Google My Business: Your Official Business Listing Online and Your New Home Page

One of the most important – if not the most important – pieces to a successful business is getting found by potential customers. Pretty obvious, right?

But what’s not so obvious is how to get your business found online, where everyone is looking. Meet “Google My Business,” the No. 1 way for your business to be found on the web.

In this first of our five-part series on Google My Business, we’ll explain briefly what the service is, what it does and why your business needs it.

Question No. 1: Is my business on Google?

If you’ve ever wondered how your business can “get on Google,” Google My Business is the answer.

Google My Business is Google’s one-stop-shop method of getting your business listed accurately on the king of all Internet searches: Google. To put it simply: Google My Business is the information that shows up when someone uses Google to search for your business or your product or service on their phone or desktop. It’s often the first thing a consumer sees before your website home page, making it your new home page.

Google My Business pages show up in Google searches as the business listings right under the Map, just below the top ads and above the top organic search results. From that information, potential clients can tap click-to-call, get directions to your business, or visit your website. Unclaimed and unverified Google My Business pages are less likely to show up in search results, especially for your product or service.

If you’ve used Google’s Places for Business in the past to list your business, you will be upgraded to Google My Business, as it has replaced Places for Business and is now the default for Google’s business-focused services.

Because Google aims to answer every question, it is very likely that your business already has or had a Google My Business Page. These have been created for every known business, regardless if the business wanted it or not.

Question No. 2: Why do I need my business on Google?

With an overwhelming market share, for most consumers Google is the new phone book.

Once you sign up for Google My Business and entered the required information, Google My Business will add the business information to Google Search, Google Maps and Google+, allowing customers to find your business no matter what device or service they happen to be using at the time. You can also add photos and virtual tours, read and respond to their Google reviews, as well as add or correct business information like address, phone, store hours and more.

And you only have to enter this information once on Google My Business and it will automatically be posted on all of Google’s services, such as Google search, Google Maps and Google +.

In addition to the obvious reasons listed above, when you have your business on Google My Business you are also able to receive custom insights that help you better understand how people are finding your business on Google, what they’re clicking on, where they’re coming from when clicking on directions, and other useful information.

You’re likely receiving more phone calls from your Google My Business Page than any other source.

Now that you know what Google My Business is and why your business should use it, we’ll explain the next step: How to claim and verify your Google My Business page.