Hey everyone, this is Joe Burnich with Big West Marketing. Today, we’re going to be talking about Google My Business and the Secretary of State, how you can use both of these together to number one, increase your Maps rankings, or number two, help with suspension issues. Let’s get started right now.
Now, real quick, before we get started, I want to mention something, the whole idea of what I’m about to show you, is to show that Google that you are real. You want to be real on the internet, you don’t want to try to fake Google. That stuff will usually catch up with you in the long run, and it’s hard to get out of Google’s black box, once you get in there.
You want to be in good standing with Google, play by the rules, if you’re in it for the long game. If you’re in it just to do some tricks and get some short term rankings, make some quick money, then this video is not for you. This is for those people that want long term success, they want to do things right, and they want be in good standing with Google.
Now, real quick, before I jump in and show you an example of what we’re talking about, I want to talk about the way it used to be and the way it is now. In the past, you wanted to have all these citations. You wanted to have a list of 50, 60, 100 different directories on the internet, all having your correct business name and address. And that doesn’t really matter very much anymore.
The main things you want to have are Google My Business, okay? The correct business name and the correct address, correct website, all that stuff. You want to have that correct on your Google My Business account, of course. But you also want to have that on your Facebook Business, and you also want to have that on your Yelp Business, and then a lot of the times you want to have it on your Better Business Bureau.
So, those are the main ones that you want to have match. All the other 50 or 100 ones, google doesn’t really look at that stuff anymore. But one thing that people don’t really understand or realize, is that the main citation, the number one citation you want to match is the Secretary of State.
Like I said, so we’re going to be using Google My Business and your registration with Secretary of State. When you sign up for your business and make your business official, you have to register with the Secretary of State, or at least legally, you’re supposed to do that. If you do have it correct, this can increase your Maps rankings, and then it can also help resolve suspension issues. So, let’s jump in right now and look at an example.
We just go to Google and we’re going to be looking at our business, Big West Marketing. First thing I’m going to do, is just find it on Google. So, I type in my business name. It’s going to have our little panel here, that tells all about Big West. People can look and see our views, visit our website, see our Google posts and good stuff like that.
I’m going to keep this open in this tab, and then I’m going to go back over to Google. This time, I’m going to search for the Secretary of State in my state. I’m in Montana, so I’m going to type in Montana Secretary of State business search. You want to obviously, use your state here, and I’ll show you another example for another state in a moment.
In this case, I can actually just go click on search. I’m just trying to find my business, the public information for my business that Google can see and anybody can see. When I do a business search on the Montana Secretary of State website, type in Big West Marketing, let’s see what comes up. Before I had it incorporated, it is listed here without the Inc. Then I got it incorporated in 2014. So that put the Inc. on the end of my business name. That’s the one that is active, so that’s the one I’m worried about here.
I’m going to click on that, and it’s going to show you my exact business name here, and then it’s also going to show some other information. What I’m really looking at here is the specific mailing address, this is very big in Google determining whether or not you are registered as a business in this specific city.
Let’s go match this address over to my address on Google. You’ll see it is the same 913 Southwest Higgins, Suite 204; 913 Southwest Higgins, Suite 204. A lot of times people will have business names on Google, and then a different business name that they registered with the state. Let’s jump over and, let’s look for HVAC contractors in, let’s say Tulsa, Oklahoma. You can do this for anywhere.
If I can spell Oklahoma, here we go. I’m looking at the guys here that are in the Maps section here. I want to view all of these, let’s find one that is not at the top, just see somebody that’s down in 10. Vision air services, let’s use that as our example. No reason specifically, just because it’s one that I noticed there.
This time I want to go back to Google, and I want to find the Secretary of State website for Oklahoma. First, I’m going to type in Oklahoma, Secretary of State business search. That’s the one I want right there. This one, it doesn’t have the little search link down here, but if I click on here, I can probably look for a business. Yeah.
It looks a little bit different than the Montana version, all of the Secretary of State websites are going to look different. Most of them should allow for a business search. If not, you’ll just have to call them and make sure, or go down to the courthouse and check it out.
What I want to do is, I want to grab Vision Air Services, the one that we’re going to use as an example, and notice their address here. Let’s see if that matches on the Secretary of State. Okay. So Vision Air Services, make sure that’s the same business name, right? You have Vision Air Services. The LLC is not important, we just want to make sure that it is an active account. This one is inactive. This one is expired. That could be an issue. That could be one issue. Why this person is not ranking high.
Let’s grab another one. Let’s do Logic Heating & Air, see if they have an active listing with the Secretary of State. Once again, I don’t see them even listed. Whatever they’re putting with… it may be under a different business name with the Secretary of State. That’s the kind of thing I’m talking about that can hurt you. It can get you suspended, or it can also just hurt your rankings; you just won’t rank high.
Let’s go to one of these top ranking ones and see if we can… Let’s go to Airco Service in Oklahoma, see what comes up there. Okay, Airco, like I said, the LLC, the Inc., that doesn’t matter, I’m not worried about that. What I’m really worried about is the business name, and then the address. Let’s look and see what Airco’s address is here. Let’s see, on 58th Street, let’s see if we can match one to that.
This looks like the active one right here. Looks like I got to click on this little link over here. 1113331 58th Street, yep. That all matches. That’s probably one of the reasons, not the only reason, he’s got lots of reviews and he probably does some good SEO and all that kind of stuff. But one of the main things that Google now looks at, is the Secretary of State listing, and he’s got it. He nailed it. The guy that’s in number one, nailed it. Not a surprise to me, at all.
So, if you’re having issues, ranking your business in Google Maps, it could be because you have a mismatch or you’re not registered correctly with the Secretary of State. If you’re not registered with the Secretary of State, make sure you do that. If it’s inactive, go and renew it and make sure that the address and business name match. That’s going to help a lot with your rankings.
If you’re suspended, go match that up, and then you can actually send this link over to Google when you’re doing it. When you’re applying for reinstatement, send this link to Google and say, “Look, I’m all matched up. I’m ready to go. I want to make sure I get my suspension removed from my business account.”
One of the many things that can work very well, but we’ve done it so many times for so many different clients, it’s one of the main factors when it comes to ranking and suspensions with Google.
