How to set up your Google Business Profile properly

If your customers are local, your Google Business Profile is probably the first thing they will see about you: it powers the map results and the panel that appears when someone searches your name. It is free, and a well maintained profile routinely outperforms an expensive website that nobody finds.

Claim and verify

Search for your business name on Google. If a profile already exists, claim it rather than creating a duplicate. If not, create one at google.com/business. Verification is usually by postcard, phone or video, and nothing you edit becomes fully visible until it is done, so start this first.

Complete every field

• Name: your real trading name, exactly as it appears on your signage and website. Stuffing keywords into the name breaches Google’s rules and risks suspension.
• Categories: choose the most specific primary category available, then add secondary ones. “Emergency electrician” beats “Contractor”.
• Service area or address: if customers visit you, show the address. If you travel to them, hide the address and set a service area instead.
• Hours, phone and website: keep them accurate, including holiday hours. Wrong opening times are one of the fastest ways to lose trust.
• Services and description: list what you actually do, in plain language, and write a description a customer would find useful rather than a slogan.

Photographs matter more than you think

Profiles with real photographs get dramatically more clicks and calls. Add your logo, your premises or van, your team, and your work. Take them in daylight on a modern phone and add a few new ones every month; recency is a signal.

Reviews are the engine

Ask every happy customer for a review, ideally on the day you finish the work, with a direct link to your review form. Reply to every review, good and bad, politely and briefly. A steady drip of genuine reviews beats a one off burst, and buying reviews can get your profile removed.

Spend thirty minutes a month keeping the profile fresh: a photo or two, a post about recent work, corrected hours. For most local businesses that half hour returns more than any other marketing task on the calendar.