Up until recently, the Google My Business (formerly known as Google Business Listings) dashboard only showed your address when you went to edit it, and not a map showing where they believed that address to be.
It looks like that’s busy changing now, with several users reporting that they are seeing a visual representation of their address in the dashboard, sometimes even before they begin to edit.
Check Your Listings
Since we’re on the topic, we might as well remind you that you should be sure to check your My Business / Business Listings page, and make sure it’s up to date, and that it has relevant images and correct information. Like everything else online, your Business Listing needs management to keep it relevant and effective.
If you don’t have the time, or the inclination, and would like somebody else to manage it for you, we do offer updates and reports as a service, so contact us if you’d like more info about it.
We Don’t Own Google
Unfortunately, (because then we’d be very very rich), we don’t own Google. And that can mean that even when we update things, they don’t always change right away. We know a few tricks that can help things along, but at the end of the day, it’s up to Google to approve and deploy the update, and sometimes that takes a while. Google also chooses which of your pictures to show, so it’s best only to upload ones that you definitely want displayed. (You can’t control their order or placement though.)
The Importance Of Listings
Given the focus on the personalisation of search, (especially on mobile), and the prominence of the so-called “Local Pack” in search results, it is still important to maintain an effective local presence for relevant products or services, and those business listings can get a surprising amount of traffic.
In addition, logged in Google users can post reviews or comments about the business, and as such, it’s definitely something you want to keep an eye on.