When someone searches for "electrician Kalamunda" or "physio near me", the first thing they usually see isn't a list of websites. It's a map with three businesses underneath, along with star ratings, opening hours and a button to call. That's the local "map pack", and the businesses in it get a large share of the clicks and calls.
What decides who appears there? Mostly, it's your Google Business Profile. It's free, it takes an afternoon to set up properly, and for many local businesses it brings in more enquiries than their website does. Here's how to get it right.
Step 1: Claim or create your profile
Go to google.com/business and sign in with the Google account you use for your business. Search for your business name. If a profile already exists, often created automatically from public information, claim it. If not, create a new one.
Use your real business name exactly as it appears on your signage and paperwork. Adding extra keywords, such as "Smith Plumbing Kalamunda Best Emergency Plumber", is against Google's rules and can get your profile suspended.
Step 2: Get verified
Google needs to confirm you're a real business at a real location before your profile shows fully in search. These days it usually asks for a short video showing your business. That might be your shopfront or signage, your tools or work vehicle, and something that proves you manage the business, such as a business document. Follow the prompts on screen, and allow a few days for it to be reviewed.
Step 3: Choose the right categories
Your primary category is one of the most important settings in the whole profile. Choose the one that best describes your main service, for example "Website designer" rather than "Marketing agency" if web design is what you mostly do. Then add a handful of secondary categories for your other services.
Look at what the businesses at the top of the map pack for your main search use, and make sure you aren't missing an obvious category.
Step 4: Set your address or service area
- If customers come to you (a shop, clinic or café), show your address.
- If you go to your customers (trades, mobile services, many consultants), you can hide your address and set a service area instead. List the suburbs and towns you actually cover, such as Kalamunda, Lesmurdie, Gooseberry Hill, Forrestfield and Midland, rather than "all of Perth".
Step 5: Fill in everything
Profiles that are complete tend to do better, and they're more useful to customers. Make sure you add:
- Phone number and website. Use the same number that's on your website, word for word.
- Opening hours, including special hours for public holidays.
- Services or products, each with a short description.
- A business description of a few clear sentences on what you do, who for and where.
- Attributes such as wheelchair access or online appointments, where they apply.
Step 6: Add real photos
Profiles with photos get more attention. Add your logo, your shopfront or work vehicle, your team and examples of your work. Real photos beat stock images every time. Add a few new ones every month or two.
Step 7: Ask for reviews, and reply to them
Reviews are a major factor in local rankings, and they're what customers read before they call. Make it easy:
- In your profile, find Ask for reviews to get a short link you can share.
- Send it by text or email straight after a job, while the customer is happy.
- Reply to every review, good or bad. A polite, helpful reply to a negative review often impresses future customers more than the review itself worries them.
Don't offer discounts or gifts in exchange for reviews, and never post fake ones. Google can remove reviews or penalise your profile.
Step 8: Keep it up to date
A profile you set up once and forget slowly loses ground. Every month or so:
- Check your hours and contact details are still right.
- Answer any questions people have asked in the profile.
- Add a post about a project, an offer or news.
- Add a few new photos.
Make sure your details match everywhere
Google cross-checks your profile against your website and other sites that list your business. If your phone number, address or business name differs from place to place, Google trusts all of them a little less. That goes for AI assistants like ChatGPT too. Search for your business name and check your website, Facebook, Yellow Pages and any industry directories all show exactly the same details.
Need a hand?
Setting up and tidying your Google Business Profile is part of our SEO and AI visibility service. We also make sure your details match across your website and key directories, and send you a before-and-after report. If you're not sure where your business stands, start with our free website health check. It takes about 30 seconds.