Claiming a Google My Business listing is essential to your business, especially if you service customers at your physical location or travel to their location. A Google My Business listing will allow potential customers to easily find you when they type in a service or product they need in your local area.

Claiming your listing is very easy, it just takes a few steps. Once you’ve completed these steps, Google will take a few days to verify this information then your My Business listing will be live and searchable.

7 Steps to Claim Your Google My Business Listing

To claim a Google My Business listing, here’s what you need to do:

1. Go to business.google.com/add
2. Type in your business name. If you see your business name in the drop-down box, select it and follow the steps to verify your business information. If you don’t see it, select “create a business with this name.” Click “next” to move on to the next step.
3. Are you the owner of a brick and mortar store?  If so, click “yes” to add a physical location. If not, select “no.” After adding your location and clicking “next,” you’ll be directed to a “serve customers outside this location” page. Click “yes” if you go to a customer’s location for a service or “no” if you don’t.
4. If you clicked “yes,” add service areas where you travel to make sure you show up in the search results. You can add locations by zip code or city name. Once you’ve finished adding all the locations you service, click “next” to continue.
5. Next you’ll add your business category. Try to be as specific as possible. You can easily change this later if you decide you need to be in a different category.
6. On the last page, you’ll have the option to put in your business phone number and company website. This is the most important part of your listing as it will easily allow customers to contact you. Once you’ve added this information, click “next.”
7. That’s it. Just click “finish” to complete the process. Google will then work to verify your information. They may contact you on the phone number you’ve entered or they may send you an email. It can look like a spam email so be on the lookout for it. But the most common verification method is sending a postcard to your physical address. This can take up to five business days.

Claiming a Google My Business listing will not only help your customers find you and contact you, it will improve your Google search rankings and help your business to be found by people or other companies looking for a service or product like yours. It only takes a few minutes to complete these steps, but it can have a significant positive impact on your business.

If you haven’t done so you, now is the time to set up your Google My Business listing.