The short version
Check your hours, phone number and website link on Google once a month. Set special hours for bank holidays and Christmas, and whenever you change your details on your website, change them on Google the same day.
Your Google Business Profile is often the first thing a customer sees, before your website and sometimes instead of it. If the hours or phone number are wrong, they find out the hard way.
The details that go wrong most
- Seasonal hours. Winter or summer hours updated on the website but not on Google, or the other way round.
- Bank holidays and Christmas. Google lets you set special hours for particular days, separately from your usual week. If you don't set them, Google may show your normal hours and customers turn up to a locked door.
- An old phone number, or a website link that points to a page that no longer exists.
- Edits you didn't make. Members of the public can suggest changes to a listing, and Google sometimes accepts them. It's worth signing in now and then to check nothing has changed without you knowing.
A monthly check
- Search for your business name on your phone, the way a customer would.
- Check the hours, phone number, address and website link.
- Tap the website link and make sure it opens the right page.
- Sign in to your profile and look for any notifications about suggested edits.
- Set special hours for anything coming up in the next few weeks.
One habit that saves the most trouble
Whenever you change your hours, prices or phone number on your website, change them on Google the same day. When a café we work with moved to winter hours this autumn, we updated both together so customers saw the same hours wherever they looked.
Need a hand with your Google listing? Get in touch and we'll take a look.
Get in touch