Google Maps can be a great tool in marketing your business online. It can drive traffic to your main website where consumers can learn about your business/brand/products and also provide a physical store with foot traffic.
But consider this, Google Map listings do not provide you with security of your business listing!
What if your competitor moved your Google Maps listing to another country, changed the phone number to theirs or changed the link to their website instead of yours.
Read the following story:
A NZ florist changed an online map to steer business away from her competitors and into her store will have to complete 100 hours of community service.
The 40-year-old had confessed to editing the details on Google maps of six of her competitors on 100 occasions between November 1 and December 4 last year, telling police she had an ‘addiction’, agencies reported.
(source)
What Can You Do To Avoid This Happening To You?
- Be friendly to your competitors – if things get nasty on both sides of the fence it just creates an unhealthy business environment for you and your consumers.
- Google Local Business Center – allows you to take control of your listings. Simply create an account and provide Google with your business name, address, and phone number and you will see a listing of businesses already listed in Google Maps with similar information. You will have the option of claiming one of these listings or you can add a new listing for your business. Go to Google Local Business Center
Google won’t just let you claim any business that you want (advantage over Google Maps). You will be required to validate your ownership of the business listing that you are trying to claim. Google offers two ways to validate your listing, either by post-card mailed to your business address or by phone. Both options will contain a PIN number that you will enter in the Local Business Center to make your listing validated.
Now that you have claimed your listing you should optimize your local business listing to help your business rank better in searches. The easiest place to start is with your business’s title. When entering your business name, try to use keywords in the title.
For example – Instead of using “Tk’s Wedding Photograpahy”, we used
This resulted in a listing on the first page of Google (within Google Business Map listings) and traffic to the website within hours of going live, but more importantly inquiries and bookings within days of creating the business.
It is also helpful to include targeted keywords in your business description.
Another thing to keep in mind is that Google will associate reviews of your business from sites like Trip Advisor and others. Having keywords in your reviews can really help boost your rankings as Google will associate the full text of reviews with your listing.
Following these tips and taking control of your Google Maps listing can really help boost leads for your business. While not every company can truly benefit from Google Maps, anyone with a brick-and-mortar location is crazy to not be taking advantage of this excellent (and free!) advertising opportunity.
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{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
Very useful information, thanks for the post.
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So many people will be thinking, “Why the hell did you approve the above comment?” Well I wanted to show you that this industry is just full of fools making shitty, look at my cheque, short term cash in and get out websites to take advantage of people and business looking for a quick solution to a problem. This really pisses me off for several reasons, mainly it devalues this industry and makes everyone that is trying to do the right thing look bad when their get rich quick scheme does not work!
But hey, thanks for checking out our site and leaving a comment that has contributed no value to the conversation or the topic of this post!
Venting is over for the day!
Google Maps – Is Your Business Listing Secure was a wonderful read. I applaud your blog for informing people, very interesting article, keep up it coming
As a Newbie, I am always browsing online for articles that can benefit me. Thank you