Many small business owners feel that all of their marketing efforts must originate from within. They feel that they have to launch their own websites, market those websites, advertise in the local paper, and so on. While these are all very suitable and very valuable ways to market your company, you also have to realize that potential customers can come from a variety of avenues and one of these is Google.

This goes well above and beyond search engine marketing and search engine optimization. As it turns out, you can get some “free” advertising through Google Maps. Many of us have come to rely on Google Maps for directions, as well as information about local businesses. In this way, you want to make sure that the information Google Maps has on your business is accurate and up-to-date. Thankfully, the process to claim your local business listing is quite simple and straightforward.

The first thing you’ll want to do is search for your business in Google Maps. Assuming that you are not too new, there is a good chance that you have already been indexed. Say, for example, that you own John Doe’s Coffee Shop in Vancouver, BC. You’d search using something like “john doe coffee shop vancouver” as your search term.

When you see the result, click on “More Info” and this will likely bring up your mailing address. On this page, you’ll see an “Edit” link. Click that. The resulting page will a link to “Claim Your Business.” Upon clicking on this link, you can log into your Google account (Gmail, Google Adwords, etc.) and edit the information related to your local business. This can include a mailing address, phone number, website, business hours, accepted forms of payment, and so on.

Even if you don’t expect a lot of business to come via Google Maps, you should claim your local business listing if only as a defensive tactic. You don’t want someone else to claim your business, right?

Thanks to SearchEngineGuide for the inspiration and information for this post.