Google Business Profile: how to get found in your own town

When someone searches for "car mechanic near me" or "restaurant nearby", Google usually shows a map with a few businesses first and the ordinary results below it. For a local business, that is the best spot on the internet. And it depends almost entirely on one free thing: your Google Business Profile, your business's listing on Google Search and Maps.

What Google looks at

Google names three things that decide local results:

• Relevance: how well a profile matches what the person is looking for. That's why the right category and complete details matter.
• Distance: how close the business is to the person searching. You can't change that, short of moving.
• Prominence: how well known the business is. Reviews, ratings, links from other sites, mentions around the web.

Google also says you can't pay for a better position on the map. Ads exist, but the organic spot has to be earned.

Step by step

1. Claim and verify your profile

Go to google.com/business and check whether your business already has a profile. Someone often creates one on your behalf. Claim it and finish verification, because an unverified profile is only half a profile.

2. The primary category is the most important field

Pick the most precise category for what you do: "Dentist", not "Health". Add secondary categories only for work you genuinely do.

3. Your name as it is on your sign, without keywords

"Lejla Hair Studio", not "Lejla Hair Studio – best haircuts in town". Stuffing keywords into the name breaks Google's guidelines and can end in a suspended profile.

4. Opening hours, holidays included

Nothing kills trust like turning up to a locked door. Set special hours for holidays and update them in good time.

5. Real photos

The entrance from outside, so people recognise you. The space inside, the team, finished work. Phone photos are perfectly fine; what matters is that they're real and recent.

6. Services, description and a link to your site

List your services one by one, write a short description in plain language and always link your website. The profile catches attention; the decision gets made on your site.

Reviews: the strongest signal you control

Reviews affect both your position and the customer's decision. A few rules:

• Ask for them. After a job well done, send your review link over WhatsApp; Google gives it to you in the profile. Most happy clients won't think of it on their own, but they're glad to write one when asked.
• Reply to every one, bad ones included. Calmly, briefly and with a solution. Future clients read your reply more carefully than the complaint.
• Never buy reviews, and don't offer discounts in exchange for a rating. It breaks Google's policies, and Google removes fake reviews and can penalise the profile.

Your profile and your site work together

Your map listing and your website strengthen each other:

• Name, address and phone must be identical in both places.
• Your site should have a page with your address, a map and your opening hours.
• If you work in several towns, each one deserves its own text on your site, not just a list of places in the footer.

This is also the foundation for AI search: when your details are the same everywhere, both Google and AI assistants trust them.

In half an hour

1. Claim and verify your profile.
2. Fix the category and the name.
3. Enter your opening hours, holidays included.
4. Add a dozen real photos.
5. Send your review link to your three most recent happy clients.

Need a site that matches your profile and works well on a phone? See my services or get in touch.