Setting Up Google Maps Listing Within Google’s LBC
If you haven’t gone through the initial Introduction to the Google Maps we suggest you do that first. The section below is the second part to our free Google Maps Course.
It’s amazing how many things you can do wrong with these free listings. Just following our advice to filling out your Google Maps Listing within the Google’s Local Business Center (LBC) can make the difference in your business outranking your competition in the 7-Box.
Before we get into the nitty-gritty of how to set up your listing, you may just want to quickly read the Business Listings Quality Guidelines, so you are fully aware of their terms when you are setting up your listing. I have seen example after example of merchants who knowingly or through ignorance break these simple guidelines and end up being flagged and then banned from G Maps. Don’t end up like the many panicked merchants in the forums struggling to get help with their banned listing.
Before you post your listing you may want to go to GetListed.org and check to see if you have a listing already. If you do, claim it. If you don’t have a listing then sign up for your Google Maps Listing at the LBC.
Here are the 7 Elements You Must Have in Your Google Maps Listing To Have a Optimized Listing.
Just filling out your local listing blindly without any thought is a HUGE mistake. Treat this listing with the same respect you would for your on-page SEO for your website.
Google Maps On-Page Optimization
Here are the seven most likely Google Maps ranking elements that you will want to put some thought into before submitting your listing. (If you have already submitted a listing don’t worry all listings are easily editable, as long as you have access to edit your listing)
- Address: Often Google likes to display businesses that are closest to the city center. So if you are a mobile business try to get an address that is closest to the city’s core. For example, if you are a contractor or work out of your home and your home address is not in that city then you may want to get a P.O. Box that has an address and ZIP/Postal Code that correlates to the city core, otherwise you may find your listing is not ranking as well as you’d like. NOTE: Make sure your contact address is consistent across the web. Don’t have different sources showing different addresses for your business. Consistency is KEY when it comes to citations in G-Maps. Also note: that using a P.O. Box is technically against Google’s Maps TOS. You man want to rent a mail box or office space closer to the core. I personally have used UPS boxes because they are called “Suite #’s” as opposed to a BOX number. Right now I believe you are not penalized in anyway by using a UPS address because it’s no uncommon for a building to have many businesses in it and there is no way for Google to know how many business reside in that building. Just note it’s technically against their terms.
- Category: There is a ton of chatter about how to optimize “Categories” in Google Maps, but I suggest you make sure you choose the most relevant category for your business in the ‘choose category’ section. Getting this wrong can cause your local listing to not show for the GEO keyword terms you would like. My advice is to not add local modifiers to your category keyword terms. My suggestion is to do some searching with category keywords in Google and note which keyword categories trigger a 7-Pack. If it’s pulling in the 7-Pack then you may want to consider using that category term. Make sure there is some search volume for the term too – do some good old keyword research. The one thing you want to make sure you do is to use ALL five category spots. David Mihm offers a good article on Google Maps Categories here.
- Title/Business Name: Make sure you ONLY use your (DBA) Doing Business As Name when creating your Organization name. Don’t listen to others that tell you to keyword load your Business Name to try to get better rankings. That is against Google Map’s Terms of Use. You can still get great rankings being white hat.
- Business Description: Make sure you have your product and/or service keywords listed in your business description. Now this is not as important as the Title, but it too is important. It is the equivalent of a website’s “meta description” for SEO.
- Content/Media: Add rich media to your local listings. Add photos & video, etc. I’m not sure if it improves rankings in the local listings, but it can only help turn online browsers to offline buyers. Add before and after photos. Add video that demos your product or services (like ‘will it blend’ videos). Add a video screen capture tutorial that offers value. It has been proven that video helps convert more click-throughs then any other medium. Why not use this free gift given to you? NOTE: If you don’t add your own rich media then Google may pull that data on your business themselves from places like Flickr, Panoramio, YouTube, etc. and you may not like the media they pull. Therefore, it would be a good idea to go in and fill this section out to the fullest ability which is currently 10 photos & 5 videos. Also, remember to watermark all your images & videos before uploading them.
