How to Update Your Google My Business Listing

We’ve talked ad nauseam about how frustrating it is to use Google My Business, so forgive us if you’re sick of hearing about it. But between Google+ and Google My Business, we get a lot of questions from our customers. And understandably! Google My Business is notoriously confusing and hard to use (sorry Google!). You might not even know what Google My Business is, but you’ve definitely seen it action:

Until Google rolls out their new search result editing feature, follow the steps below to update your Google My Business Listing.

Pssst: Want to increase your social media results? Click here!

Step 1: Log Into Your Account

The tricky thing with Google My Business is that there is no direct login – instead, your business listing is tied to a personal gmail account. Before you can log into your listing, let’s make sure your personal gmail account is attached.

If You DO Know Which Gmail Account Is Attached to Your Business Listing:

If you already know the personal gmail account tied to your business listing, logging in is easy! Make sure you’re logged into that email account on gmail.com. Next, go to the Google My Business main page, and click on “sign in” in the upper right corner. From there, the page should refresh automatically.

If You DON’T Know Which Gmail Account Is Attached to Your Business Listing:

Don’t worry! If you set up a Business Listing long ago and can’t remember what email you used, there’s a way to find out. First, go to the Google My Business main page and click on “start now” in the upper right corner. From here, fill in all your business information.

If you have already created a Google My Business page, a message will pop up letting you know someone else is managing the page.

Unfortunately, for security Google will only show you the first two letters of the email associated with the account. If you can puzzle out which email it is from that, go ahead and follow the steps above to log in. If you still aren’t sure which email address that is, click on the “request ownership” link. This will send an email to that current email address. Check your various accounts and have your staff check theirs. Note that the email will likely come through in your “social” or “updates” tab in Gmail. If you still don’t see an email come through, follow these steps again and click on “account recovery” to take action.

If You Don’t Have a Google Business Listing:

No time like the present! Luckily, setting up a business listing is easy and takes less than half an hour. Follow the steps on this post to get set up.

Step 2: Getting To Your Information

Once you’ve logged into Google My Business, scroll down until you see your business location. From there, click on “manage location.”

Now, you’ll be taken to a page that looks like this:

Click on “edit” in the upper right corner.

Step 3: Updating Your Information

From here, you can finally update all your information. Google is pretty limiting on the information you’re allowed to display, but most of the basics are covered.

These are the following areas you can (and should!) edit, from top to bottom:

• Company Name
• Category: This describes what your business is (retail, marketing, resteraunt, etc.). Our tip is to choose a more broad primary category, and be more specific by adding additional categories. For example, at BizzyWeb our primary category is “Website Desinger” and our additional category is “Marketing Agency.” 
• Location and areas serviced: Having an accurate location is crucial for customers finding you. The areas serviced is extremely important for any business that delivers goods and services to customers at their location. You can enter in specific postal codes or a radius around your business. Doing this will allow your business to show up for people searching for your type of business in those area codes you define.
• Hours: Hours are also crucial on Google, since many customers will rely on your listing to know when you’re open. Try to be as accurate as possible.
• Special Hours: This is where you can add special hours, such as holiday hours, to keep your listing as accurate as possible. When customers search for your hours on those days, they will see your special hours instead of your regular hours.
• Phone Number(s)
• Website
• Appointment URL: This is only relevant for businesses that offer online bookings, such as salons or consultants. 
• Add Photos: This is more of an asthetic choice than a functional one, but it’s still important. Adding photos changes what shows up for people when they search for your business. It’s a good idea to add a photo of the outside of your building as well as the inside (if you service clients at your location).

Now you know! Go forth and get Googlin’.

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