Google Business Profile for Cheshire businesses: the 10 things yours needs
Short answer: a Google Business Profile is free, and for most Cheshire businesses it brings in more local enquiries than the website does. Search “web designer near me” and the first thing Google shows is the map with 3 businesses in it, not a list of websites. The same is true for plumbers, accountants, cafes and dentists. This guide covers what the profile needs, how to get verified, and why a profile sometimes does not show at all.
Why it matters more than you think
Take our own trade. “Web designer near me” is searched around 6,600 times a month in the UK and “web design near me” around 2,900. Almost nobody who types that scrolls past the map. The 3 businesses in the map pack get the clicks, the calls and the directions, and the profile is what puts you there.
The 10 things a profile needs
- Exact business name. The name on your van and your invoices, with no added keywords. “Smith Plumbing”, not “Smith Plumbing Chester Emergency Plumber”. Google suspends profiles for that.
- Primary category, chosen carefully. “Plumber”, not “Contractor”. You can add secondary categories, but the primary one decides most of your ranking.
- Address or service area. A shop or office shows the address. A trade that works at customers’ homes hides the address and lists service areas instead. More on this below.
- Phone number and website, identical to what is on your site and every directory. Google checks that they match.
- Opening hours, including holiday hours. A profile that says open when you are closed earns a bad review.
- A description of around 750 characters, written in plain words, naming your services and the towns you cover.
- Services or products listed individually, with a short line about each. These are searchable.
- Photos. The front of the premises or the van, the team, the work. At least 10 to start, and more every month. Real photos taken by you, not stock.
- Reviews, with a reply to every one of them.
- Posts, at least weekly. Even a photo of this week’s job with 2 sentences keeps the profile active.
If any of these is empty, Google fills the gap with a competitor who filled it in.
Service-area businesses
Most trades are service-area businesses: you go to the customer, they do not come to you. Google handles this with a specific setting.
- Set the business as a service-area business and hide the address. Do not show your home address.
- List the towns you actually cover, up to 20. Chester, Ellesmere Port, Northwich, Frodsham, whichever are true.
- Do not list the whole of Cheshire if you will not drive to Crewe on a Tuesday. Google can suspend profiles for overreaching, and customers will phone from places you do not serve.
- The profile still ranks mainly where you are based, so a Chester business shows in Chester first. Ranking in Northwich takes a Northwich page on your website and reviews from Northwich customers.
Verification
Google will not show an unverified profile. The methods it offers depend on the business.
- Postcard to the address, typically 5 to 14 days. The oldest and most common method.
- Video verification, where you record the premises, the van, tools and signage in one continuous clip. Common for trades with no shopfront.
- Phone or email, offered to some categories.
- A live video call with a Google representative, in some cases.
Do not change the name, address or category while verification is pending, because it restarts the process. If video verification is refused, it is usually because the clip did not show enough proof of the business, so film the van signwriting, the invoices and the tools.
Reviews
Reviews decide which of 3 similar businesses gets the click. The practical rules:
- Ask every customer at the moment the job is finished and they are pleased. A short link by text works best.
- Never buy reviews or ask staff and family. Google removes them and can suspend the profile.
- Reply to all of them, including bad ones, calmly and briefly. The reply is read by the next customer, not the reviewer.
- Aim for a steady flow. 2 reviews a month for a year beats 24 in one week, which looks bought.
Weekly posts
Posts drop out of the main view after about a week, which is why we say weekly. A post is a photo, 2 or 3 sentences, and a button. Ideas that take 5 minutes:
- A finished job, with the town named
- A seasonal reminder: boiler service in September, gutters in November
- A new service or a price
- A review you are proud of, with thanks
Regular activity tells Google the business is open and working.
Common reasons a profile does not show
- It is not verified, or verification lapsed after a change of details.
- It is suspended, usually for keywords in the name, a fake address or a PO box.
- The primary category is wrong, so you are competing in the wrong list.
- The searcher is outside your service area, or you are searching from an office 20 miles away and expecting to see yourself.
- There is a duplicate profile, and Google is showing the other one.
- The address is hidden but the business is set as a storefront, or the reverse.
- The profile is complete but has no activity: no posts, no new photos and no reviews for months, so it drifts down behind more active rivals.
Most of these are fixable in an afternoon. Suspensions take an appeal and some patience.
Where the website comes in
The profile gets you into the map. The website is where the town pages live that let you rank in Northwich as well as Chester, and Google reads it to confirm the name, address, phone and services on the profile, so the two must match word for word. We set up both together.