{"id":124209,"date":"2020-03-11T07:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-03-11T11:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.constantcontact.com\/blog\/?p=124209"},"modified":"2026-03-02T14:17:00","modified_gmt":"2026-03-02T19:17:00","slug":"claiming-your-business-listings-and-reviews","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.constantcontact.com\/blog\/claiming-your-business-listings-and-reviews\/","title":{"rendered":"Claiming Your Business: Listings and Reviews"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

When it comes to listings and review sites like Google Business Profile, Yelp, and Facebook, if you haven’t claimed your business profile, you’re losing money. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And no one wants to lose money.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Did you know that “90% of consumers used the internet to find a local business in the last year, with 33% looking every day”? (Bri<\/a>g<\/a>htLocal<\/a> 2019) And if you aren’t controlling what they’re seeing about your business, who is?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this article, we’ll be covering the why, where and how of claiming your business (or nonprofit) online.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let’s face it — listing management<\/a> and reviews are a huge, and very important, part of your online marketing. In fact, it is one of the five key elements of a strong digital marketing<\/a> strategy!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Where business listings and reviews fit into your online marketing strategy<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

If you haven’t read our online marketing guide<\/a>, The Download<\/em>, yet, the five key elements for a good online (or digital) marketing strategy include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  1. A mobile-friendly website<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. An email marketing tool<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n
  3. A primary social media channel<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n
  4. Up-to-date business listings<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n
  5. A way to easily create content<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n
    \"\"
    If you’d like to know more about online marketing, and how each of the 5 key elements plays a part, check out our online marketing guide<\/a>, The Download<\/em>. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    But I digress. Today, we’re talking about the fourth element; up-to-date business listings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Let’s start at the beginning. We’ll work our way through the basics of online listings and reviews, from claiming your business online, managing your listings, and responding to customer reviews.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    What are<\/em> listing and review sites?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    The best way I can describe these sites is that they’re a cross between an online phone book and a collection of critical reviews.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Let me expand upon that thought.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    An old-fashioned phone book housed basic business information — where a business is located and its phone number. If a business paid for an ad, then it might also include business hours and perhaps some information on a specialty or something else that the business owner wanted to convey to potential customers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    And a business’s reviews used to be determined by a small number of critics.  If you happen to own a restaurant, then you’re certainly familiar with food critics — where a writer comes to your restaurant, and critiques everything about their visit. The next day, there’s a write-up in the local paper, telling everyone what they thought of your restaurant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Now that the world has gone digital, the phone book is replaced by online listings, everyone is a critic, and every business can be critiqued at any time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Let me state that again:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    In today’s digital world, everyone is a critic, and every business can be critiqued.<\/strong> (Tweet this!<\/a>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    What’s more is that “<\/strong>90% of consumers <\/strong>used the internet to find a local business in the last year, with 33% looking every day.<\/strong>” (Womply Research<\/a>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    With that in mind, it’s important to know what’s being said about your business, and it’s imperative to control what you can.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    One way to control the information about your business, that exists online, is by claiming your business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Claiming your business is merely a process of letting a listing and\/or review site know that you own a specific business. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Claiming your business listings<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    Quite often, if a business is listed online but not claimed, it’s because a customer entered the information after visiting the business. And if you’re lucky, they entered it correctly. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    So, if your business is listed, and all of the information is correct, why do you need to claim it? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The most important reason for claiming your business is:<\/strong> When a business is listed online but hasn’t been claimed by the owner, anyone can enter information on that business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Where to claim your business<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

    As one of our Harness the Power of Listings & Reviews webinar<\/a> attendees pointed out, there are literally thousands of listing and review sites online. So, how do you know which one(s) to claim your business on?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Start with the top three to five sites. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Why the top three to five? Because “businesses that claim their free listings on at least 3 review sites earn 36% more revenue than average [and those] that claim their free listing on at least 4 review sites earn 58% more revenue.” (Womply<\/a>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The big three listing and review sites:<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

    Due to their amount of use and traffic, these are the sites that are a must<\/em> when it comes to claiming your site. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    1. Google Business Profile<\/strong><\/a><\/h5>\n\n\n\n

    If you only have time to claim your business (or nonprofit) on one site, this is the one you need to make sure to get done. On average, Google processes over 40,000 search queries every second<\/a>. It is indisputably the most-used search engine in the world, with approximately 90% of the worldwide market.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    And when a potential customer searches for your business on Google, the results generally look something like this:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \"Example
    Example of Google search results for a specific business. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    This is free advertising on the largest search engine in the world — I don’t know about you, but I can’t afford to pass that up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    2. Facebook<\/strong><\/a><\/h5>\n\n\n\n

    As online review sites go, Facebook is the second most-used platform behind Google Business Profile, with approximately 85.57 million average monthly U.S. traffic<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    While Facebook is usually thought of as mainly a social site, setting up a business page on Facebook<\/a> has a lot of benefits. Besides providing a platform where you can connect with your customers, it’s also a place where customers can rate your business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \"example
    Example of a Facebook business homepage showing business rating. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
    \"Example
    Example of reviews on a Facebook business page. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    In addition to Facebook’s review and rating capabilities, when searching for your business online, your Facebook business page always shows up second in the list. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \"Example
    Example of how a business’s pages show up in a typical online search. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    Did you notice what page shows up third? Yep, that would be Yelp!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    3. Yelp.com<\/strong><\/h5>\n\n\n\n

    With just over 15 years of crowd-sourced reviews under their belt, Yelp is still one of the most trusted review sites in the U.S. Any and every business can and should be listed with Yelp.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \"Yelp
    Yelp is a listing and review site for all business and nonprofit types. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    Additional listing and review sites<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

    You should definitely take the time to claim your business on all three sites, but don’t stop there. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    In addition to the big three, you should also be sure to claim your business on the top listing site for your industry, if not the top two. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    What if I don’t know of a listing site for my industry?<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

    Don’t worry. With as much information that’s on the internet now, you can bet that there’s a listing site for your industry, and quite possibly even your particular niche. And it’s surprisingly easy to find listing sites for specific industries, including nonprofits. Just Google it. Yep. I said, “Google it.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    After all, potential customers will be doing a search for your industry, so why shouldn’t you?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    So, search for phrases like, “home services directory” and see what sites come up. Also, search for your business industry like, “hair salons near me” and choose any listing. On Google, you can then open up the map view, scroll down to “Web results” and see where your competitors are listed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Some other top places to claim your business include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n