Current eMessage > Creative Solutions > April 2019

Creative Solutions

Own your part of the web with Google My Business

By Ryan Thompson, Creative Services Manager

Google…it’s a noun and a verb. It also plays a huge role in determining how successful your company is online. You could write a book, which many people have, about using Google to help a business’s prospects. We’ll leave the novel for another day and focus on Google My Business in this month’s article. So what’s Google My Business?

Google My Business content should appear when someone searches for your company or a search term closely related to your business, such as internet for your service area. See an example here. As a business owner or employee, you can claim your telecom’s Google My Business content. By taking this step, you can make sure your information is correct and add new content, such as images, a description for your company, and hours of operation.

According to Google itself, claiming and adding Google My Business content will improve local search rankings for your company. If you are in a competitive environment, your company needs to do all it can to rank highly in Google search results.

Claiming Google My Business for your company also opens up a Google Dashboard with extensive information on your company’s performance within the search engine. For example, you can see what search terms were used to find your business. You can use this information to tweak content on your website to generate even more views. Claiming your business also gives you the ability to respond to Google reviews and post special offers for your customers.

How to get started
To claim your company’s Google My Business content, visit this link: www.google.com/business. Google has a process where all businesses can be verified using mail (USPS), but many can be verified over the telephone or via e-mail. Details are available on this Google Support page.

Once your company is verified, Google’s dashboard does a good job of explaining how to add content. Posting, or editing existing content, doesn’t take long and improved search results make it worth the effort. If you need assistance getting started, the Creative Services Team is happy to help. Send us an e-mail at [email protected] to get started.