Is my business eligible?
GoCentral's local listing features, such as Google My Business, help you get your local business listed on search sites and social media across the web. However, some sites have restrictions on what type of business information they accept.
Businesses Eligible for Local Listings
Local search sites do not list all types of businesses. To use the local listing features, your business must have a valid USPS mailing address, a local phone number (not toll-free) and provide the majority of your goods and services face-to-face with your customers. Eligible face-to-face businesses fall into two categories:
- A brick-and-mortar business has a physical location or storefront where customers are welcome to visit during posted business hours. Examples include spas, restaurants, florists, retail stores, and beauty salons.
- If you provide sales at a brick-and-mortar location, regardless of whether you also have Online or Service Area sales, you are considered a brick-and-mortar business.
- You have a service-based business if you do not operate out of a physical location or storefront and instead travel to your customers or meet them in public. Examples include photographers, boat charters, and dog walkers.
- If the majority of your customer interaction is not done face-to-face (e.g.: primarily by phone or email), your business is not eligible for local search.
Businesses Not Eligible for Local Listings
If you do not work face-to-face with customers or you serve a national or global market, your business is not eligible for local listings. Examples of these types of businesses include online stores, blogs, online services, and nationwide consultants.
The Review Process
When a business submits their information to listing sites the business information enters into a quality review process before being published. To improve your customer reach, we encourage you to state on your website whether your business services a local area or whether you work with your customers face-to-face. If our review finds that your business is not eligible, you will receive a notification informing you of our findings.
Other Business Guidelines and Restrictions
- Businesses still under construction or not yet open are not eligible.
- Rentals or properties for-sale, such as condos or vacation homes, are not eligible. Instead you should list the address of the rental/leasing office for such properties. If the business or property operates at an on-site office, the customer should list the office location.
- Brands or manufacturers cannot create a local listing account for stores they do not own, even if those stores stock their products.
- Ongoing classes or meetings, and temporary or seasonal businesses operating at a location not owned by the listed business are not eligible for local listings.
- Blogs, news websites, and other online entertainment or promotional websites are not eligible for local listings.
- Pyramid schemes, mass solicitations, phishing schemes, and other forms of deceptive marketing are not eligible for local listings.
- Manufacturers that provide a majority of services online or over the phone; whose physical location is not a storefront and does not have regular walk-in hours for the public are not eligible for local listings.
- Businesses that exhibit signs of fraudulent behavior or may be impersonating an established business are not eligible for local listings.
- Businesses with explicit or illegal content are not suitable for local listings.
Note: All Service area businesses may receive verification calls during their posted business hours to maintain accurate business information. Businesses that cannot be reached and verified may be rejected.
