With Google My Business (GMB), you can update your business information on Google, appear on Google Maps and Search, manage your online presence and communicate directly with your customers.

If your company has ten or more sites, there are GMB tools you can use to add, check and manage several sites in one go.

Site groups and grouped site management

Google My Business site groups and group site management are designed for businesses with ten or more sites. By creating a site group on Google My Business, you can manage and update information about your business for all its sites. Creating a GMB site group also allows you to share the management of all your business sites with several team members or users.

Please note that site groups are only available for sites with the same category and name (unless the real-world representation of the company varies systematically from site to site).

How to create and use a site group

To create a location group, you need to ensure that all the locations in your group meet the following quality standards:

  • The company must establish face-to-face contact with customers during the specified opening hours.
  • The company must be open to the public. You cannot enter premises that are under construction or have not yet opened.
  • You must be the business owner or an authorized marketing representative.
  • The name of your listing should match your real name, as represented by your offline marketing materials, such as signage, etc.
  • Although you can use your usual Google account to initiate this procedure, we strongly recommend that you create a new GMB account that reflects the area of the business to be managed. This will reduce the time and steps required for Google’s verification procedure.

To create a site group, proceed as follows:

  1. Create or log in to your Google My Business account.
  2. Click on “Manage locations” in the menu. Then click on the “Create site group” button in the top right-hand corner of the page.
  3. Choose a name that clearly identifies your location group.
  4. Click on “Done”.
  5. google my business location group

Having created your location group, you can now organize and upload business information for multiple locations to GMB. You don’t need to do this manually. To upload data en masse, you can use the Mass Upload spreadsheet.

Mass download spreadsheet: What is it and how do I use it?

The bulk upload spreadsheet is the most efficient way to organize, consolidate and upload business information from all your locations and have it verified by Google all at once.

When you add your facilities to GMB, you can choose “Import facilities” to add several facilities at once using your spreadsheet for bulk upload, instead of adding them one by one.

Grouped download of locations in GMB

When you click on “Import locations”, you have several options:

  • You can download the template and create a blank mass download spreadsheet to fill in.
  • You can download a sample spreadsheet to see an example of a completed spreadsheet.
  • You can download an attribute reference spreadsheet to see the details you can use to describe your location.
  • You can “select a file” and upload your completed bulk upload spreadsheet.
    Google my business bulk upload spreadsheet

Error checking

Once you’ve uploaded your bulk upload spreadsheet containing data from all your facilities, you can check for errors and make changes to individual items. This step is important because errors and violations of quality guidelines can delay the mass verification process.

You’ll find Google’s full guide to potential errors and how to correct them on this support page.

Bulk verification request

Once you’ve uploaded your spreadsheet and corrected any errors, you can request mass verification. Bulk verification allows you to manage information for 10 or more sites from the same company in Google products such as Maps and Search, without having to go through the same verification process for each site.

To request a group verification :

  • Click on “Verify” next to one of your sites.
  • Click on “Chain”.
  • Fill in the verification form, indicating your company name, countries and regions, and your contact details.
    Send the form.
  • It can take up to a week to process your group verification request. Once your sites have been verified, you can add more, either manually for individual sites, or via a second spreadsheet. Remember that Google will merge duplicates to ensure that there is only one record per site.

If several of your sites have been uploaded manually, take the time to check the consistency of the content, as well as the quality and accuracy of site-specific information such as address, contact details and opening hours.

How do I make mass changes to my GMB site group?

In times of uncertainty and change, such as the current COVID-19 pandemic, companies may need to make changes that impact internal operations and the customer experience.

Bulk modifications on GMB

If you need to make mass changes to the sites in your Google My Business site group, you can do so in just a few steps:

  • Log in to Google My Business and click on “Manage locations” in the menu.
  • Select the group of locations in which you wish to make grouped modifications.
  • Select the locations you wish to modify. To edit multiple locations, use the checkboxes to select the location,
  • then click on the pencil icon in the top right-hand corner of the page.
  • Click on the information field you wish to update, then make the changes in the window that appears.
  • Click on “Apply”.

Your bulk changes can be reviewed before being published on Google. First, you’ll see a “Pending” status in the field in question on your GMB account.