How to Register Your Business on Google Maps

In this post I will be showing you How to Register Your Business on Google Maps.

I have noticed that, many small businesses do not add their location on the Google map. So today, I have written this article to help individuals and businesses increase exposure through Google map listing.

What is Google Maps?

According to Wikipedia, we can say that Google Maps is a web mapping service which is developed by Google. The service offers satellite imagery, street maps, aerial photography, 360° interactive panoramic views of streets (Street View), real-time traffic conditions, and route planning for traveling by foot, car, bicycle and air (in beta), or public transportation.

What Are The Benefits of Google Maps?

There lots of things to benefit from using the Google maps. Most of those things have already been listed above while giving a definition of the service. Here are are list of benefits of the Google maps:

Reliable mapping service which provides location information through satellite imagery.
Ability to check possible routes and landmarks for faster travel time.
Detect real-time traffic conditions.
Find small businesses (stores)

Do you know that, you can register your business on Google maps? Yes! It is a very easy thing to do as long as you follow the steps.

Why Add Your Business on Google Maps?

Think of it like this, while website owners place their websites on Google search just to increase traffic, offline stores can include their business on Google maps to increase exposure. Another thing to note is that, people see businesses listed on Google maps as a greater and more trusted brand. Customers searching for, say, coffee, in their local area will open up Google Maps in search of that, and discover that your business (a café) is just a few minutes away from their location. You have just effortlessly earned yourself a new customer!

How to Register Your Business on Google Maps

Just follow these steps to get your business on Google maps.

1. The first thing to do is to Check if your business is already listed. To do this, just Search for your business on Google Maps. If your business is listed it will be visible, this means you can proceed to claim your business.

If it is not visible, there will be a prompt to add a missing place.

Once you click on it, you will be asked to fill in some basic information about your business, such as:

location/address
category
website
phone number
opening hours

2. The next steps is to Claim Your Google Listing. What does this mean? Well, just adding your business as a place will put your business on Google Maps, but that doesn’t ensure you will rank on Google Maps.

Note that, anyone can add a place and this is why your business might be visible on Google Maps even if you yourself haven’t added it. So if you want to be able to add and update your information, you need to claim your listing.

In order to claim your listing, just click on “Claim this business” once you’ve added your business as a place.

You will be required to fill in your info and select a business category, then Google will verify your business’s address by physically sending a postcard to you.

According to Google, the postcard can take up to two weeks to arrive and will contain a 5-digit verification PIN, which you will then input online to complete the verification process. Phone verification, email verification, and instant verification are only allowed for few selected businesses.

Note: Business categories will describe your business through search keywords and connect you to customers searching for the services you offer. For example, if your primary category is "Food restaurant", you business may show up for local search results of people who search for "Restaurants", "Italian restaurants" or "Food".