Your Google Business Profile is your cheapest salesperson!
Type "plumber near me" and you get a map with three businesses on it. Whoever is on it gets the call; whoever is below it barely exists. That listing costs nothing and in most businesses is half filled in: no hours, one photo from three years ago, and not a single reply to a review.
The good news is that much of it is in your own hands. Below is what actually counts, in the order it counts.
What we fill in, and why!
Category
The single most important choice in the whole profile. Get your main category wrong and you appear for the wrong searches, and nothing else helps.
Details
Name, address and phone exactly as they appear everywhere else. Google compares those listings; differences make you less trustworthy.
Hours
Including public holidays and closures. Someone standing at a locked door will leave that in a review.
Images
Real photos of your premises, your team and your work, topped up regularly. Profiles with recent images get noticeably more clicks.
Reviews
Ask satisfied customers, and reply to everything — the angry ones included. Your reply is for the hundred people reading along, not for the writer.
Where it usually goes wrong!
A profile nobody manages
Google sometimes creates listings by itself, showing an address from two moves ago. Claim the profile, even if you think you do not have one.
Keywords in your business name
Calling your business "Plumber Aarschot Fast Cheap" works until someone reports it and your listing is suspended. The risk is not worth the gain.
Buying reviews
Twenty five-star reviews in one week is visible to everyone, Google first. Genuine reviews built up slowly weigh more and stay put.
No link to the right page
Point to the page about the service you are found for, not always to your homepage. That makes a difference in enquiries.
Practical questions!
Want a second look at your listing?
Send us your business name and we will tell you what is missing and what you can fix yourself in half an hour.