Why your Google Business Profile matters more than your homepage
For most local customers, the first thing they see isn’t your website. It’s the box on Google Maps with your hours, photos and reviews.
Search for “coffee near me” or “plumber Bentonville” and look at what comes up first. It’s a map with three businesses on it, each with a star rating, a few photos and a Call button. Most people decide right there. Many never click through to a website at all.
What people look at
- Your hours, especially on weekends and holidays
- Your star rating and how recent the reviews are
- Photos that show what the place actually looks like
- Whether you reply to reviews, good and bad
If any of that is wrong or stale, you lose the call to the business listed right below you. A profile that says you’re open when you’re closed does more damage than having no website.
Five things to do this week
- Check your hours, including holiday hours for the next two months.
- Add ten recent photos: the outside, the inside, your team and your work.
- Pick the right primary category. “Real estate agent” and “Real estate agency” are not the same thing to Google.
- Reply to your last five reviews, even the short ones.
- Make sure the website link goes to a page that matches what people searched for.
Where your website fits in
Your profile gets the first look. Your website closes the deal. When someone does click through, they want the details the profile can’t hold: prices, service areas, what to expect. The two should say the same thing, in the same words.