Take 10: Why your business needs to be on Google My Business

Quick and simple ways to boost your business in just 10 minutes

For the second in our Take 10 series, we’re focusing on Google My Business and how it can help customers find you.

What is Google My Business?

Google My Business is a free tool for businesses to manage their online presence across Google in one place, including Search, Maps and Google+.

Potential customers are twice as likely to consider you

Businesses that verify their information with Google My Business are twice as likely to be considered reputable by potential customers, and with over 1 billion searches on Google every day it seems the question should be, can you afford not to be on Google My Business?

Key benefits

• Quick and simple to get started
• Makes it easy for customers to find and interact with you
• You can manage your information and tell your business story
• Beat the competition and understand your online presence

Helpful business insights

Once you’re up and running, the free tool allows you to see how customers searched for your business and where those customers are coming from across the web.

You can also see other information including how many customers call the number displayed under search results. 

These insights can help grow your business, and if there are specific words being searched for, you could consider testing paid for sponsored listings on Google, also called AdWords, with our top Google Advertising tips for small businesses.

That all sounds great! How do I get started?

Visit Google My Business, and click ‘Get started’

If you have a Google account:

• sign in to your account and in the top-left hand corner search for your business.
• if you don’t see your business listed in the menu, click ‘No, these are not my businesses’ or ‘I’ve correctly entered the business’. After you complete your business information, click ‘Submit’.
• to finish signing up you need to verify your business. This helps to ensure that your business information is accurate and that only you have access to it.

Top tip: edits will not appear on Google until you’ve verified your business.

If you don’t already have a Google account: create an account and get started.

Want to know more?

Visit the Google My Business Help Center, or read our other Google blogs, including:

• 7 compelling reasons for your small business to be on Google+
• Top Google Advertising Tips for Small Businesses
• 8 tips to make your restaurant more mobile friendly
• Why you can’t ignore the rise of mobile friendly websites

We hope you’ve found this post useful. Come back for the next installment of Take 10, where we look at the benefits of having your business on Facebook.

The Funding Circle team