But there’s another big benefit to claiming your business listings: To make sure nobody else claims them first.

Most business owners aren’t looking over their shoulders worried about an arch enemy, so it may be tempting to assume no one else would ever claim your listings. After all, you’re just (literally) minding your own business.

In reality, people may do so for a variety of reasons. A disgruntled customer or former employee may try to claim a listing in order to damage your good name after a bad experience. A less-than-ethical competitor could claim your listing to lock you out from promoting yourself or replace your phone number with theirs. Some shady operators claim listings in the hope that business owners will pay them a ransom to regain control of the listing.

When you claim your business listings (and create a password-protected account) you can “lock” those listings so no one else can make changes. Even if you’re not prepared to immediately build out each listing out to the fullest (with product pages or photos), simply claiming your listings means they are yours to securely control. Don’t wait!