The profile people see before your website.
When someone searches Google for a konoba, a hairdresser or a taxi nearby, they see the map and business profiles first, and only then websites. That profile is often the first thing anyone learns about you, so it pays to make it complete and accurate.
Where the profile appears.
A Google Business Profile is your business's card on Google Maps and in search. It shows the name, address, opening hours, photographs, reviews, a call button and a link to your site. When someone types “konoba Trogir”, or just “hairdresser” while standing on the waterfront, Google shows them a few of these profiles and a map.
For a small business this often matters more than the website itself. The profile appears first, and on a phone a guest can call you or head your way straight from it, without ever opening your site.
Plenty of businesses have a profile but have never looked after it. Someone opened it once, the photographs are from several seasons ago, the hours are the winter ones and the number no longer works. The guest doesn't know that. They see “closed” and go to someone else.
What to fill in first.
A profile has a lot of fields, but they don't all matter equally. In this order:
- Category. The main category tells Google what you are, and it does the most to decide which searches you appear in. A konoba isn't just any restaurant: if there's a more precise category, such as seafood restaurant, choose that. Add the others as additional categories.
- Opening hours. Accurate, with special hours for holidays. If you only open in season, outside it the profile should show clearly that you're closed, so no guest arrives at a locked door.
- Photographs. The entrance from the street, so a guest recognises you on arrival, then the space, the food, the products or the work. Real photographs, not pictures from the internet.
- Services or menu. A list of what you do, in the words a customer would search for.
- Link to your site. If you have a site, the profile should lead to it. A restaurant can add a link to its menu as well.
- Phone number. A number someone actually answers. On a phone, the call button is the shortest path from a search to a customer.
A business that doesn't receive customers at its address, a taxi for example, can hide the address and set the area it serves. The profile then shows to people in that area, and the address stays private.
Reviews: ask everyone, answer everyone.
Reviews are the part of a profile the owner can't write, which is why people trust them. The best way to get more is simple: ask. Many people are happy to leave a review when asked, and rarely think of it on their own.
Ask every guest, not only the ones you think were happy. Google removes bought and invented reviews when it spots them, and they can do a profile more harm than good. There's more in the article on getting reviews the honest way.
So that a guest doesn't have to hunt for where to leave one, a review card on the table or counter helps. The guest taps it with their phone or scans the code, and the review form for your profile opens straight away.
Answer every review, the bad ones too. Briefly, calmly and to the point. People who read reviews read the replies as well, and judge from them what kind of host you are.
An accurate profile is one that keeps changing.
A profile isn't finished once it has been sorted out. Hours change, a new season arrives, a new menu, a new number. Every change should go into the profile as soon as possible, because guests trust the profile and only see the sign on your door once they arrive.
Google sometimes changes details on a profile by itself, based on suggestions from users. So it's worth opening it whenever something changes and checking that it says what you want.
The profile should sit on your own Google account, not on the account of whoever edits it. You are the owner, and whoever helps you gets access you can take away whenever you like.
What I do.
Setting up and completing a profile costs €100. I set up a new profile or sort out an existing one, fill in the fields and arrange the categories, hours, services, photographs and links so that it is full and accurate. If the profile isn't verified yet, we go through the verification Google asks for.
If you also have a website, I make sure the name, address and number are written the same way on the profile and on the site. When the details match, it's clearer to people and to search engines that this is one and the same business.
I don't promise a place on the map, because Google decides that. I promise a profile where everything is accurate and where a guest finds what they are looking for.
What I can make of this for you.
If your Google profile isn't complete or accurate, I can put it in order, and add a review card that helps you collect reviews.