Getting Started

Welcome to Pebble’s guide on how to set up and optimise your Google Business Profile. We’ve delved into the initial set up, adding information about your business and how to make the most of Search, as well as how to know how many people have seen your profile, how many people called your business from your profile and what they searched for that led to your profile appearing in search results.

If you already have your Google Business Profile set up, please skip ahead to Optimising your Profile.

The Fundamentals

Google Business Profile, or GBP for short, is a tool created by Google that has been specifically designed to help local businesses and organisations like yours to display information within the results page. 

Local companies relevant to what people are searching for are shown on a map or have a Google Business Profile appear in Search.

Each of these listings include your business hours, phone number, address, website, and other essential information that people may look for on a business website, such as photographs and customer reviews. It’s basically a comprehensive and interactive phone book listing that people will find when they’re searching for businesses locally. If you own a business, anyone can find your GBP profile by making related search queries on Google containing location data or a location-based keyword. For example, when someone searches for your business name, let’s say “Bright Buttons Nursery Hoxton”, a GBP card will display on desktop devices on the right of the normal search results. If I were to type in ‘Nurseries in Hoxton’, I’ll see a map result full of nurseries that have a Google Business Profile.

Fun Fact:  There was a 900% increase in “near me” searches from 2013 to 2017. (According to Google Consumer Insights)

How Google Business Profile Can Drive Business

We cannot overstate the importance and benefits of GBP for marketing your business to locals. Not only will Google Business Profile show users your location on a map but it will also show up above the main search results. The higher up the page your business lies, the more clicks you will get. With GBP you can also show users photos and reviews before they even click in your business, giving you the chance to show them your business in the best possible light. 

Setting up your Google Business Profile

Before you set up your business in your Google Business Profile, you need to make a business account or log into your existing Google account. Make sure you use your company email address for signing in.

Before you go any further, you should also check that your business exists within the Registrar of Companies. If it does not, your GBP listing could get suspended by Google.

Does your Google Business Profile already exist?

Sometimes a GBP listing may already exist without you having made one. It may have been created by a previous owner or employee. To check, head to the Google homepage and search a combination of the following:

• Your business name and your location

• Your business address

• Your business phone number

• Any other information about your business that is individual to your business

If a listing exists you can just click the link that says “own this business?” and complete the form to request a transfer of ownership from Google. If you don’t find any listings after all your searches, you’ll need to create a new listing. Your next step is to go to the Google Business Profile page and fill in the required information. During the setup process you’ll be prompted to add all the information needed, so don’t worry about forgetting to add data at this stage.

Create Your Profile

The process of setting up your Google Business Profile is simple. All you need to do is go to https://www.google.com/business/ and answer the questions. 

Add your business name  

Add your business type

Next, choose your business type. The options here are very commerce focused, but as an activity provider or nursery, people will be visiting your business, so choose Local Store.  

Add your business category

This is a drop down selection so start typing and you’ll see options come up: 

Add your business address 

Enter your business contact details

These details will show in your profile, so make sure you’re happy with the number you enter here being public. 

For the website address, if parents and guardians can’t book online via your website, you can add you Pebble page here, for example, for Busy Bees in Wimbledon you could enter this URL: https://activities.bookpebble.co.uk/supplier/baby-sensory-wimbledon-raynes-park-new-malden-418a6dbe-ce85-4595-b0ca-e2b3854e89fe 

Confirm your details

Add your business hours

If you toggle on one of the days, it will open up the ability to add your business hours for that day.

Add a description for your business

Add some photos 

We have some advice on how to choose good photos in the Photos section (below).

Run Google Ads?

Google Business Profile will then ask if you’d like to start running paid search ads for your business. If you’re already running ads or not interested, click Skip. If you’re interested in running ads, click Get Started and it will take you to the Google Ads website to set up your first campaign. You won’t lose your progress on setting up your Google Business Profile, as it will open up Google Ads in a different tab in your browser. 

Continue to GBP

You’ll then reach the final screen. Click continue and it’ll show you an example of how your business will appear in Search. 

If you’re not happy with how your profile looks, you can click Edit and change elements of your profile that you’ve added so far.

If you ever want to come back to this view to make further edits, just go here https://www.google.com/business/ and click the Sign In button in the top right, and it’ll take you back to this view so you can make further changes.

Verifying Your Profile

Once you’ve created your business profile, the next step is to verify your listing. There are a few ways in which you can do this and you can choose the one that’s best for you. The choices available include:

• Via email

• Via postcard

• Via phone

• Via Google Search Console

No matter which option you choose, Google will give you step-by-step instructions on how to complete verification. It can take up to two weeks for your account to become verified. Once your GBP account is verified you can go into it and optimise your listing. At this stage it’s a good idea to go through and add features like parking options, payment types, if applicable. 

