Why Isn’t My Business Showing Up on Google?

Google my Business profiles show up on the right-hand side of the search engine results page why you Google a business’s name. Often times a picture of the business, buttons to go to the website or get directions, the phone number and store hours are displayed here, making it extremely simple for potential customers to see all of the business’s important information. These profiles help to increase your website or business’s visibility and can greatly improve your local SEO efforts.

Are you wondering why your business is not showing up on Google? Let’s discuss how to claim your Google My Business profile and how you can edit your profile to show your business information on the search engine results page.

How to Claim My Business on Google

If your business does not show up on Google, you can create a Google My Business account by going to Google.com/business/ and creating a GMB profile from scratch. To do this, follow these steps:

1. Once at com/business/, click Manage Now.
2. Sign in to a Google account associated with your business.
3. This will bring up the Find and manage your business page. Type in your business’s name to try to find your business. If your business does not show up, click “Add your business to Google.”
4. Follow the steps provided by Google to either verify and add additional information to your GMB profile or to add your business to Google if it doesn’t already exist.
5. Once claimed, you will be brought to a dashboard where you can utilize additional features like posts, reviews, messages, website builder, and more.

How to Edit My Business on Google

If you find that your business already has a Google my Business page, but you do not have access to it to edit it, click the “Manage this listing” button in the GMB profile on the search engine results page. This will bring up options to verify your email account and claim management access to the business profile. Once verified, you will be able to edit your business’s information in addition to utilizing the additional features Google Business has to offer like reviews, the website builder, messages, and more.

GMB Tip:

Need to quickly edit your Google my Business profile but you don’t have access to the business email? You can click “Suggest an edit” and suggest edits to the GMB profile without being a manager of the account.

How to Use Google My Business for SEO

In terms of Search Engine Optimization, or SEO, there are a few optimizations you can make in order to ensure you are maximizing your Google My Business profile to its fullest potential. Here is how you can optimize your Google my Business profile for SEO.

Name, Address, and Phone Number

One of the most important optimizations you can make when building citations or editing your GMB profile for local SEO, is to ensure the business name, business address and business phone number are all consistent across every listing, or citation, on the internet.  This means you need to use the exact same name, address, or phone number that appears on your website, in your GMB profile, or in citations.

For example, if you are a clothing store with multiple locations, you must use the same business name across each listing, don’t add the location to the name, just simply use the same business name, then use each location’s unique address and phone number. If you are a single location business, the same is also true, don’t try to over-optimize the business name.

Business Description

The business description section, or “From the business” as Google calls it, is a great section to utilize relevant keywords to your business. This is where you should mention important keywords you might want to try and rank for.

For example, if you are an SEO agency in NYC, this is the place to say, “Socium Media is an SEO Agency in NYC….” and so forth. Google will look through the business description when deciding which Google my Business profile to display for a particular keyword.

Google Reviews

Google reviews are an incredibly powerful feature all businesses should be utilizing. When a customer leaves a review for your business, you do not only receive a star rating which will display under your business name, you also get the chance to respond to the customer and use more keywords in your response.

For example, if Client A leaves a 5-star review saying, “Socium Media is the best SEO agency in NYC!” you can respond to their review with even more context, for example, “Thanks Client A for the kind review! We loved working with your nutrition brand to increase your local SEO presence and rank your site for your target keywords!” or something along those lines.

To Sum it All Up

Increasing the visibility of your business online is incredibly important now more than ever! If your business does not currently show up on Google, try making a Google my Business profile to improve your visibility. If you have a GMB profile but you don’t have access to it, just click “Manage this listing” to begin the verification process and claim access. Lastly, make sure your Google my Business profile is properly optimized for SEO to maximize your visibility and rank your profile for your targeted keywords.

Do you have a question that wasn’t answered above? Or would you like to speak to our SEO team about your Google my Business profile? Contact us by filling out a free consultation form!