Are you struggling to verify your Google Business Profile? Don’t worry—I’ve got you! In this episode of Local Search Tuesdays, I’m covering everything you need to know to shoot a successful verification video the first time—whether verifying a new business or recovering from a suspension.
I’ll walk you through planning your shoot, recording the right footage, and ensuring you include all the necessary documents to get verified without the hassle. Don’t miss it!
Video Transcript
Welcome back to another episode of Local Search Tuesdays. This week’s episode is an important one: I’m going to be sharing tips for shooting a Google Business Profile verification video!
As a platinum Product Expert on the Google Business Profile community forum, I spend a lot of time helping people with GBP problems. One of the most common issues is that business owners aren’t sure why their verification videos aren’t approved. Also, since Google decided last year to fight GBP spam more aggressively, there’s been a huge increase in the number of GBP suspensions, and these often require a re-verification video.
The first thing you should do is check Google’s GBP guidelines to be sure that you’re eligible for a profile. Head over to bit.ly/gbp-eligibility to read the “eligibility and ownership guidelines”, which basically say you have to do face-to-face business with customers to be allowed to have a profile.
Next, you should check out the GBP guidelines at bit.ly/gbp-guidelines. This page explaines what you should include on your profile. There’s an accordion widget that breaks down important information for each element. Make sure you’re familiar with everything here.
Then, you’ll want to check out the help page for video verification videos. Head over to bit.ly/gbp-verification-video to read the details.
But that page only takes you so far, and most people never even see that page, or either of the other two, honestly. So today, I wanted to share some tips to help you if you’re going to shoot a verification video.
Before you start, make sure you have an online presence that matches the info in your Google Business Profile. You need some third party proof that your business exists. You should have a website with the same business name and location information and you should be listed on industry directories as well as general directories. A BBB listing is beneficial, but not required.
If it’s a first time verification video, you won’t need to include any documentation. If it’s a re-verification video, you’ll need to include your documentation, so make sure you have everything together before you start recording.
It’s important to plan what you’re going to shoot. You have to include several elements, and you want the video to be as short as possible. If the video is longer than five minutes, it will fail processing. Try to keep the video under 2 minutes - the shorter the better. Planning your shoot, including how and where you’ll walk, will help you be more efficient and effective.
Before you start recording, make sure you have location services turned on.
It’s absolutely critical that you don’t include anyone’s face in the video. This is where planning ahead will be a significant help. That means zero faces whatsoever - employees, customers, or even random people outside the business.
Do not narrate your video. It’s unnecessary and distracting.
You need to be sure to include proof of your actual location. Basically, if someone who isn’t from your area was watching the video, would the video show enough information to prove that you’re actually that business in that location?
Since permanent signage is a requirement for eligibility, make sure you show your signage. Show the nearest street sign. Show nearby businesses.
If you’re a service business operating out of your home, you obviously won’t have permanent signage, so you’d instead show your house number to prove you’re there.
You also need to prove that the category you selected is accurate and you need to provide proof of management of the business. For brick-and-mortar businesses, you need to show the outside and inside of your business. Be sure to show that you have access to areas that the general public can’t access. Unlocking the front door or the door to the office works well here. Show that you have access to your computer system or payment system (just don’t display any login or password information).
If it’s a re-verification video, you’ll need to include some sort of legal document that proves the existence of the business. A government license or utility bill in the company name works here. Don’t use a business card, those won’t work.
If you’re a service business, show that you have access to the tools of your trade. Show that you can unlock the company vehicle if it’s wrapped or has the company logo on it. You’ll still need to show your home and address, but you’ll also need to include a government license or utility bill in the name of the company.
That last part is important. If my company is Giff Plumbing but all of my utility bills say “Greg Gifford”, then those won’t work as proof.
If you read all of the Google Documents and follow the tips in this video, you shouldn’t have any problem getting verified - or re-verified - with your video.
That’s all the time we have left for this week’s episode, so you know what that means. Put your hand on the screen right here: We totally just high-fived ‘cause you learned something awesome. Thanks for watching, and we’ll see you again next week for another episode of Local Search Tuesdays.