Update Your Google My Business Account

As I mentioned in a previous TechTips, Google Upgrades Business Photos, a key to mastering your Internet presence is to create and maintain a Google Business Page for each agency location. This is an essential search engine optimization step every agency should already have in place. It is a simple process.

If you have not taken this step, just go to Google My Business and follow the step by step instructions. Once you have completed the verification process, your agency has a higher possibility (there are no guarantees) of showing up in a Google Search results page.

Update Your Existing Listing

For those agencies that have already completed this process, Google is now requiring that U.S. accounts periodically log into their Google My Business account and update any information necessary to prove that the account continues to be active. While Google has not provided specific guidelines, it appears you should log into your account at least once every six months.

If Google determines the account might be inactive, they will email the address on the account (make sure that address actually comes to a person in your agency) and provide a two-week notice of the pending unverification. If the account status is changed, the agency listing will no longer be included in any search results.

Here is the notice from Google:

In some cases, we may contact Google My Business users via email to confirm that they are still actively managing a business page. If a user is unresponsive to our attempts to contact him or her and has not logged into Google My Business for a significant length of time, then we may unverify pages in the account. We’re doing this in order to continue to provide users with the best experience when they’re looking for local businesses like yours. If you find that a page in your account has been incorrectly unverified, please contact support to get assistance restoring verification.

It’s a good idea to keep an eye on the inbox associated with your Google My Business (Locations) account. It’s also a good idea to regularly log into Google My Business (Locations) to confirm that your agency information is current and accurate.

Simply follow these three easy steps:

1. Sign into your Google My Business account.
2. Review and update your information for each page.
3. Click the “Done editing” button.

Make sure to set a reminder or suspense item for every six months and repeat the process.

It is up to your agency to make sure your information is accurate. It is also a good time for you to update any keywords and descriptions contained in your listing.

Google is constantly trying to make sure the information they provide in a search result is as accurate as possible to enhance the user experience.

Are you using Google My Business? What have been your results? Let me know in the comments below.