Did you know that someone could be trading on the Internet using your company address or business name to sell their products or services, and that the responsibility is on you to take corrective steps.
This post will help you either take back control, or protect your business from online exploitation by explaining the different steps and strategies that can be employed to protect your business name by registering in Google Local business directory.
Step 1: Preparation.
You will need to take the following actions before starting the process of business protection.
- Register a Google email account
- Have a computer, with an active Internet connection, near to the phone that rings when someone calls your business.
- A short and concise 25 word description of your business
- The full address details for your business
- Up to 10 photos of your business (optional)
- Youtube videos of your business (optional)
NB: If you’ve already completed part 1 of this guide, you can use the same email accounts created for this process.
Step 2: Registering and Protecting your business
Google Local Business Centre
Google Local Business Centre
Google Local Business centre is the giant’s attempt to gather as much information on businesses as possible and provide relevant local information when searches are performed. The search means that if a user types in a keyword, such as “shoes”, plus a location, such as “new york”, the following results appear next to a map. As geolocation technology develop across mobile phones and other portable devices, having your business information broken down in individual data fields will benefit your business in the long run, even if the process itself can get a little frustrating.
Google local listings for shoes in new york
Businesses that register in the Google local directory, can therefore benefit because they might appear at the top of the search giant’s index, and across a range of mobile devices. The actual process of getting a good position in these rankings will not be covered in this post, instead we will focus on steps you can take to protect your business from being squatted by a competitor, through the verification process provided through the business centre.
To begin the process visit the Google Local business centre homepage and use your Google Mail account to login. You will then be presented with the following screen where you should click on the button labelled “add new business”.
click the button "add new business"
Enter your business details in the fields provided, plus the 25 word description that you prepared in Step 1. After completing the form press the button “Next”.
If your business has been registered or listed before in Google (this can be done indirectly, for example if someone creates a personal map and adds your business as a location on it) you will probably get the following screen.
Already on Google Maps
The listing at the bottom (in green) is the one you have just created, while above are listings that Google believe could be your business. Compare the business information and, if they are the same or similar, you should click the button “claim listing”. You should know that when you claim the listing all the information you used to create your business profile in the previous step is the information used to overwrite the claimed listing (in other words, even if the addresses don’t match exactly down to the postcode, the listing you created in the previous step will be used instead of the details shown alongside the claimed listing). If the businesses are not the same just click the button “add listing”. On the subsequent screen click the button marked “edit listing” where you can add more information about your business as follows:
Type in the categories for your business. EG. Restaurant, Shop
Specify the times of opening and closing
Specify the payment methods you accept
Upload photos related to your business
Upload any videos relating to your business
Add relevant details about your business here
Check that the marker pn the map is positioned correctly, and move if necessary
Click Submit [you're almost done]
Validating your listing
This is the section that causes the most annoyance for businesses because there is no rule as to which validation option you will be provided with. As a general rule both the telephone and postcard options are usually available.
Validate your listings screen
- Telephone: Google will call your business telephone number and provide you with a code to enter into your Google local business centre control panel.
- SMS: Google will send an sms with a code to your mobile phone, which again should be entered into your Google local business centre control panel.
- Postcard: Google will send by surface mail a postcard with a code which should be entered into your Google local business centre control panel. (Usually 2/3 weeks to arrive).If you have selected a validation option 1 or 2, your listing can be verified in real time and within 6 hours your listing should start appearing in Google. It might not appear on the front page but you can check that it is present by using a keyword: Business name + City + Country.If you select the postcard you need to keep an eye out for this and when received log back in to your Google local business centre control panel where you will be able to click the button “enter pin” or validate listing.
Congratulations, you have just validated your business in Google Local.
In the final part of indexing and protection, we’ll be looking at how small businesses can extend the degree of online protection of their business across the most popular social networks and we’ll then be showing how these can be leveraged in subsequent posts.
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