Is Your Google Business Profile Working Against You?

Here's something most business owners never see: when someone nearby searches for what you do, Google shows them a little box before it shows them anyone's website. Your hours. Your photos. Your star rating. A button to call or get directions. That box is your Google Business Profile, and for a lot of local businesses it's quietly the hardest-working part of their whole online presence — or the most neglected.

The problem

Nine times out of ten, when I look at a local profile, I find at least one of these:

• It's unverified (or got suspended) — so it barely shows up.
• The hours, phone number, or address are wrong or outdated — and nothing kills trust faster than a customer showing up to a locked door.
• There are no photos, or two blurry ones from 2019.
• The categories are wrong, so Google doesn't know what to rank you for.
• There's no plan for reviews, so competitors with 80 reviews sit above you with 6.

Every one of those is costing you calls you'll never even know you missed.

What I'd do about it

As your webmaster, this is exactly the kind of thing I take off your plate. I'd claim and verify the profile properly, fix every detail so it's accurate, load it with real photos, dial in the categories so Google ranks you for the right searches, and set up a simple system that asks happy customers for reviews automatically. Then I keep it maintained — posts, updates, new photos — so it stays strong instead of drifting back to neglected.

You don't have to learn Google's clunky dashboard or remember to update it. That's my job.

If your profile's a mess, unverified, or just invisible, let me handle it.

Take a look at my plans and pricing, or just reach out and tell me what's going on. You can also call or text me 24/7 at (580) 308-9246 — you'll talk to me, not a call center.

— Adam Meeks, M.E.A.N. Advertising