When someone searches for a plumber, an accountant or a courier near them, the map results show up before most websites do. Those results come from Google Business Profiles. A complete, accurate profile can bring in calls even if your website is thin. A neglected one sends them to the next business on the list. This article is a checklist you can go through in an afternoon.
Get the basics right
Start with the facts a buyer needs in five seconds: your business name, phone number, address or service area, and opening hours. They must match your website exactly. If your site says one phone number and your profile says another, Google has less reason to trust either.
- Use your real business name. Adding keywords to the name can get the profile suspended.
- Pick one main category that describes what you mostly do, then add a few secondary ones for the rest.
- Set hours for holidays ahead of time so you do not show as open when you are closed.
- Add the website link that goes to the most useful page, not always the home page.
Service areas and services
If you travel to customers, list the towns or neighbourhoods you actually cover. Do not list the whole province hoping to show up everywhere. It rarely works and it brings calls you cannot take.
Then fill in the services list with plain names and short descriptions. Say what you do the way a customer would say it: 'drain cleaning', 'bookkeeping for small businesses', 'same day courier'. Add a price or a starting price where you can. Buyers call more readily when they have a rough number.
Photos and reviews
Real photos of your team, your vehicles, your shop and finished work are worth more than stock images. Add a few new ones each month. Only use photos you have the right to use.
Reviews matter because buyers read them and Google weighs them. Ask every happy customer, soon after the job, with a direct link to your review page. Reply to every review, good or bad, in a calm and short way. Never offer money or gifts for reviews, and never write your own.
A monthly routine
Set a calendar reminder for the first of each month. Check that hours and phone number are right, answer new reviews, add two or three photos, and look at the numbers Google gives you: calls, direction requests and website clicks. You are not looking for a perfect score. You are looking for whether the profile is still telling the truth about your business.
If you want the profile, your website and your service pages to work together, that is the kind of work we do under digital marketing.
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