A local business listing is a free profile for your company on a search engine or map service, such as a Google Business Profile, Bing Places or Apple Maps. It shows your business name, address or service area, phone number, hours, website, category and photos, and it's what appears on the map and in the local results when someone nearby searches for what you do. You claim it, verify that you own the business, and keep it accurate. Directory pages like Yelp or your trade association's member list are listings too, but the big three map profiles are the ones most buyers see first.
What goes into a good listing
Google is direct about why completeness matters. Its local ranking page says businesses with complete and accurate info are more likely to show up in local search results, and that verifying your business makes it more likely to show up too. Fill in every field that applies:
- Name. Your real business name, as it appears on your trucks and invoices.
- Address or service area. Where customers visit you, or the area you travel to.
- Phone number. One that rings at your business.
- Primary category. The single closest description of your main service. Add secondary categories for the others.
- Hours. Special hours too, so nobody calls a dark office.
- Website. Link to the most relevant page, which for a single-location business is usually the homepage.
- Services and description. In the words your buyers use, which may differ from your internal job codes.
- Photos. Your actual crews, equipment, vehicles and finished work.
Rules that trip companies up
Google publishes guidelines for representing your business, and a few of them catch well-meaning owners all the time.
The name has to be your real-world name. "Including unnecessary information in your business name isn't permitted," Google says, which rules out adding a city or a list of services to it. Tempting, but against the rules.
The address must be a real location. P.O. boxes aren't acceptable, and virtual offices aren't eligible for a Business Profile at all. If your crews go to the customer and nobody visits your office, Google says a service-area business should hide its address and list the areas it serves instead.
The phone number must be under the direct control of the business. A number that belongs to a lead-generation vendor fails that test.
Above all, Google asks you to represent your business as it's consistently represented and recognized in the real world. Which brings up the other listings.
Beyond Google
Bing and Apple each run their own map, and each has a free listing to claim.
Bing Places for Business is a free online platform whose listings appear in Bing search results and Bing Maps. If you already have a Google profile, you can import it, which saves most of the typing.
Apple Maps is the default map on every iPhone. You can claim your location through Apple Business and control the logo, hours, images and key details buyers see there.
After those three, the rest are directories: general ones like Yelp and the Better Business Bureau, and the industry sites your buyers already trust. What matters most across all of them is that the name, address and phone number match exactly.
Not sure what a buyer sees today? Our Free AI Visibility Check looks at your website, your mobile speed, whether you come up in a local search, and what an AI assistant says when a buyer asks who to call. No email needed.
Keeping it accurate
Listings drift. Someone changes the hours for a closure and forgets to change them back, a former employee is still the only manager on the account, a customer suggests an edit that Google accepts, or the company moves and two of the five profiles still show the old building. None of it is dramatic, and each one costs a call or two.
Put a name next to each listing. Check it every few months. Make sure at least two people at the company can log in.
Quick questions
Does a listing cost anything?
Google, Bing and Apple listings are free. Some directories charge for upgraded placement.
Can I have a listing without a storefront?
Yes. Contractors and other service-area businesses can list the areas they serve and hide their address, as long as the address is a real place the business operates from and not a virtual office or a mailbox, which Google's guidelines rule out.
Is my website a listing?
No. It's where your listings should point.
Handing it off
One location, one profile, one person who likes keeping things tidy: you're fine on your own.
With several locations or a lot of history, it becomes a recurring job. Inbound SDR includes Google Business Profile and Bing Places optimization, name, address and phone consistency across 65 or more directories, duplicate listing suppression and local schema on your website, alongside a website of up to 100 pages, a new blog every business day and technical SEO. Packages start at $1,000 per month on a 12-month term.
We keep your Business Profile accurate. We don't post to it, and we don't manage reviews or reputation, so if those are what you're after, we're the wrong fit.
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