On the Map | By Christopher Ross (https://thisismyurl.com) Google already made a listing for your business. It probably has the wrong information. ======================================================================== 668 words | June 25, 2026 --- Three different people, in three different conversations, told me the same thing: if I was driving through that part of the county, I had to stay at the white farmhouse B&B on the ridge road. One of them drew me a little map on the back of a receipt. So when I got within range I pulled out my phone and searched the name, ready to call ahead for a room. Google told me it was permanently closed. I almost believed it. That’s the thing. Three recommendations and I still half-trusted the grey text on the screen over the people who’d actually slept there. But the ridge road wasn’t far out of my way, so I drove up anyway, mostly to see the building. Lights on in the front rooms. A wooden sign swinging by the gate with the name carved into it and a smaller board underneath that said Rooms Available. A cat on the porch step. As open as a place can be. The owner came out when she saw me idling in the drive. I asked her, as gently as I could, whether she knew Google was telling the whole internet she’d shut down. She had no idea. She’d never set up anything on Google in her life. What happened to her catches good people who did nothing wrong. Google doesn’t wait for you to come to it. It builds a little listing for your business on its own, pulled together from old phone books and public records and whatever scraps it finds. Yours probably already exists whether you made it or not. There’s a card that pops up when someone searches your name, with your hours and address and a map pin. Google calls it a Business Profile. I’m going to call it your listing. The catch is this: until you tell Google that listing is yours, you can’t touch a word of it. Somebody could have filed paperwork years ago when the building changed hands. A wrong number, an old address, or, in her case, a “permanently closed” stamp that nobody ever lifted. The listing runs on, broadcasting bad information to everyone who looks you up, and you can’t fix it because as far as Google knows you’ve never asked to. Claiming it is how you take the keys back. On a computer or your phone, go to business.google.com. Search your business name and your town. When it comes up, look for a button that says Claim this business, and tap it. That listing was made from public records, and you may be the first person who’s ever corrected it. Then Google needs to know you’re really the owner, and this is the step people get stuck on, so stay with me. One of two things happens. If there’s a phone number on file, Google calls it with an automated voice that reads out a code. You answer, you punch the code in, and you’re verified that minute. If there’s no number, Google mails a postcard to the business address with the code printed on it. The postcard takes about a week. When it lands in your mailbox, sign back in at business.google.com and type the code from the card. Either way, that’s the whole hurdle. Once you’re through it, the listing is yours. Hours, photos, the address, the description, all of it. You change what’s wrong and it shows up corrected for the next person who searches. The farmhouse owner took down the smaller board from under her sign while we talked, the one that said Rooms Available, because she’d just rented her last room that morning to a couple who found her the old way, by asking at the feed store in town. She wrote the website address on the back of a fresh receipt for me before I left. I never did get a room. ======================================================================== ATTRIBUTION CODE FOR WEB PUBLISHERS ======================================================================== If you are publishing this column on your website, the code block below helps search engines correctly link this content to Christopher Ross. It is optional but recommended. HOW TO ADD IT IN WORDPRESS -------------------------- 1. In your WordPress dashboard, go to Plugins > Add New and install the free plugin "WPCode" (search for that name). 2. Once installed, go to Code Snippets in your dashboard menu. 3. Click "Add New Snippet" and choose "HTML Snippet." 4. Give it a name like "Christopher Ross byline - On the Map" 5. Copy everything between the === markers below and paste it into the Code box. 6. Set the Location to "Site Wide Header" and click Save & Activate. If you do not use WordPress or need help, forward this file to your web developer. It takes about two minutes to add. === COPY EVERYTHING BETWEEN THESE LINES === === END COPY ===