What is a Google location?

A Google location is the online presence of a business or organization across Google, including Search and Maps. These locations are created by Google itself, users or business owner to help customers find the business that they searching for.  

Can the location information be managed? 

Yes! In order to manage the information for a Google location, you have to create a Google Business Profile account and verify the location. Keep in mind that it could be that the location information is already managed by someone else. 

How to identify if a location is already managed? 

If you search for a location in Google Search or Maps you can see if the location you found is already managed or if the location is unmanaged, also called "unclaimed". 

An unclaimed page will show in the location details the question "Own this business?" in Google Search or "Claim this business" in Google Maps. That means that no one is managing the location information and these questions are only appearing if the location is "unclaimed". 

What does "Manage this listing" mean?

If you find a location that shows "Manage this listing" on Google Search and Google Maps then this location is already managed by someone else but gives you the opportunity to set a Site-Manager for that location.

A Site-Manager has limited access to the location data and is not able to edit certain fields in the location profile. Because of this limited access, a Site-Manager cannot connect a location with the platform. That feature was announced by Google Business Profile on August 6, 2019. If you want to know more about Site-Manager you can look here.