How to improve your Google Business Profile

Your Google Business Profile often appears before your website when someone searches for your name or a nearby service. Treat it like a front window: accurate enough to trust, current enough to be useful and simple enough to act on.

Verify the public facts first

Check the business name, primary category, address or service area, phone number, website and regular hours. Add special hours before public holidays or one-off closures. Do not add keywords, suburbs or taglines to the business name unless they are genuinely part of it.

Choose categories with care

Your primary category should describe the main business, not every product you sell. Add relevant secondary categories only when they represent a real part of the operation. Review them when the business changes, but avoid switching categories simply because a competitor appears above you.

Describe services in customer language

Use the services, products or menu features where they apply. Give each item a plain name and a short explanation. Include useful qualifiers such as beginner-friendly, mobile service, private group or same-day availability only when accurate.

Add photographs that answer questions

• Show the exterior and entrance so first-time visitors recognise the place.
• Include the main experience, products or team at work.
• Show accessibility, seating or parking when it helps people plan.
• Use recent, well-lit originals rather than graphics packed with small text.

Remove images that are outdated or misleading. Keep permission records for photographs featuring customers or work supplied by another creator.

Make reviews part of normal follow-up

Ask for an honest review at a natural moment, such as after a completed appointment or successful event. Send customers directly to the review step and make the request optional. Reply to praise with genuine thanks and respond to criticism with a calm, useful next step.

Use posts for timely information

Profile updates can highlight confirmed events, seasonal changes, new services or important notices. Keep the main facts on your website or event page, then use the post to point people there. Remove expired offers and never manufacture urgency.

Review performance without guessing

Each month, note the actions Google reports, such as website visits, calls or direction requests. Compare trends over several months rather than reacting to a single week. Ask new customers how they found you; platform reports never tell the whole story.

A 20-minute monthly routine

1. Check suggested edits and public contact details.
2. Confirm upcoming special hours.
3. Add one useful recent photograph.
4. Reply to new reviews.
5. Test the website and booking links on a phone.

Keep your wider local presence consistent too. Your Find What's On business profile can connect customers with your business and its upcoming events.