When someone searches for a plumber, a café or an accountant near them, Google usually shows a map with three businesses underneath it. Those three get most of the calls. The good news is that getting into that list has far more to do with effort than budget.
Your Google Business Profile is free, and for many small businesses it brings in more enquiries than their website. Yet most profiles are set up once and forgotten. Here is how to turn yours into something that actually wins customers.
Get the basics exactly right
Start with the details Google uses to decide whether you are relevant and trustworthy.
- Business name: use your real trading name. Stuffing extra keywords into it can get your profile suspended.
- Categories: your primary category matters most. Pick the one that best describes what you do, then add secondary categories for other services.
- Address and service area: if you visit customers, set a service area rather than showing your home address.
- Opening hours: keep them accurate, including bank holidays. Nothing loses trust faster than a customer turning up to a locked door.
- Phone number and website: make sure they match what appears on your website and other directories.
Consistency matters. If your address is written three different ways across the internet, Google is less confident that it is all the same business.
Write a description for people, not robots
You get 750 characters to describe your business. Use them to answer the questions a new customer has: what you do, who you do it for, where you work and why someone should choose you. Mention your main services and towns naturally, but write it as you would explain it to someone at a networking event.
Add photos, and keep adding them
Profiles with real photos get more clicks and more requests for directions. Customers want to see your premises, your team and examples of your work. Phone photos are fine as long as they are well lit and in focus.
Aim to add a few new photos every month. Finished jobs, new stock, your team at an event: it all shows that the business is active and real.
Make reviews part of your routine
Reviews are one of the biggest factors in where you appear and whether people pick you. The businesses with lots of reviews rarely got them by luck. They ask.
- Ask at the moment the customer is happiest, usually just after the job is finished or the product is delivered.
- Make it easy by sending a direct link to your review form by text or email.
- Reply to every review, good or bad. A calm, helpful reply to a negative review often impresses future customers more than the review itself.
Never buy reviews or offer rewards for positive ones. It breaks Google’s rules and can get reviews removed or your profile penalised.
Use posts and updates
Google lets you publish short updates, offers and events on your profile. They will not transform your rankings overnight, but they give people another reason to choose you and show that you are open for business. A post a week about a recent job, a seasonal offer or a useful tip is plenty.
Answer questions before they are asked
The questions and answers section is often filled by strangers. Get ahead of it by adding the questions you hear most often, such as parking, payment methods, prices or how far you travel, along with clear answers.
Check what is working
Your profile shows how many people found you, how they searched and what they did next, whether that was calling, visiting your website or asking for directions. Look at it once a month. If calls are rising after you added photos or started asking for reviews, keep doing more of the same.
The one-hour-a-week plan
You do not need to spend hours on this. A simple weekly routine works:
- Add two or three new photos.
- Publish one short update.
- Ask your happiest customers of the week for a review.
- Reply to any new reviews and questions.
Do that consistently for three months and you will usually see more calls, more website visits and more people finding you on the map. For most local businesses, there is no cheaper source of new customers.
