How to get your business on Google Maps

When someone searches for a service near them, Google usually shows a map with three businesses on it before any normal results. Getting into that map is free, and for most local businesses it brings in more calls than anything else online.

The listing is called a Google Business Profile. Here's how to set one up.

1. Check you're not already on there

Search your business name on Google Maps. If a listing already exists, perhaps added by a customer, you can claim it rather than make a new one. Two listings for the same business confuses Google and can hold you back.

2. Create the profile

Go to business.google.com and sign in with a Google account. Use one you'll keep, ideally one tied to your business email rather than a personal one you might lose access to.

Enter your business name exactly as it appears on your van, sign or invoices. Don't add extra keywords like "Best Plumber Coalville". It's against Google's rules and can get your listing suspended.

3. Pick the right category

Your main category matters more than almost anything else. Choose the one that best describes what you do, like "Plumber", "Auto repair shop" or "Hair salon". You can add a few extra categories after that.

4. Shop or service area?

If customers come to you, add your address. If you go to them, like most trades do, set it up as a service-area business. You can hide your home address and list the towns you cover instead.

5. Add your phone number and website

Use the number you actually answer. If you have a website, add it. Google links the two together, and each one helps the other show up.

6. Verify it

Google needs to check you're a real business before your listing goes live. The method varies. Often it's a short video showing your premises, van or tools, and sometimes it's a phone call, an email or a postcard with a code. Follow whatever it asks you to do. It can take a few days.

7. Fill in everything

• Opening hours, including bank holidays.
• Your services, with prices if you're happy to show them.
• A short description in plain English.
• Photos of real work, your premises or your van. Profiles with real photos tend to get more clicks and calls.

8. Get reviews, and reply to them

Reviews are one of the biggest things Google looks at when deciding who goes in the map. Once your profile is live you can copy a direct review link. Text it to happy customers straight after a job, while it's fresh.

Reply to every review, good or bad. Keep replies short and polite. Never buy reviews or ask friends and family to leave them. Google removes them, and fake reviews are now illegal in the UK.

9. Keep it alive

Add new photos every so often and post the odd update. A profile that's clearly looked after tends to do better than one that was set up once and forgotten.

Common mistakes

• Keywords stuffed into the business name.
• Different phone numbers on Google, Facebook and your website.
• A PO box or virtual office as the address.
• Wrong opening hours, especially over Christmas.

If you'd rather not do it yourself, setting up your Google Business Profile properly is included with every website I build.