Google My Business

Google My Business was previously known as Google Places and Google Local. It offers a free business listing that is displayed alongside search results and placed as a marker on Google Maps.

The listing can provide details such as business type, phone number, address, web site link, opening hours, photos and customer reviews. Details are initially obtained from third party suppliers such as Yell. The listing is then claimed and verified before it is published. A Google Account is used to manage the listing.

One of the key benefits of having a listing with Google My Business is for mobile search. For example when someone uses a mobile device to search for a restaurant their physical location is provided to Google by their mobile phone company. Google can then provide search results based on restaurants near to that location. The process of indentifying which restaurants are in that area takes in the data from the local listings in Google My Business.

Listings that are associated with accredited mobile-friendly web sites are rewarded with improved positioning in mobile search results.