Your company name and address should always appear in text on your website. We often see companies who have their address included on their page as an image, or who do not list their address at all. Still others will list their company address, but will use a logo image to depict the name of their company instead of text.

 Here’s Why: Local search engines are multiplying like gremlins. The technology behind each of these requires the spider to seek out a physical address for the business in order for that site to be indexed. A search engine spider cannot “read” the address or business name you have on an image. They are looking for text, and preferably in the format below:

Company Name
Street Address
City, State Zip
Phone Number
Fax Number

But don’t take our word for it. Try reading the US Patent Application filed from Mountain View, California (which happens to be the location of Google’s Corporate Offices) titled:
Address Geocoding
Published on August 23, 2005
Patent Application Number 664902

The most notable local search engine today is by far Google Maps (formerly Google Local), which can bring hundreds of high-quality leads to your website if you have paid close enough attention to the next few paragraphs…

Importance of Verifying Your FREE Google Local Listing
Ensuring that your company name and address are properly formatted in text on your website is the first step in getting your website listed on the hundreds of local search engines out there today. However, without verification, Google will not list your website, nor will they provide a description. All the searcher will find is a company name, address and telephone number.

Here is an example of an unverified listing for: Bally Total Fitness
Notice that the main listing does not provide a website or description. You see “References” below the listing, some of which go to Bally’s website and some of which take you to other websites.

Here is an example of a verified listing for: First Page Fitness
Notice that you see only one reference, which takes you to the FPF website. Also notice, most importantly, that you see a link to the website (From Google? Who could ask for a better backlink?) along with a description provided by me that says exactly what I wanted it to say.

Not only do we get a link to our website, a link to our email address and a description of our choice, but we have also verified with the most important search engine in the world that we are a legitimate business with a physical location in the US, not some spam site in India or Africa ripping people off. Do you think that might have an impact on how Google ranks our website? Given that Google goes out of their way (sandbox…) to make sure businesses are legitimate before allowing them to rank, it is highly likely that verifying your physical address with Google Maps has a positive impact on your organic, national rankings on www.google.com.

How Do You Verify a FREE Listing with Google Maps?
That’s the easy part! Click Here to get started at the Google Maps Business Center. You will have the option of receiving a phone call or post card for verification purposes.

Oh, You might also want to check out This Post about how Google Map verification may be impacting Ad Words listings.