Google Adds Search, Map Support to Its 'My Business' App

Google has released an updated version of its My Business app to allow users to share service-areas and information about their business via Maps and Search, increasing their chances to be discovered.

Google's My Business is a free tool for businesses and organisations, created to help them manage their online presence across Google. 

"With this update, we hope to better connect you with potential customers in your service areas so consumers get the services they need and you find new customers," Tom Pritchard, Product Lead, My Business, Google wrote in a blog post on Tuesday. 

Since service areas vary from business to business, to make information accurate, users could also configure their service areas by adding specific postal codes or cities they cover. 

"Taking into account the changes every business goes through, these settings can be adjusted as needed - so there's no need to worry about being locked into any specific area," Pritchard said.

The company will guide new users through the setup process with prompts for local service area businesses and existing My Business users would now be able to edit their business information from the app dashboard.

"You'll notice that the 'service area' and 'storefront address' can now be edited separately and if an address isn't applicable to your business, you can easily clear it," Pritchard added.

The app was first released in June 2014.