When someone searches for "hairdresser near me" or for your name, Google shows a box with a map, opening hours, photos, reviews and buttons to call or get directions. That box is your Google Business Profile. It is free, and for many local businesses it is the first thing a customer sees.
It also goes stale easily. Hours change, a phone number is replaced, nobody answers the reviews. This checklist helps you bring it up to date in one sitting and keep it that way.
1. Claim and verify the profile
Search for your business on Google or Google Maps. If a profile exists and you do not control it, claim it. If none exists, create one. Google will ask you to verify that you are the owner, usually by a code or a call. Use a company e-mail address rather than a private one, and make sure two people can access the profile, so that nothing is lost when someone leaves.
2. Name, address and phone must be exact
- Use your real business name, the one on your sign and your invoices. Do not add keywords or the town to the name field. It goes against Google's rules and can get the profile suspended.
- Write the address in the same way every time. In Luxembourg, include the postcode with the L- prefix, for example L-1420.
- Use a phone number that someone answers during opening hours.
3. Choose the right category
The main category tells Google what you are. Pick the most precise one: "Italian restaurant" is better than "Restaurant", and "Physiotherapist" is better than "Health". Add a few secondary categories for things you really do, but not a long list. A wrong category shows your business to the wrong people.
4. Hours, including public holidays
Customers check hours before they travel, and a closed door is a bad first impression.
- Set your regular hours for each day, including lunch breaks if you close.
- Add special hours for public holidays. Luxembourg has several, such as Easter Monday, 1 May, Ascension, Whit Monday, 23 June (National Day), 15 August, 1 November and the Christmas days.
- Add holiday closures and summer breaks in advance.
- Make sure your website and social media show the same hours.
5. Photos that show the real place
Add real photos and keep adding them:
- the outside and the entrance, so people recognise the building;
- the inside, the counter or the reception;
- your team at work;
- products, dishes or results;
- parking or the nearest tram or bus stop, if it is hard to find you.
Avoid stock images and heavily filtered pictures. Customers compare the photos with what they find when they arrive. A short photo or video shoot gives you a stock of consistent images for your profile, website and social media. See content production.
6. Products and services
Add what you sell, one entry per service or product, with a short plain description and a price or "from" price where you can. This helps Google match your profile to searches such as "balayage" or "business lunch". It also saves you phone calls from people who only want to know what you offer.
7. Booking link and website link
Add your website, and if you take bookings, add the booking link as well. Check both on a phone. If someone has to search for the booking page, many will not.
You can add a tag to the end of each link so that your website statistics show visits from Google. If you want to see all sources in one place, look at the numbers service.
8. Reviews: ask after each visit, answer every one
Reviews are the part of your profile you control the least, and the part you can influence the most.
- Ask after each visit. A short message or a card with a QR code and a link to your review page works. Ask when the customer is happy, for example right after the service.
- Never write your own reviews or pay for them. Do not offer rewards in exchange for a review. Google does not allow it.
- Answer every review, positive or negative, in the language of the reviewer. Thank people by name if they use one, and mention something specific.
- Handle negative reviews calmly. Stay factual, apologise if there is something to apologise for, and offer to continue by phone or e-mail. Future customers read your answer more than the complaint.
A review request after each visit can be automated, which is part of messages and bookings.
9. Posts and updates
Use the post feature for offers, events, new products or a new menu. A few short posts a month are enough. They show visitors that the business is active. Add a photo and a button, such as "Book" or "Call".
10. Questions and answers
Depending on your region and Google's current setup, your profile may show questions from customers. Where they appear, answer them quickly and correctly, and add the most common questions yourself with clear answers: parking, accessibility, payment methods, languages spoken. Google changes these features from time to time, so check what your profile offers today.
11. Be consistent everywhere
Search for your business name and phone number. You may find an old address in a directory, a different phone number on social media, an outdated page on a business listing site. Make the name, address and phone number match everywhere: website footer, Instagram, Facebook, directories and your Google profile.
12. Describe yourself in the languages customers use
The profile has a description field with a limited number of characters, so keep it short. State what you do, where, and what makes you different. Because customers in Luxembourg search in English, French, German and Luxembourgish, write the main text in the language of most of your customers and add a short line in a second language. Mention the languages you speak at the counter. Use the same words as on your website.
A monthly routine
- Check the hours for coming holidays.
- Add three new photos.
- Reply to all new reviews.
- Publish one post.
- Look at how many calls, direction requests and website clicks you received.
Fifteen minutes a month is usually enough once the profile is complete.
To see if your website and profile tell the same story, try the free check: run the free website check.