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Your Google listing brings customers before your site does

By Dominique “IamFr3qu3ncy” Taylor ·

When someone nearby searches for what you do, the first thing they usually see is not your website. It is your Google listing, with your name, your stars, your hours and a button to call, so fix the listing first and the website second.

The listing is free, it is yours, and most of what goes wrong with it can be fixed from your phone today. Here is how to check it in about ten minutes.

Why the listing comes first

Think about how your own customers find you. They type "barber near me" or "AC repair Mesa" into their phone, and Google shows a map with a short list of businesses. Plenty of people call or tap for directions right from that list and never open a website at all.

An illustrated phone search: a map with pins, then a business listing showing its name, stars, hours and three buttons, Call, Directions and Website barber near me Your Shop ★★★★★ Barber shop Open Closes 6 PM Call Directions Site They decide here
An illustration, not a real listing. The name, the stars, the hours and the call button are what people check before deciding to call.

So if your hours are wrong there, a customer drives to a locked door. If your phone number is old, the call goes nowhere. Your website can be beautiful and it will not matter, because they never got that far.

Try it: a listing that says open until 9 PM sends a customer at 7:30 in the evening to a shop door that is locked; with the right hours, the listing says closed and they come back in the morning TRY IT: BREAK THE LISTING It is 7:30 in the evening. You closed at 6. Your Shop ★★★★★ Open until 9 PM WRONG HOURS Closed opens 9 AM RIGHT HOURS Call Directions 7:30 PM CLOSED ? The listing said open. They drove over to a locked door, at night, and your website never got a say. The listing said closed. They stay home and plan on the morning. Same customer, still yours. An illustration, not a real listing.
Try it: break the listing and see where your customer ends up. An illustration, not a real listing.

Google puts it plainly in its own help pages: "Businesses with complete and accurate info are more likely to show up in local search results."

How Google decides who shows up

Google names three things. Relevance is how well your listing matches what someone searched for. Distance is how far you are from the person searching. Prominence is how well known you are, and Google says that includes how many websites link to you and how many reviews you have.

Three cards: relevance, which you can change; distance, which you cannot; prominence, which you can change HOW GOOGLE PICKS Relevance Does your listing match the search? You can change this Distance How far you are from the searcher You cannot Prominence Reviews, links, how well known You can change this
The three things Google's help page names, and which ones are in your hands.

You cannot change distance. You can change the other two, and the listing is where you start.

One more line from Google matters the moment anyone tries to sell you something:

There's no way to request or pay for a better local ranking on Google.

Google Business Profile Help

If someone promises to put you at the top of the map, you have learned all you need to know about them.

The ten-minute check

Search your business name on your phone, the way a customer would. Then go down this list.

  1. Is the name your real name? Google's rule is that your name "should reflect your business's real-world name", the one on your sign, your truck and your cards. Extra words stuffed in to catch searches break Google's rules.
  2. Are your hours right, holidays included? Google asks for your "regular customer-facing hours of operation", and you can set special hours for holidays. Wrong hours are the fastest way to lose a customer who was ready to pay.
  3. Does the phone number ring you? Google asks for "a local phone number instead of a central call center helpline number whenever possible." Call it yourself from another phone.
  4. Does the website button work? If you do not have a site yet, that is fine. If you do, tap the button on your phone and make sure the right page opens.
  5. Is the category right? Pick the one that describes your main business. Google says to "use as few categories as possible", so one good one beats five loose ones.
  6. Do your photos look like you today? Your shop front, your work, your team. Old photos make a customer wonder whether you are still open.
  7. Have you answered your reviews? Google says "When you reply to customer reviews, it shows that you value their feedback." Thank the good ones. Answer the bad ones calmly, once, without arguing, because the next customer is reading your reply more than the complaint.
  8. Is your description written? Google allows up to 750 characters. Say what you do, where you do it and who you do it for, in plain words. Google's rules say no links in it, and to keep it about the business rather than promotions or prices.

If you work from home or drive to customers

Plumbers, cleaners, mobile detailers, pool techs: Google calls you a service-area business, and its rule is direct: "If you're a service-area business, you should hide your business address from customers." Set the areas you serve instead, and keep your home address to yourself.

If you cannot sign in

A lot of owners find that their listing was set up years ago by someone else: an old employee, a relative, a past web person. If you cannot get in, find out who set it up and ask them to add you as an owner. Google lets an owner add other people to a listing by their email address, so it takes them a minute.

What to do today

Pick the one thing on the list that is wrong and fix it before your next customer. Wrong hours or a dead phone number come first, because those cost you money this week. Photos and the description can wait for a slow afternoon.

Where we come in

Every website we build includes fixing the owner's Google listing, because a new site does not help much if the listing in front of it is wrong. If you would like a second pair of eyes, our free website check looks at what you have and tells you what we see, in plain words. It works even if you do not have a website yet.

Either way, the listing is yours. Ten minutes on it today can bring you more calls than a new website next month.