Industry guru Dave Taylor offers free tech support on a wide variety of technical and business topics, including HTML, online advertising, Cascading Style Sheets, Web design, management, Unix, Linux, search engine optimization, online dating, Mac OS X, shell script programming and Microsoft Windows.

How do I get included in Google Local?

Dave, I just bumped into Google Local and, wow! I want to be included. How do I get my business into the Google Local database?

Dave's Answer:

First off, if you haven't seen it yet, do pop over to Google Local and see yet another cool thing that the Google team is experimenting with currently. Or, learn where the closest pizzerias are to the White House using the Google Local technology!

To learn how to get your business added to Google Local, I turned to my favorite Google wizard, Tara Calishain, author of the über-popular Google Hacks book and publisher of the highly informative research buzz.

Tara explains that Google Local now has an offering where local businesses can write up additional information on their Google Local listings including hours, business description, types of payment taken,
etc.

You register and fill out the information, and then Google sends you a sealed postcard with a PIN number. With that PIN number and your account information (which they don't put on the sealed postcard) you can update your information. Once you activate your information with a PIN, they say it takes about a month to update their listings, but Tara found it was about two weeks for her listing to be refreshed.

You can also read her own Google Local writeup.

If you have a business with a physical address, Tara and I both encourage you to take advantage of this.

Help others find this article at Del.icio.us, Digg, Netscape, Reddit, and Stumble Upon

Categorized: Search Engine Optimization (Article 3976)
Tagged:
Previous: How does CGI work?
Next: How can I watch DVD movies on a Sony PSP?

Subscribe!

Never miss another useful Q&A article again! Subscribe to AskDaveTaylor with Google Reader.

Comments

You didn't answer the guys question!! "How do I get my business into the Google Local database?" What do you work for the US government? It is so irritating to find a non answer to a question. Just fess up and say I don't know, but of course this would hurt your credibility. Now we wouldn't want that. Why can't you answer go to http://local.google.com/join.htm or what ever the heck it is instead of all this stuff go read this go read that. Your as lamb as all the other buearocrates.

Posted by: Doug Ison at July 11, 2005 3:18 AM

Thanks Doug! - Just what I was looking for!

Posted by: Andy at December 7, 2005 9:30 AM

For the benefit of everyone else, you can add your business to google local HERE!

---------------------------------------
https://www.google.com/local/add/
---------------------------------------

Hope that solves some problems. I don't know why google just can't make it a bit clearer how to add a business on their own site!

Posted by: Andy Coates at December 7, 2005 9:41 AM

people complain there is lack of expression in the world, well u can thank google for that! engines should list sites in minutes, not months! why do you think many people dont even bother making a site.

Posted by: hanslaow at December 22, 2005 1:53 PM

Hi,

I submitted my business's website to google local about 18 months ago. It still does not show up in key search terms under google local (ex: Boston Home Furnishings). It is frustrating because I do have decent placement in the organic listings (mid page 2) for the same search 'Boston Home Furnishings)..any ideas what i am doing wrong? where does google pull their local listings from? or is it their own algorithim?

Thanks

jon

Posted by: jon golnik at March 28, 2007 9:40 PM

I have a lot to say, but ...

I have a lot to say, and questions of my own for that matter, but most of all I'd like to say thank you for all your efforts on this Web site by buying you a chai!

I do have a comment, now that you mention it!