Getting your Google Business Profile in order: a checklist for a local business

When someone searches for “putkimies Ylivieska” (plumber Ylivieska), the first thing on the screen is often a map with a few businesses below it. That list comes from Google Business Profile listings. It is free, and for many local businesses it can bring in more calls than the actual website. The profile still does not replace a website, and it is not equally important for everyone. For an online shop or a nationwide operator the emphasis is different.

Why do this first

In local search, map results typically appear before ordinary results. The profile also has a call button and directions, which work without the visitor ever visiting your website. Filling in the profile is free and takes about an hour as a one-off, while fixing the content of a website is a bigger job.

A website is still not useless. The profile gives the basic details, the website tells everything else: what the work includes, how it proceeds, what it costs and what kind of work you do. Keep the details the same in both. A conflicting phone number or opening time confuses the customer just as it would confuse you.

Checklist

• Claim the profile. If your business already has a listing on the map, it has often been created without you. Verify ownership and you can edit it.
• Business name is written in the form in which the business actually appears: on the sign, on invoices and on the website. No keywords, no town, no slogan, unless it is part of the real name.
• Primary category is chosen according to what the business is, not what else it also does. It strongly steers which searches the profile is considered for at all.
• Additional categories only for things that are genuinely services of their own. The list is not a keyword field, and unnecessary categories muddy the picture of what you do.
• Services as separate rows, with plain-language names. They show in the profile and tell the customer whether you do exactly the work they are looking for.
• Service area is set if you go to the customer. Mark the area where you actually drive, not the whole region just in case.
• Address only when customers can actually visit during opening hours. If you work from home and do not receive customers, leave the address out and use only the service area.
• Phone number is one that is actually answered, and the same as on the website. No call forwarding service and no number that goes to another branch.
• Website points to the right page, not to the front page if a better match exists. Check that the link does not point to an old address.
• Opening hours up to date, including exceptions: public holidays, summer holidays, stocktaking days. Wrong opening hours are the worst single mistake, because the customer turns up for nothing.
• Photos: around ten of your own pictures of job sites, equipment, premises and yourself. Genuine photos taken with a phone say more than stock photos.
• Business description is written for the customer: what you do, for whom and in which area. No keyword list, no offer, no links.

None of these fields alone decides in what order businesses appear on the map. The benefit comes from the whole: the customer gets the right information, the profile is considered for the right searches, getting in touch is easy and the risk of wrong details gets smaller.

Reviews affect whom the customer chooses

Two businesses side by side on the map: one has four reviews, the other forty. The choice is often made before either has been clicked.

You get reviews by asking. The best moment is right when the job is done and the customer is happy, not a week later by email. Ask face to face and send a direct link by text message. Ask for an honest review, not a good review.

Do not buy reviews, do not offer a discount or any other benefit in return, and do not write or commission reviews for yourself. It is against Google's rules, reviews can be removed, and the lost trust costs more than a missing star.

Reply to every review, including bad ones. A professional reply to critical feedback often convinces the reader better than a plain row of five stars. The review is the customer's turn to speak, the reply is yours.

The three most common mistakes

1. The profile is filled in once and never looked at again. Opening hours, services, phone number and photos go out of date, and outdated information is worse for the customer than missing information.
2. Keywords are written into the business name, for example “Company Ltd — cheap renovations Ylivieska”. The name should contain only the real name; anything else is against the rules and can lead to the profile being suspended.
3. The phone number or address is different from the website. The conflict confuses the customer and makes the business look neglected.

This takes about an hour as a one-off, and after that a quarter of an hour now and then. It is probably one of the most productive hours you can spend on local visibility.