- Coupons: Use them. This can be what differentiates your business from other competition found in the local listings. Not offering a Google coupon is risking losing business to those businesses that are. It also gives you a great way to track your sales generated from your local listing on Google. You can even create a XML Feed for your Google Maps Coupons and have them upload to be different every day, week, or season. It’s a great way to have fun with timely promotions. NOTE: If you have coupons listed on other local listings, make sure you make them different so you can track them all properly. This feature will become even more useful if Google starts releasing their Coupon Search feature again.
- Double Listings: Don’t do it. Make sure you only have one G-Maps listing. You don’t want to lose your listing over something so ridiculous. People can easily report and flag your listing, I know I would if you were my competition and I saw you putting up Google Maps SPAM.
Verification
Once you are done setting up your listing, you will need to verify it. What they do is send you a PIN number (via your contact details that you added in your listing) to verify that it is actually a real business adding its info. You can do this verification 3 ways with Google’s LBC:
- Phone
- SMS – Text Message
- Mail – They send a sealed postcard with a PIN #
Obviously, if you verify via your phone or cell phone text, then your listing will go ‘live’ with all the changes immediately. However, often businesses are forced to verify via mail (good old snail mail) and many small businesses can easily mistake this postcard for junk mail. Don’t let that be you – watch this quick video on what the Google Maps Verification Postcards look like.
Tracking Google Maps Traffic
Now you may also want to track your Google Maps Listing using your free Google Analytics Account. I found this amazing how-to guide: Google Analytics (GA) for the Google Maps 7-Pack. I highly recommend you go through the 7 tutorials on how to use GA to track your local search marketing campaigns.
Another interesting article to read is “Business Owners: Are You Sabotaging Your Own Local Listings?”
That covers all the main points when setting up your Google Maps Listing in Google’s LBC. If you have any questions, be sure to ask us in the comment section below.
Google Map Marketing Lesson 3
Now on to the most important elements of ranking well within the 7-Box of Google Maps Listings: Citations, Reviews & User Content
I’ll try it. Thanks for posting.
Thank u for the helpful posting.
I have a question:
I never got an activation request when i filed my profile at google local listing, and yet it seems that my profile is active.
Is is possible as I don’t remember getting a pin number.
In any case, how can I make sure that my profile is active properly.
Thanks,
Fantastic stuff! Thanks for the post.
Couple of questions. My business name is DrewNesbitt.ca. Would this get flagged given I have the dot ca at the end? I currently only have my name and designation listed but was hoping to change it to DrewNesbitt.ca.
Also, I am an acupuncturist working at 2 different locations and I therefore have two different listings in the google local business maps. I am not getting listed in the “7-pack” (not even close) and I now think this may have something to do with it.
Thanks for any advice.
Drew
Drew, It is fine to have different locations – franchise’s have multiple locations all the time and it does not affect rankings in the listings. What you have to make sure you have is a different Phone # & Different Address on each listing. Having the same url or DBA (Doing Business As) Name is fine.
If you are not ranking in the 7-Pack then my guess is you may need some help optimizing the on-page content, but most likely you just don’t have enough citations and reviews. Let us know if we can help b/c this is what we do.
Moshe,
You can activate a G-Map listing 3 ways:
1. By Phone
2. By Text Message (SMS)
3. Snail Mail – Good old Post Card
If you listing is “claimed” it will say “Claimed” if it’s not it will say “Business Owner?” in the top right hand corner of your listing. If you have a logins for your Google LBC and your listing says “Claimed” then you mostly likely fine.
If uncertain, just try to re-verify your listing – takes like 2 mins by phone or SMS.
Great information on this site. I had a couple questions.
1. I work out of a home office, what do I need to do to submit the address on the local listing. I would rather not have my home address on there however I need to have and address in the city that I do most of my business.
