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Google Launches Program to Help Small Businesses Become More Visible The web giant's latest initiative provides online and in-person assistance to help small business owners throughout the U.S. list their companies on Google Search, Google Maps and Google+.

By Kim Lachance Shandrow

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

Google

Do your company's website, hours and address show up right away when people Google you...or at all? If not, you're missing out on big business and Google wants to help you fix the problem.

The tech giant today announced a major new small business initiative called Let's Put Our Cities on the Map. The aim is to help every business in every city in America get discovered across its services.

Related: Why Every Entrepreneur Should Focus on Local SEO

To this ambitious end, Google has created a custom website for "virtually every town and city in the U.S.," 30,000 in all. The sites provide small business owners with step-by-step directions on how to create a Google My Business listing, as well as how to improve the information that shows up about their companies on Google search, Google maps and Google+.

"We wanted to make the process of getting online easier for small businesses, and help them find their customers in those moments that matter," Soo Young Kim, head of marketing for Google's Get Your Business Online Program told Entrepreneur.

Related: 6 Steps to Take Today to Improve Your Google Search Results

Google says its localized Let's Put Our Cities on the Map websites also give small business owners access to a new diagnostic tool that shows them how their companies appear on Google Search and Google Maps. The sites also enable them to have their companies verified for Google searches, add photos, location and hours of operation to their business listing and, if needed, secure a website and domain name from Google partner StartLogic that will be free for a year.

Visitors to Let's Put Our Cities on the Map sites will also be directed to local in-person training workshops hosted by Google in partnership with small business growth-focused local organizations, like Chambers of Commerce, Small Business Development Centers and SCORE chapters.

To find your local Let's Put Our Cities on the Map website, go to https://www.gybo.com/get-started and enter your ZIP Code.

Related: With an Eye on Small Business, Google Gets Into the Domain Registration Game

Kim Lachance Shandrow

Former West Coast Editor

Kim Lachance Shandrow is the former West Coast editor at Entrepreneur.com. Previously, she was a commerce columnist at Los Angeles CityBeat, a news producer at MSNBC and KNBC in Los Angeles and a frequent contributor to the Los Angeles Times. She has also written for Government Technology magazine, LA Yoga magazine, the Lowell Sun newspaper, HealthCentral.com, PsychCentral.com and the former U.S. Surgeon General, Dr. C. Everett Coop. Follow her on Twitter at @Lashandrow. You can also follow her on Facebook here

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