Check that the address on the listing is one where mail actually reaches you, change nothing while the card travels, request one new code only after two full weeks, and look for a phone or instant option.

The card that was supposed to come

A business claims or creates its listing on Google My Business, fills in the details, and is told that a postcard with a verification code is on its way.

Weeks pass. Nothing arrives, or something arrives and goes out with the flyers, or the card turns up in a drawer long after anyone was looking for it.

Meanwhile the listing sits unverified. The owner cannot reply to reviews as the business, cannot see the Insights that show how people found it, and cannot be sure their edits are the ones Google shows.

It is a common reason a listing still shows old hours months after the owner thought they had been fixed.

Why postcards go missing

The first is the usual culprit in plazas and office buildings. Google prints exactly the address on the listing, so a missing suite number delivers the card to whoever deals with the building's stray mail, if anyone does.

Check the address before anything else

Open the listing and read the address the way a letter carrier would.

It needs the unit or suite number, the street address that mail actually comes to, and the postal code.

A service-area business that hides its address from the public still receives the card at the address it entered, so that address has to work for mail too.

Then tell whoever collects the mail. A receptionist, a landlord, a family member at home: anyone who might see a plain card from Google and take it for advertising.

What not to change while you wait

Google's own advice is to leave the listing alone while a card is in the mail.

Editing the business name, the address or the category during that time can delay verification. So can requesting another code before the first has had a fair chance to arrive.

Asking again after three days does not hurry anything. It starts another wait, and two cards in the mail are harder to keep straight than one.

If something on the listing is genuinely wrong, fix it first and then request the code. That order matters more than speed.

Requesting a new code properly

Give the first card its full time. Cards usually take a week or two, and rural mail can be slower.

After two weeks, go back to Google My Business, signed in as the account that made the first request, check the address once more, and use the option to request another code.

Write down the date of each request, and set a reminder for two weeks later.

If two requests have both come to nothing, stop requesting. Look harder at the address, or contact Google My Business support through its help centre.

A worked example

An oyster farm on a sheltered inlet sells oysters and clams from a shed at the farm gate, and visitors often find it by searching on their phones from the highway.

The owner created a listing with the farm's road address, so the map would lead people to the gate. The postcard never came. Neither did the second, requested a fortnight later.

The cause was the mail, not Google. Everything for the farm goes to a post office box in the village, and nothing at the post office connected the farm's civic number to that box.

The owner took the listing's exact address to the village post office and asked staff to put anything addressed that way into the farm's box. Only then was one more code requested.

That card arrived nine days later. The code went in the same afternoon, before the card could disappear under the seed invoices.

Once the listing was verified, the owner added photographs of the shed and set the real winter hours, Saturdays only, which the listing had never shown.

Enter the code the day it arrives

When the card comes, enter the code that day, signed in to the account that requested it.

Codes expire, so a card found in a drawer two months later is no use. Nor is a card requested by someone who has since left, if the listing sits in their personal account.

That is one more reason the listing should belong to an account the business controls, with the owner and a manager both added, rather than one person's private login.

Then read every field again. Anyone can suggest an edit on Google Maps, and a listing nobody was watching may have drifted while it waited: a changed phone number, a wrong category, the wrong hours.

Alternatives some businesses are offered

The postcard is the default, not the only route. Depending on the business, Google sometimes offers others on the verification screen.

Some businesses can verify by phone, with the code delivered in an automated call to the listing's number, and a few are offered email.

Instant verification can appear when the business's website is already verified in Search Console under the same Google account. It is a practical reason to keep the website and the listing under one login the business owns.

Businesses with ten or more locations can apply for bulk verification. Most single-location businesses, though, are offered only the postcard.

The counter-case

Some businesses are better off waiting. One about to move should verify at the new address after the move, not chase a card to the old one.

And a business whose premises cannot receive mail at all may need Google My Business support rather than more requests.

For everyone else the order holds: get the address right, leave the listing alone, wait the full two weeks, then request one new code.

Getting the code

  1. Read the address on the listing as printed.
  2. Fix any error before requesting a code.
  3. Tell whoever collects the mail to expect it.
  4. Change nothing on the listing while it travels.
  5. Wait two full weeks before asking again.
  6. Request one new code, then wait again.
  7. Enter the code the day it arrives.

Step four is the one people break. A small edit made while the card is in the mail feels harmless, and it can turn a two-week wait into a much longer one.

What decides whether the verified listing then appears in the map results is covered in three places in the map results instead of seven.

Frequently asked questions

How long should a verification postcard take?

Usually a week or two, and rural mail can be slower. Give it two full weeks before requesting another code, and change nothing on the listing in the meantime.

Why did my postcard never arrive?

Usually the address: a missing unit number, mail that goes to a box rather than the road, or a card thrown out as advertising by whoever sorted the mail.

What should I avoid changing while waiting?

The business name, address and category. Editing them while a card is in the mail can delay verification, and so can requesting new codes before the first has had time.

What if the code has expired?

Request a new one and enter it the day it arrives. Codes do not last indefinitely, so a card found weeks later in a drawer will not work.

Are there alternatives to the postcard?

Sometimes: an automated phone call, email, instant verification if the website is verified in Search Console under the same account, or bulk verification for ten or more locations.

Does a hidden address still get a postcard?

Yes. A service-area business that hides its address still receives the card at the address entered, so that address has to be one where mail actually reaches you.

West Coast Media Solutions Inc. provides web design, web development, hosting, digital marketing, and business consulting to organisations across Canada, drawing on more than twenty-five years in the field.

Listing still waiting for its postcard?

Send us the listing as it appears now. We will check the address and tell you what to do next.

Start a Conversation