2. I would like to have my local business listing show up in multiple cities. How do I do that? Do I have to submit a new listing for each city? thanks for the help.
Tim,
1. Technically you can only use a real address according to Google Maps TOS, but I do know that some folks use a UPS box. The reason you’d use s UPS box is because they call them suites and not box’s. Google will not let you use a P.O. Box as a address. You could also rent a mailbox off someone who has an office space in the city you want to rank for.
2. Again technically you are only to register a Google Map listing for on location even if you offer services nationally or internationally. For example, I offer local search marketing services world wide, but only have one Google Maps listing b/c I only have 1 office in Toronto.
Thanks for the great info.
I had an old GMaps listing that I recently pimped up with all the info. I have way more content than any of my competitors. Any idea on how long it takes for my listing to show on the 7 pack? Thanks.
Hi Matthew,
Great site very helpfull. Thanks!
I have a question around verification which I cant seem to find an acurate answer for.
I operate a growing franchise business in Australia and New Zealand. We are a mobile home services business, so our franchisee’s dont have a fixed local address and as such don’t want to list there personal address. We can list a suburb (or ZIP code area)when registering, that seems fine but obviously in doing that we dont have a mailing address and for a phone number we use and only ever advertise a standard 13… number. Franchisees can not list individual or mobile numbers. The 13…. number goes to a call centre and the staff here would not be able to accept the PIN supplied via phone verication.
I manage all listings. I see that there are alternate numbers you can supply GMaps….do you know if verification can be acheived via alternate numbers that are not displayed in the ad??
Given that you have had some experiance with franchises, do you know of a posiible work around?
@David
It does take time. If you want to win in Google Maps then focus on dripping in citations and getting your customers to leave a reviews. Those are two biggest factors that give great rankings. There is more to it than that, but those are the basics and foundation of rankings.
@Mike Get a local phone number for $5-10 a month and have them re-directed to the number you want. Make sure each listing has a unique number and unique address. Use UPS or something like that. G-Maps says no P.O. Boxes, but what are you going to do in this case. I say UPS b/c they use suite #’s not P.O. Box #’s so you it’s most likely you will get away with it.
Make sure it’s a address and phone you will use forever on that mobile franchise. I have seen other franchises that have allowed owners to use their own personal addresses and that make a real mess if the business is ever sold, transferred, etc. NAP (name, address, phone #) is very important and must stay consistent for good G-Maps rankings.
Hi Matthew, funny how you stumble on a great site after spending a bit of money on a private SEO company!
I paid to have my myself listed on google maps so I would show up when people typed my products in certain towns (plumbing in town X- for eg) I have paid specific large towns and cities. Now however I am trying to list myself so I come up against a map under different towns and cities along with my competitors, similar to the ones I paid someone else to do. The problem is when I go to the LBC it says I already have a MAP listing, because I do.
What process do you have to go through to optimise your map listing to appear under different search results?
Hope you can help, thanks.
@Henky Is your map claimed by some else already…? Can send me an email with your business name, phone, business city and I will take a look.
Hiya, there is a method under the LBC to enter multiple sites by uploading a text file – I haven’t done it but would be interested as I have a client who has only one physical location, a national free telephone number but operates out of different locations.
Ever since they merged multiple listings it seems a little of a minefield!!
Stu
@stuart yes there is a bulk upload ability to Google Maps, but you need a unique phone # and unique address for each listing to not get dinged with merged listings.
Hey Matthew,
Great info. A few questions.
One, my business keywords are coming up as a 3 pack. I did the keyword research and the ones in the 3 pack have the highest traffic and are the most specific to what I offer (but that’s with the local modifier). Should I not go for the ones in the 3 pack; what do you recommend?
Two, I’ve been submitting a “keyword loaded” business name (i.e. Keyword + Local Modifier), address, and phone number associated with my business to all of the local business listings, not including google. Should I go back and change all those listings to the real business name?
