What is my Business Profile on Google?
What is a Business Listing on Google? That is the last thing your old pal Uncle URL thought of as I went to sleep last night. Well, second to last. The last thing on my mind was another Twinkie. Just delicious. I know Google is a search engine, but if I didn’t know that, I would thing that a Google Business Listing is a listing for business that sells googles. Weird. So here we are again. Here is a perfectly simple question: What is a Google Business Listing? It seems like everyone knows the answer, or at least pretends to know. I honestly have no idea. So that is why I asked a bunch of questions, because sometimes I feel stupid asking a question that seems to be obvious to everyone else. So you don’t feel silly, I’ll ask the questions for you and report out! So here is what I found out about Google Business Listings:
What is the difference between a Business Listing, a Google Business Listing and Google My Business?
To start out, you have to know this little nugget no one bothered to tell me: your Business Listing is what Google calls your Google Business listing. They are the same thing. Good to know!
Your Google Business Listing is managed by a tool called Google My Business. Google My Business lets you manage and optimize your Business Profile on Google. By the way, your Business Profile is what pops up on the right hand side of the screen when you do a google for your company. Here is the Business Listing, or Google Business Listing for our company, 212 Creative, LLC:
How do I see my Google Business Listing?
The format of the Google Business Listing may be pretty familiar to you. To see your business information, you could get there one of two ways:
- Go to https://www.google.com/business/ and create an account
- The easiest way for me is to log into your google account (I usually just log into my Gmail account), then go to to what I call the “Waffle” in the upper right hand corner
And scroll until you see the little house that says “My Business” underneath.
.
Click on the house, and you will be able to manage your Google Business listing from Google My Business. You can add photos, including pictures of your store front, your employees, customers, even products. You can share events and news about your business and even respond to Google reviews. And of course, all of this is free from Google
Does Google Business Listing have anything to do with local SEO?
Yes, your Google Business Listing is the center of local SEO. It is imperative that you have all of your information exact and perfect on the Google Business Listing. You must use that exact business name for everything you do. For example, we had to decide if we wanted to be known as 212 Creative, LLC, or 212 Creative L.L.C. Do you notice the difference? In the first example, there are no periods after the LLC. If you sometimes use LLC, and sometimes L.L.C., at the very least, that can be confusing in a google search. If you list your business in other directories, you need to have all of your business information match the Google Business Listing exactly.
Even a misplaced comma can give a sentence a new meaning:
“I love cooking, my dogs, and my family!”
Versus
“I love cooking my dogs and my family!”
Big difference! Well, I hope all of this about Google Business Listings helps make some sense. It’s like a knot in a necklace chain. Just a little knot, but unless you get it untied, things just don’t fit right. Until next time, this is your old pal Uncle URL signing off.
Check out other informative and fun articles by Uncle URL, including What is the difference between a URL and a domain name?, Why do I need Web Hosting? Cookies-Ha! What are they good for? Ac-tu-ally something!! How to protect yourself against malware in three easy steps. What is a SSL Certificate, and What is a DNS Record?
