the des­ig­nated fields.

Select the “I Provide Goods and Services at the Customer Location” tickbox if you visit or deliver to customers at home.

If you are only working offsite or at customer’s homes, select the tickbox “Hide My Address” (no store).

Image: Google My Business: Location selection
Selection of company location.

If you provide goods or services at the customer location, Google My Business offers you three different ways to define your services.

Serve customers either by post or courier, within a radius as defined by you around the company’s physical location, or limit their offer to a specific region (city, post code).

Image: Google My Business: Selecting the cachement area
Selecting the cachement area.

Step 6: Enter the category of business that most applies to you.

Image: Google My Business: Selecting the company category
Selecting the company category.
Note

You can change the company’s category at any time, as well as add ad­di­tion­al cat­egor­ies.

Step 7: Decide what contact details you want to make available to your customers in your Google Maps listing.

Image: Google My Business: Selection of contact options
Select your contact options.

Step 8: Get Google marketing tips sent to you if needed.

Step 9: Confirm your entry for the Google Maps listing and complete the sign-up process by clicking “Finish”.

Image: Google My Business: Confirm your information
Confirm your in­form­a­tion.

Step 10: Finally, select a con­firm­a­tion option and confirm your af­fil­i­ation with the company, proving your claim to the Google business directory entry.

The veri­fic­a­tion method depends on the type of business you want to do. The most common method is postal con­firm­a­tion. This is done as follows:

  1. You request a con­firm­a­tion postcard.
  2. Google sends a postcard to the company address you have provided.
  3. On the postcard, you will find a veri­fic­a­tion code that you can use to au­then­tic­ate your Google My Business account.

Google will send you the con­firm­a­tion postcard within two weeks. Make sure that you don’t change the address on Google My Business or the company category during this time, and do not request a new veri­fic­a­tion code either. If you still haven’t received a postcard from Google after two weeks, it’s best to get in touch with Google My Business’s support team directly.

Note

Google offers con­firm­a­tion by phone, text, email or the Google Search Console to selected companies. If you see any of these veri­fic­a­tion methods available on your Google My Business account, just follow the on-screen in­struc­tions to complete the con­firm­a­tion quickly and con­veni­ently.

Claiming a re­gistered company

If you already have a Google Maps listing for your business, Google will notify you of a conflict of ownership. Only one holder can be confirmed for each entry. In this instance, your entry will be con­sidered a duplicate until you have the ownership trans­ferred to you by the current owner.

Owner conflicts occur, for example, if another person in your or­gan­isa­tion or a con­trac­ted agency has already created an entry for your business.

To request access to the Google Maps listing, follow these steps:

  1. In the event of an owner conflict, you will see the message “This entry has already been claimed” during the setup process.
  2. In this case, click “Access Request” and fill out the form.
  3. Send the access request by clicking on “Send”.

The current owner now has seven days to respond to your request. Af­ter­wards, Google will inform you by email whether your ap­plic­a­tion has been granted or whether the current owner has refused to re­lin­quish ownership.

If the current owner does not respond within the seven-day period, you may have the option to register as the owner yourself. In this case, you will see a cor­res­pond­ing option in your Google My Business account after logging in.

Go to Main Menu