Google My Business is an amazing initiative of Google to help you to build an audience and drive traffic to your website. The best part is that it's free, which makes it affordable marketing tools for small and big businesses alike.
Google My Business (GMB) is one of the most effective platforms to improve your local SEO, enhance a brand's reputation and gather more customer reviews. Today, most of the customers start their digital journey through a mobile device and always want instant search results. By adding your business on GMB, it becomes easier than ever to bring the audience to your business footprint.
First of all, go www.google com/business. And sign in. Here, you have two options; you can either sign in with a pre-existing Google account or create a new account. If you are already signed in, skip this step and go to the next step. Here, it is better to sign up with your business email domain.
In the step, add your business- enter your business name, choose the relevant category for your business.
If you have a physical location and customers can visit, then choose the yes option and then add your address. After, you might be asked to position a marker for the location on a map. In case, your business does not have a location where your customer can not go, but you offer a service or delivery, list your service area there.
Now, fill your business contact number and website address so customers can easily contact you. If you have a good appearance on the Facebook page or you don't have a website, you add your Facebook page instead of your website address.
This is the last step, click on yes if you want to receive updates and notifications and then finish. You are not with the listing and now you will be asked to verify your business..
There are various ways to verify a business on Google My Business. The verification method varies as per the business type and its geographical region. Let's go through the various possible verification methods and see how they differ from one another.
Mail process is the most frequently used way of verifying a business. It allows Google to know where your business is located exactly. Mainly, the delivery process takes up to 2 weeks according to the region. As this process takes a long time here, you need to make sure you must not make any change in the information in your GMB account.
To get your verification code, provide your business name and address. Then, you will receive a postcard containing a five-digital verification code.
In order to verify your code, log in to your account, choose the business you want to verify then on verify now and enter the code to finally verify your account.
Very few businesses get the option to verify business through the phone. In case, you get this opportunity, then you are lucky. You can select to get a call or have a text message sent to your phone.
The system will provide you with a five-digit code for your GMB account to be verified.
If you want to get a call instead of a text message, then you should listen to the code and note it down.
If you get an email option on your screen, you can ask Google to send you an email. You just need to click on verify by email option when you begin the verification process.
Then, check your email for the code. Apart from the code, you also receive a link to your GMB page where you can easily finish your verification.
You can instantly get your business verified on Google My Business if your business is already verified in Google Search Console. But, this option is not available for every business. Here, it depends on how much Google trusts your business. If your business has a less online presence, then there is very less possibility that Google will provide you an instant verification option.
Apart from the above ways, Bulk Verification, Video Chat, Trusted Verifiers, Product Experts, Local Guides are some other ways to verify your GMB listing. It's true that the verification process is tough but it is surely worth exploring every possible option. Here, you will get the option to analyze and control your business representation on Google Search and convert searchers into potential customers.
Now you are done with Google My Business, take your business to the next level with Google Marketing Kit, for information check the article- here.
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