Also the address that I have been submitting is well outside the main city that I want to optimize for, but the three pack that’s there is showing listings from outlying areas as well as one from the main city. Should I use my home address which is closer to the middle of the city? (I also read some where that the P.O. box thing is not working any more).
Thanks a million!
@john According to Google’s TOS you are to only submit under your DBA (Doing Business As) name. I understand that having your keyword + location as your business name really improves rankings in the 7-Pack, but it’s not a long term strategy b/c technically you are breaking the TOS. It’s best to choose your categories as the keywords you want to rank for (without the local modifier) and add them into your 200 word description & added details section. Then really work hard on getting loads of citations & reviews. Get citations from as many authority sites as possible and make sure when you are getting a review(s) that you too get them from as many authority reviews sites a possible. This way you are killing two birds with on stone.
BTW, if the 3-box (or as we call them “packs” in the local search community) has good search volume on keyword(s) then totally focus on it if you can get in. Less competition. I love 3-Packs & really love 1-Boxes! Just be sure to do your keyword research first. If no one is searching that term then really doesn’t matter where you are in the 1-Pack, 2-Pack, 3-Pack, or even the 7-Pack on Google Maps. Make sense…?
So, you think that violating Google’s TOS is going to come back to bite me if I use that keyword loaded name?
@john, Yeah it could. To be honest, I don’t see many listing getting penalized for it yet, but it could happen. Just know it’s officially against their terms. Whether you would dinged for it, who knows..? I’d personally work on getting those citations & reviews and follow the TOS.
I know it’s a bit a**-backwards because Google has trained people via regular SEO to put keywords and local modifiers in your title tags and they display in blue in regular SERPs and then in the G-Maps they want DBA’s, yet they seem to give more weight in rankings when keyword + location is in the business name. Got me stumped too, but it is what it is.
I truly believe in the future when people start a new business, that savvy marketers will do keyword research first and then register their business names and buy their domains based on that keyword research.
Thanks so much, Matthew.
Ok, here’s the main stumper. I’ve already started submitting both my business name as the keyword + Location to a bunch of business directory/citation sites. I’ve also listed the address of the business which is far north of the city centre.
My home address is much closer to the centre. Would it be a good idea to go back and change those addresses and maybe even the DBA’s in those business listing sites? And then create my Google Maps listing? I know for a fact that Google has already indexed those sites with my business listings on them.
Thanks again!
John
Thanks for the good information. What if there is no pack at all for the keyword combination I want? Will Google just create a listing for me?
@Williams3412 Google is really good at understanding intent. If there is no Google Maps displaying there is probably little local intent for that keyword phrase. This is why after you do your keyword research to make sure you check to see which keyword phrases are triggering the maps and then optimize your listing for those keyword phrases.
Thank you Matthew very much. After doing keyword research I found that the service I would like to get listed for does have local intent because there are hundreds of searches for that service with the location as part of the keyword phrase.
Any suggestions?
Deb,
Great use that keyword phrase with you on-page optimization then. Be sure to check “phrase match” and “broad match” on your keyword research to make sure there is some search volume for those exact phrases.
A lot of things to know and think about. I can see how people would really benefit from getting you guys to do it for them… really worth it if you can get them into that top pack. A friend of mine's business gets 80% of his local business from Google.
One more question for you: If you want to get listed for more than one service, what's the best procedure? New PO box, new phone number and DBA name? or what?
Thank you
@Deb Technically Google only wants you to list your business once for obvious reasons. However, you can have multiple locations or offer services across the country and so then you would need a unique address and unique phone number to represent that business locally.
However, Google LBC has recently started allow you you post the areas you service, so this may allow your listing to show up for areas your business office is not located. I think this is a real smart move of Google, but I have yet to see how it affects your rankings.
As of right now I believe it's smarter to have addresses & phone #'s for the areas you service. And focus on building citations & reviews for those listings to acquire greater authority.