How to get your Jersey business on Google Maps

The 8 steps in the video

The video opens with someone in Jersey searching for “plumber near me”. The businesses on the map get a big share of the calls, and these steps put yours there.

1. 1

   Step 1: Go to google.com/business

   0:18

   Sign in with an account your business controls, not one your web designer owns.

   That address takes you to Google Business Profile. Adding your business costs nothing, and Google says it will never ask you to pay to keep your profile (opens in a new tab), so treat any call asking for money to “verify” or “maintain” your listing as a scam.

   Use a Google account tied to an email address the business owns. If someone sets the profile up for you, make sure you are the primary owner and give them manager access.

2. 2

   Step 2: Use your real business name

   0:28

   No extra keywords. Google can suspend listings that add them.

   Write the name as it appears on your sign, van and invoices. Google’s guidelines (opens in a new tab) ask for the name you use in the real world and warn that adding extra words can get a profile suspended. “Smith Plumbing” is fine. “Smith Plumbing St Helier Emergency Plumber 24/7” isn’t.

3. 3

   Step 3: Choose your main category

   0:37

   Be specific: “Plumber”, not “Contractor”.

   Google uses your categories to match you to searches, so pick the closest match for the main one. Google’s own example is “Nail salon” rather than “Salon”. You can add up to nine more for other work you do, though Google asks for as few as you need.

4. 4

   Step 4: Address or service area

   0:46

   Do customers come to you? Never use a fake address or a mailbox.

   If customers visit you at a shop, salon or office, show your address. If you go to them, as most trades do, hide the address and list the areas you cover instead. Google allows up to 20 service areas (opens in a new tab), within about two hours’ drive of your base, which covers all of Jersey with room to spare.

   A PO box, a mailbox at someone else’s address or a virtual office doesn’t qualify. Our guide to getting found on Google without a shopfront goes through the service-area set-up in more detail.

5. 5

   Step 5: Add your phone number and website

   1:00

   Use exactly the same details everywhere you’re listed online.

   Give a number you answer yourself; Google prefers a local number to a call centre line. Link your own website if you have one. If you don’t, the profile still works, and a website can come next.

   Then check your name, number and address match on your website and in every directory you’re in. Our guide to where to list your Jersey business online covers the main ones.

6. 6

   Step 6: Verify it’s yours

   1:09

   Google will ask for proof, often a short video. Follow its steps.

   Google picks the method, and you can’t change it. The options include a phone call or text, email, a live video call, a recorded video and a postcard. If you’re offered video, Google recommends taking it (opens in a new tab): show where you are, your sign or branded equipment, and something only the business can show, like unlocking the door or opening the till.

   Google says its checks can take up to five working days. A postcard usually arrives within 14 days, and its code runs out after 30.

7. 7

   Step 7: Fill in everything

   1:19

   Opening hours, photos of real jobs, the services you offer.

   Add your hours, your services, photos of real work and a description of up to 750 characters, with no links or offers in it. Google says complete, accurate profiles are easier to match to the right searches, and they give customers more reason to pick you.

   Set special hours for Jersey’s bank holidays, which don’t all match the UK’s. Liberation Day on 9 May is the obvious one, and gov.je lists every date (opens in a new tab).

8. 8

   Step 8: Ask for reviews

   1:29

   Reply to every one. Never pay or offer a discount for a review.

   Ask happy customers straight after the job, with a direct link. Our video on getting more Google reviews shows where to find your link and what Google doesn’t allow.

Common questions

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