Listing a Business on Google Local
Writing Content for a Company's Online Search Engine Results
Nov 5, 2009
Google makes it possible to list businesses of local interest through the Google Local Business Center. After verifying a business' location, Google will provide a listing that includes hours of operation, services, driving directions, and other details that may be customized by the business owner.
The Yellow Pages are being used by fewer and fewer people (with the median age of people reaching for a phone book first now over seventy) it becomes easier and easier to access local information online. This guide is for business owners unfamiliar with how to add a directory listing to Google Local, and what benefits result.
Adding a Google Local Listing
Creating and verifying a local business listing on Google can be done at the Google Local Business Center. The following information may be included on each business listing:
- Business name
- Street address (post office boxes are not permitted, as Google Local as a function of Google Maps)
- Phone number
- Email address
- Website address – up to 255 characters
- Description (up to 200 characters)
- Category – up to five may be added, at least one of which must be one of the categories in Google's database. Category suggestions appear while typing in this field; select one from this list. The remaining selections may be custom categories if nothing suitable is found.
- Hours of operation – options are flexible, ranging from not listing hours to listing up to two sets of hours for each day of the week.
- Payment options
- Photos – up to ten may be uploaded. Photos are not necessarily resized evenly, and may appeared to be a bit “scrunched” if they do not have Google's preferred aspect ratio, which is not listed. Images may also be added from the web by entering a URL.
- Videos – up to five YouTube videos may be included with a listing.
- Additional Details – this area is designed for custom fields, for example “parking” or “delivery.”
The listing will be built as a preview as the data are entered. Once submitted, the listing may be verified in one of two ways. Google will either mail a postcard to the address in the listing which contains a verification code, or its automated system will call the number in the listing to provide the code. The phone verification process is virtually instantaneous, while the mail option takes 2-3 weeks. The listing will appear about twelve hours after it is verified.
Google Local Tools
Once a listing is completed, the user has access to analytics, may create coupons for customer use, and may benefit from reviews of the business.
- Analytics track the search terms customers use to find the business listing, the locations driving directions are generated from, and other data which may be used to fine-tune the listing.
- Coupons for special offers appear as part of the business listing, and may include a code for tracking how they are used.
- Reviews include those which may appear on third-party web pages and those added by Google's users directly to the listing.
Google has a brief video explaining the Google Local tools on its YouTube subsidiary.
Claiming an Existing Google Listing
Google may already have a listing for a given business based on the data it collects during its regular crawls of the internet. When creating a new listing, users will be alerted if a known business has the same contact information, and will be given an opportunity to claim and edit that listing, or create a new one if the match was flagged in error. Claiming an existing Google listing allows control over its keywords, improves accuracy of the information, and permits business owners to track how relevant the information is using Google's analytics dashboard.
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