Did you know that you have access to a profile for your business on Google? Hopefully you did and hopefully you have claimed it by now. Considering how many people today use Google to find information it allows those searching to find out more information about you. They can see pictures of your business (and other landmarks or institutions), find out what you do, get your hours and read reviews. That is important enough but there is perhaps a bigger reason to claim your account.
What Do You Get With Google Business
Any institution, business or attraction can have a free profile. Any of them. That includes tourist attractions, government offices and educational institutions. Google makes these profiles available for the owner to claim. There is a verification process in place so not just anyone off the street can claim it too. There is also an option for the public to make changes to a listing, like if something is spelled wrong or if a business has closed but these have to be approved as well.
When you do claim a listing it places your business on Google Maps, adds relevant information like contact information, hours, your website and other relevant information like mentioned above. That means that now people searching Google (the top search engine in the US by far) will see your business. If you haven’t claimed your Google Business Listing, you need to and it’s free so you have nothing to lose!
Need a Reason to Claim Your Google Business Listing?
Any institution can have a Google Business listing and that includes schools. Now think back to your childhood. You may not have enjoyed school at the time. You might have not liked some of the kids in your class or a teacher. A popular comic strip of the 1980s and 1990s Calvin and Hobbes depicted on numerous occasions a daydreaming 6 year old Calvin doing all kinds of things to his elementary school. Some kids just don’t like school or the people in them.
And that is not just an American phenomenon. In the East Yorkshire town of Hornsea on the North Sea coast of England a student from the Hornsea School and Language College (think the British equivalent of high school) didn’t seem to enjoy their time there too much. In a move that Calvin would have approved of the student submitted a change to Google to change the school’s name to Hornsea Prison and Hell on Earth. Since the school had not claimed their listing the change was allowed to go through. It remained up for several hours before it was removed when the school claimed their listing.
The student has been identified and will certainly be chuckling about it while they spend time in whatever the English equivalent of detention is. The school is recommending that other schools claim their listing to prevent a copycat from doing the same to them. In England the prank has been labeled as “cheeky” by several tabloid media outlets (would you expect another term from the English?), possibly owing to the fact that school has been under fire in the past year seeing one teacher fired for swearing at students and calling her marker “the magic pen of sex.” Perhaps the prankster had a point.
This may be somewhat of a humorous anecdote from across the pond but it illustrates the importance of claiming your Google Business listing. If the school had claimed theirs they would have been able to block the “suggestion” and would have saved themselves the embarrassment. Could you imagine doing this to your child’s school though? You may have had a good chuckle with this but you would not find this so funny if someone did this to your business. It could be a prankster. It could be someone who had a bad experience with you. It could be someone who has mistaken your business for someone else’s. Don’t get caught, claiming your Google Business listing is simple and free. Don’t wait.