For a local search, your Google Business Profile is often the first thing people see, before your website. A complete profile, with real photos, recent reviews and a link to your website, brings in calls; a neglected one sends them to the neighbour.
Simon FortinFounder of JustSimpleWeb
Tuesday, 7 p.m. A pipe has just burst under someone’s sink, not far from you.
They type “plumber” into Google. They will never visit your website.
The website comes first
When people think about being found on Google, they think about their website. That’s natural: it’s where the time, the money and the writing went.
The Google Business Profile was set up years ago. An address, a phone number, a blurry photo of the storefront. Nobody has touched it since.
The map comes before everything else
Go back to the person under the sink. Before any website, Google shows them a map and three businesses, with their stars, their hours and a “Call” button.
They look at the three in a few seconds:
- the first looks closed according to its listed hours, even though it isn’t;
- the second has twelve reviews, the latest four years old;
- the third has photos of real jobs, reviews from last week, and an owner who answers every one.
They call the third. Without seeing a single website.
Your storefront on the street
Your Google Business Profile is your storefront on the street. Your website is the inside of the store.
Nobody walks into a store whose window is empty, with a forgotten “Closed” sign hanging in the door. Even if the inside is beautiful.
The window doesn’t replace the store. It makes people want to come in. Those who still hesitate then click through to your website to be convinced. The two work together.
A storefront that works
What a good profile contains, and it costs nothing but time:
- the right main category: the one a customer would type, not a vague title;
- accurate hours, including holidays;
- real photos: your work, your team, your premises, added regularly;
- recent reviews, which you ask every satisfied customer for;
- a reply to every review, the good ones and the less good;
- the link to your website, for those who want to know more.
It’s not complicated. It’s just easy to forget.
Both together
Your profile brings the call. Your website convinces those who aren’t ready to call yet. If one of the two is neglected, the other works for nothing.
Do your profile and your website say the same thing? We can look at them together.