Following on from social media and good website practices, you need to claim your business’s listing on Yelp, Google and Angi (Angie’s List). Once you do, you can thank reviewers for good reviews while addressing those that leave unfavorable ones.
Yelp
Yelp makes it easy to verify your business account. Just follow these simple steps:
- Type your business name into biz.yelp.com/claim.
- If it’s not listed, use the “Add to Yelp for free” link to add it at no cost.
- Create an account with your business name and email address
- Verify your credentials, and you’re ready to go!
Google
Claiming your business on Google is multi-step process, but it’s not difficult if you do it in this order:
- Claim or add your profile
The easiest way to do this is through Google Maps. Go to maps.google.com and enter your business name in the search bar. Choose your business name, click on your profile. Then, click Claim This Business - Manage Now and Google will walk you through the process.
To add your business, you can right-click anywhere on the map and choose Add Your Business. Follow the on-screen prompts.
After you’ve added your business, you’ll need to verify that it’s yours. Google uses multi factor authentication, so be prepared to verify via phone, text, email, or video.
Google cautions that it can take several weeks for your newly minted business to start appearing across the whole site.
Angi (Angie’s List)
Angi has a few more steps, but they’re not complicated.
- Go to www.angi.com and click on Business Owners at the top left. That takes you to the Business Center.
- In the Business Center, you’ll need to determine if your business is already on the list. Fill out your name and zip code. If you’re not, you’ll need to add your business (which is more common).
- When your search result comes up empty, click Add Company on the popup box. Then, a new popup dialog comes up. Fill out the information it requests on your business.
- After you choose a category, you’ll need to narrow it down by subcategories, and then finally by your specialty. Scroll through the options and use the right arrow key to add them one at a time. Click Continue when you’re finished.
- Finally, follow the instructions in the dialog box to set up your business account and password.
That’s it! In less than an hour, you can connect your business to the major review and ratings sites.