If you read our previous post on how to verify your business on Google My Business, you (hopefully) succeeded getting listed on Google. In this guide, I’m going to show you how to add a 2nd location on your GMB account.
For any growing business, expanding to new locations is common, and you will want to keep Google in the loop as you expand. Many businesses operate in more than one location, and Google understands this. So you can easily add new locations straight from your Google My Business dashboard and get them verified in just a few steps.
Why Use Google My Business
Business directories are a great way for business owners to showcase their products and services online to a local audience. Google My Business is, by far, the most effective way of listing your business online.
Google has a wide suite of integrated apps that work together to show your business to potential customers within your locality. More specifically, GMB is integrated with Google Search and Google Maps to help business owners increase their exposure online. And the best part? It’s all free!
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Why you should add more locations to your GMB
More Local Visibility
The whole idea behind GMB is to show searchers the best matching businesses around them. If I’m a customer looking for a fish restaurant in Nairobi, I’d probably fire up Google on my phone and search something like “Fish restaurants in Nairobi”. Google will then, intelligently, ask to turn on my location. If I do, the nearest and best-rated restaurants will appear on my search results.
One of Google’s main goals is to deliver the most relevant search results to users at their most convenience. As a business owner, you want your customers to find you conveniently wherever they go. If your business operates in multiple locations, verifying them all on GMB allows your customers and prospects to order from you on a per-region basis.
Collect more reviews
Having more than one business location listed on your GMB is a great opportunity for more customers to review your products/services. Generally, having more reviews on your Google My Business listing has a somewhat direct correlation to customer trust. People will naturally order more from a business that already receives lots of orders. This should give you more than enough incentive to add a 2nd location on GMB
How to Add a 2nd Location on GMB in Kenya
Moving on to the main objective of this post, let’s go through the main steps you need to follow while adding a second location to your existing Google My Business account. While this process should ideally be the same everywhere, the verification methods involved vary depending on your country.
Navigate to Manage Locations
To add a 2nd location to your existing Google My Business account, the first thing you want to do is log into your dashboard by clicking this link. If you are already logged into your Gmail account, this should take you straight to your GMB dashboard. On the left navigation pane, click on “Manage Locations”.
Add New Location
Next, you will need to click on the blue button labeled “Add Location”. If you want to add multiple locations at once, you can also import locations by first creating a bulk upload spreadsheet (Read more on this here). In our case, we want to add a 2nd location on GMB, so I will select “Add single location”.
Notice the “Create location group” button at the top right. Creating a location group on GMB comes in handy when you want to share location management with a co-worker or manager of one of your brands or regions. This makes a lot of sense for businesses that need to limit access to managers to only their particular locations.
Locate and Manage your Existing Business
Since your business is already listed on Google (in the first location), we now need to locate it on Google Maps and associate a second location to it. On the next window, Google will prompt you to find your existing business in its database.
Once you locate your business, the next steps are pretty much similar to verifying your Google My Business for the first time. You will be prompted to add the second location, either by typing a location or positioning a pin on the map. After confirming the location, Google will suggest several verification methods for you depending on your location.
In Kenya, the most common verification method is via a postcard sent to your postal address. However, Google is slowly moving away from postal mails because most physical mailing services have become obsolete.
I did not Receive My Postcard/I don’t have a Postal Address
Most businesses in Kenya don’t use post mail anymore. This becomes a big pain when Google doesn’t offer you any other way to verify your business. This is what Google has to say on this:
Whether you own a postal mailbox or not, you will need to wait for your postcard for 14 days. I know it sounds silly, but there’s some logic to it. After 14 days, Google will try and track the delivery of the sent postcard to confirm that it didn’t actually go through. Patience is key here.
How to Add a 2nd Location on GMB (a COVID-19 Update)
With the COVID-19 pandemic still posing as a health threat all around the world, Google is no longer sending postcards for GMB verification. This is one of the company’s many efforts to reduce physical contact and encourage people to stay at home. That said, most GMB verifications are now happening online, either via calls or email.
The good news is, if you are adding a second location, Google already knows that your business exists, so verification should be fairly easy. The only thing you need to do now is navigate to the “Support” section on your dashboard and request a second verification. You can make this request by using the “Contact us” field as shown below.
However, this is not a guaranteed method and sometimes, depending on the nature of your business, Google might still require you to wait for your postcard. It’s worth a shot though. If they accept your request, your second location could be verified in less than 3 days.
Sometimes, Google may also require you to verify your identity by providing some form of clearance that you are, indeed, authorized to make changes to the business account. Using a company email e.g example@yourdomain.com should do the trick.
Final Words
In my experience, Google My Business is perhaps the most responsive department on Google. The support team is awesome and their response times are incredibly fast. Verifying your business location on Google is easy, and support is always just an email away.
Happy listing!
