How to claim your business on Google: 10 steps to take control of your listing
Google often creates a listing for your business before you ever touch it. Until you claim it, anyone can suggest changes, and you cannot answer reviews or fix the details. Here is how to claim it, and what to do when someone else got there first.
- One business of each type per area
- No contract
- Nothing changes without your approval
10 steps to claim your business on Google and keep it
Search for your business first.
Search your business name and phone number on Google and Google Maps. If a listing shows up with a link that says Own this business or Claim this business, it has never been claimed.
What we do: we search by name, phone and address to find every listing that could be yours before anything is claimed.
Sign in with the right Google account.
The account you claim with becomes the owner. Use an account the business will always control, not a former employee's email or a personal address you might lose.
What we do: we help you pick the owner account and add us as a manager, so you keep control.
Choose Claim this business.
Click the claim link on the listing and follow the steps. Google will ask you to confirm details and then verify that you run the business.
What we do: we tell you exactly which screens you will see so nothing gets skipped.
Check every detail before you verify.
Make sure the name matches your sign and paperwork, and that the category, address or service area and phone are right. Changing them right after verification can trigger another review.
What we do: we review the name, category, address and phone with you before you submit.
Complete verification.
Google usually asks for a short video, sometimes a call, text or email. The claim is not finished until verification is approved.
What we do: we prepare you with a shot list for your trade.
Google Business Profile verificationIf someone else owns it, request access.
If the listing says it is already managed by someone, Google lets you request ownership. The current owner gets your request and can approve or deny it.
What we do: we help you send the request from the right account and keep a dated record of it.
If the owner never answers, Google may let you claim it.
When the current owner does not respond, Google may give you an option to verify and take over. Check the status of your request in the email Google sends you.
What we do: we follow the request and tell you as soon as you can move to the next step.
Get your listing back from an old agency or employee.
A common problem is a former marketing company or employee who set up the listing under their own account. You can ask them to transfer ownership, which is usually the fastest path.
What we do: we draft a short, polite transfer request you can send them.
Do not create a second listing to get around it.
A new listing for the same business at the same place is a duplicate, and duplicates can get both listings suspended.
What we do: we keep you on the original listing, with its reviews.
Duplicate Google listingsBuild the profile out once it is yours.
A claimed listing with one category and no photos still does not show up much. Claiming is the start, not the finish.
What we do: we add services, service area, description, photos and weekly posts, each one approved by you.
Google Business Profile optimization checklist
Real listings we found unclaimed, misplaced or missing
We sign mutual NDAs with our clients, so we describe the work instead of naming the business.
Every business and market is different. We do not promise rankings. We show you the same map every month so you can see what changed.
Why owners call us to get their listing back
- One business of each type per service area. We will not work for your direct competitor in the same towns.
- Google Business Profiles and Google Maps are what we focus on, not a menu of everything.
- You see the proof: a 49 point map of your area before we start, and the same map every month after.
- Nothing changes on your profile without your written approval, and you stay the owner of it.
- No contract. Stay because it is working.
What you get every month
- A 49 point Google Maps scan of your service area before we start
- Profile fixes: categories, services, description, service area, hours, attributes and booking or quote links
- One post a week plus up to three photos from your work, approved by you
- Suggested replies to new reviews, posted only after you approve
- A weekly profile check that catches changes Google or anyone else makes
- A monthly rescan on the same 49 points, with a plain update on your map, calls and clicks from Google, what we did and what comes next
Pricing comes with your scan. Request your map scan at no cost and we will send your map, a short video walkthrough and pricing together.
Get my map scanMore Google Business Profile guides
- Google Business Profile optimization
- Google review management
- Get more Google reviews
- Google Business Profile verification
- Google review replies
- Local SEO for small business
- Google Business Profile suspended
- Add your business to Google Maps
- Service area business on Google
- Duplicate Google Business listing
- Google Business listing changed
Common questions
See where your business shows up once it is claimed.
Send us your business and the towns you want customers from. We will run your 49 point map scan and send your map, a short video walkthrough and pricing together.
- 1.We run your map scan and look at your profile and search results.
- 2.You get a short note with what we would fix first.
- 3.If it makes sense, we set it up on a 15 minute call.