Google Business Profile: The 20 Minutes That Get You Found

When somebody nearby searches for what you do, the first thing they see is not your website. It is a map with three businesses on it. Getting on that map costs nothing and takes about twenty minutes.

Claim the listing first

Search your business name on Google. If a listing exists, claim it. If it does not, create it. Verify with the postcard, phone or video. Nothing else on this list works until that is done.

The five fields that decide whether you show up

• The primary category. This is the single biggest lever. A plumber whose primary category is "Contractor" will lose to a plumber whose primary category is "Plumber". Pick the exact trade, then add two or three secondary categories for the rest of what you do.
• Hours. Complete, correct, including holidays. An owner who closed early last Tuesday loses to a competitor whose hours are right.
• Service area or address. If customers come to you, use the address. If you go to them, set the service area and keep the address private. Never use a fake address: Google suspends listings for it.
• The phone number. A number a person answers. A phone that rings out is worse than no listing.
• The service list. Each service with a short description, and a "from" price if you can. Prices build more trust than any photo.

The photos that do the work

Ten photos minimum: the outside of the building or the truck, the signage, the crew, three finished jobs. Then add three to five a month. Listings with regular photos get noticeably more clicks than listings with none, and it is the cheapest marketing work there is.

Reviews

Ask at the end of every job, face to face, then send a text with a direct link. Reply to every review, including the bad one, because everybody reads the reply. Ten reviews will put you ahead of most of your town.

The weekly habit

• Post something: a finished job, an offer, a tip. Google Posts show up in the listing.
• Answer any question that appears in the Q&A section, and add the three questions you get on the phone every week.
• Check your name, address and phone number are written the same way everywhere online. Different versions of the same business confuse the map.

What to expect, honestly

A complete profile will start showing in searches for your trade and your town, sometimes within days. It will not put you at the top of everything overnight, and nobody can promise you a ranking. It is the foundation the rest is built on: profile first, then the pages aimed at what your customers actually search.

If you would rather somebody did the groundwork, our monthly plans start with exactly this.