It never ceases to amaze me how frequently we hear this – and not just from smaller outfits. If you think this doesn’t affect you or your most profitable partners, think again. Here are just a few situations large multi-location material distribution companies have come to us to solve in the last few months:

“The phone number’s been wrong on there for years.” 

“It’s been saying that location is permanently closed for months now. It never closed.” 

“I don’t know why it says we do pool supplies there, we’re strictly floors at all our locations.” 

Everyone reading this has certainly done a Google Search for a company and have seen that company’s business information neatly displayed by Google on a right-hand panel or in Google Maps with basic business information – phone number, address, hours, products/services offered, hours, and sometimes photos. 

Needless to say, having accurate info appear is a no-brainer. I’ve heard countless stories of CSRs getting irate calls because a driver is at the wrong address as shown on Google. And yet the number of companies who have lost control of their Google Business listings, and have allowed inaccurate information to show for lengthy periods of time is absolutely staggering. Today I lay out the steps to recover your account.

Claiming your page links your Google My Business account to your business listing, granting you administrative access to fix wrong information, add products and services offered, and more.

• Navigate to Google.com/Business and login with the Google account you wish to use to manage your business To avoid issues in the future we suggest using a company admin account such as admin@company.com, not your personal account like joe@company.com.
• Search for your business and select it from the drop-down list
• Once selected, a dialogue box should appear to let you know that your business has already been claimed by someone else. 
• Click “Request Ownership” and complete the associated form, including details of your professional identity, relation to the business, contact information, why you need managerial access and, lastly, the steps they should take to either add you as a listing manager or transfer ownership over to you entirely.

• Navigate to Google.com/Business and login with the Google account you wish to use to manage your business To avoid issues in the future we suggest using a company admin account such as admin@company.com, not your personal account like joe@company.com.

• Search for your business and select it from the drop-down list

• Once selected, a dialogue box should appear to let you know that your business has already been claimed by someone else. 

• Click “Request Ownership” and complete the associated form, including details of your professional identity, relation to the business, contact information, why you need managerial access and, lastly, the steps they should take to either add you as a listing manager or transfer ownership over to you entirely.

If the present listing owner fails to respond after 7 days, contact support through your request’s confirmation email and Google will help mediate the matter further. Despite any perceived ego, Google My Business support is surprisingly responsive and available to assist you if you experience trouble completing the request on your own. 

Once you have both verified and claimed your company within Google’s business listing, you will be allowed to read and respond to customer feedback, post photos, update contact information, and more. When replying to customer comments and review, always be sure to keep your responses calm, professional, friendly, and thankful, however emotionally-fueled their two cents might be.

And if you’ve tried this and need help – or haven’t tried anything at all and are just overwhelmed don’t hesitate to reach out to JAST. We’re happy to help.