Fix your Google listing in twenty minutes.
Somebody a mile from you is looking for what you sell, on their phone, right now. What they find is your Google listing, and it is probably wrong. Here are the five things to fix tonight. It costs nothing and you do not need us.
The video is being filmed. The steps above are the whole lesson.
Why this one first
It is the cheapest thing that makes a local phone ring. Most owners have not touched their listing since somebody set it up, or since Google set it up for them. Twenty minutes here beats a month of posting.
- Claim it
Search your own business name. If you see “Own this business?” then the listing exists but nobody has claimed it. Click it and follow the steps. Google will post you a card with a code, which takes about five days. Nothing else on this list can be fixed until you own the listing.
- Fix the hours, holidays included
Set the real hours. Then open Special hours and put in anything unusual this month: a holiday, a half day, the week you close. A wrong closing time is a person standing at a locked door, and they do not come back.
- Ten real photos from this year
The room, the work, the people, and the front of the building from across the street. Taken on your phone is fine. No stock photos. Google shows listings with recent photos more often, and a person decides in about two seconds whether your place looks open and cared for.
- Reply to every review from the last month
Even one line. Thank the good ones by name. For a hard one, do not argue: say you are sorry, give your number, and stop there. Google counts a listing that answers, and so does the next person reading it.
- Put your booking link in the button
Not your home page. The page where somebody can actually pick a time or ask for a price. If you have no such page, use your phone number and set the button to Call.
What to expect
Nothing happens in an hour. Give it two weeks and watch the calls. If you had no photos and no hours, this is usually the difference between being found and being skipped.
The next lesson
The three words that lose you the call, and what a nine second answer should say instead.
This lesson is free and always will be. RamGrows Studio grows local businesses in New York and New Jersey. If you would rather not do any of this yourself, that is what we are for.