Your Google Business Profile: a 20-minute checklist
The settings that help people find you, trust you and get in touch, in the order worth doing them.
When someone searches for a business like yours nearby, your Google Business Profile is often the first thing they see, before your website. It's free, and most of what matters takes minutes. Here's a checklist, in the order worth doing it.
1. Get the basics exactly right
- Name: your real business name, as it appears on your signboard. Don't add keywords to it.
- Address or service area: use an address if customers visit you; a service area if you go to them.
- Phone number and website: a number that's answered, and your website's main address.
These details should match everywhere: your website, your invoices, your social profiles.
2. Choose your categories carefully
Your primary category says what you are, as precisely as possible. "Dental clinic" is better than "Health". Add a few secondary categories only if they're genuinely true.
3. Set your hours, including the awkward ones
Add your regular hours, and update them for holidays and closures. Few things lose a customer faster than turning up to a shut door that Google said was open.
4. Write a plain description
In a few sentences, say what you do, who for, and where. Write it for a person, not for search engines. Skip prices that change often.
5. Add real photos
The outside (so people recognise you), the inside, your team and your work. Real, recent photos beat polished stock images every time.
6. Make it easy to get in touch
Check that the call button works and the number is answered. Make sure the link to your website goes to a page with a clear way to enquire, and if customers reach you on WhatsApp, put that number where they'll see it.
7. Ask for reviews, and reply to them
The best time to ask is right after a job well done. Make it easy: send a direct link. Reply to every review, good or bad, briefly and politely. People read the replies as much as the reviews.
Never write reviews yourself or pay for them; it breaks Google's rules and can get your profile removed.
8. Keep it alive
Once a month, check your hours, add a new photo or two, and reply to any reviews or questions. Ten minutes is enough.
The next step
Your profile gets people to your door. Your website and how quickly you answer decide what happens next. If both are in place, a search can become a customer the same day.