Optimising your Profile

The more information you put into your listing, the more trustworthy your business appears to users and the more space it will occupy on the search results, meaning potential customers will see more of your business from the outset. As relevance is one of the main criteria that Google determines local search results, it is important to know how well your listing will match the search that the user makes. You should optimise your listing in the following ways:

• Complete and keep updated all the elements of your listing.
  Make sure your contact information, working hours and address in particular are kept up to date. 

• Keep your content up to date so Google has new information to show users. This also shows users that your business is flourishing.

To do this, go to your Google Business Profile by going to https://www.google.com/business/, signing in and then clicking Edit Profile.

This will open up a screen with all of your business information that you’ve added so far. 

As part of the sign up process, Google will have asked you to enter certain pieces of information that appear in this Edit Profile section. However, there’s much more information you can add here, including social profile links, any special hours (which we 100% recommend adding!) and other information about the business such as a founding date or if it’s women owned.

In this next section we’re going to go through how to optimise these sections and more. 

NAP

NAP stands for Name, Address, Phone Number. It’s important to make sure that across the web your business name, address and phone number are all accurate and consistent so that however people are finding you online, they always have up-to-date information. Your Google Business Profile is no different. 

Business Category

Select the most relevant category for your business, there are over 50 so make sure to read through them all to find the one that fits. Google often updates these too so it’s good to check back every now and then. This helps Google understand what your business is about and it improves its visibility in relevant searches.

Location and Service Areas

This is where you add your business address and specify the areas that you reach. It is key for nursery and childcare based businesses to include this, so parents can easily see if they’re child would be accepted if they were to apply for a space. 

Business Hours

List out your opening and closing hours for each day of the week, make sure to update these well in advance of holidays so parents can organise their childcare around your working hours. 

Phone Number

Detail the phone number that you can reliably be reached with. In the case of nurseries or childcare centres, this is particularly important so parents feel safe knowing that they can always reach the facility that is caring for their child. 

Website

Add in the URL for your homepage, make sure it’s easy and accessible to read, e.g. www.charlieschildcare.co.uk 

Attributes

List out attributes that accurately describe your business in a useful way. For example you may want to list out health and safety protocols, Ofsted rating or areas of speciality that your staff have, e.g safeguarding, child development, etc.

Business Description

Write a concise and engaging description of your business and what customers can expect from you. Highlight what makes your business unique and make sure to include relevant keywords. 

Services/Menu

This is mainly for businesses like restaurants or service providers.  If you are a nursery that provides lunches for the children, you could include your weekly menu here for parents to see. If you would rather include services, you can detail what kind of child care you provide, such as breakfast club, after-school clubs or activity types. 

Appointment Booking

If you want customers to be able to book appointments through your Google Business Profile, here is the space to add that function. If you only want to add in appointments for taster sessions or meet-the-team appointments then that is an option too, as generally, parents will want to view a setting before having their child attend there regularly. 

Posts

You can share updates, offers or events through GBP posts. This keeps your listing fresh and your customers informed and engaged.

Photos and Videos

Here you should add in high-quality photos and videos which showcase your business, ideally both inside and outside. This will help customers get a visual sense of what your business is like and what you have to offer.

Customer Reviews

Make sure to monitor these and respond to them, even negative ones as this helps show potential customers that you are active and passionate about your business and helps give a positive impression.

Photos

Your Google Business Profile needs to look good to users to help entice them to click onto your listing. Photos are vital for helping your business look fun and engaging, they add visual interest and help show potential customers the experience they can expect when they visit you. Google tells us that there are a few different types of photos you should think about and include when setting up your listing. These include:

• Cover photos - These are the first impressions that customers have of your business. Make sure this photo is high quality, shows your brand personality and in a good light.

• Profile photos - These can be like your business “avatar”, it will appear when you respond to reviews on your listing. Most businesses choose their logo for this. 

• Additional photos - These expand on the cover photos and give your customers more information. Make sure these are relevant, exciting and show parents what they can expect from your nursery..

A good number of photos to start with is about 20 photographs/ images (absolute minimum is 3). Make sure to include your logo, storefront, interior and images of your business in action. You should make sure to update these with your business - do not leave them stagnant! 

Key Point

Google requires your photos be:

• In either JPEG or PDF formats 

• Between 10KB and 5MB in size

• About 720px square

• Should be well lit and not have significant filters added. 

  
  

Customer Reviews

Reviews on your GBP help users decide on how legitimate and trustworthy your business is, and ultimately whether they want to become your customer. However, they also have another purpose- boosting your SEO ranking. Google reviews are the only ones that count for SEO, so any reviews on sites like Yelp or TripAdvisor, while nice, are not helpful for your optimization. Make sure to remember to remind your customers to review your business on Google, you can even provide them with the specific URL to make it as convenient as possible for them. Obviously, with reviews you have no power over what people say, however you should always make sure you respond to your Google reviews, even negative ones. Responding to your reviews shows potential customers how involved you are in your business and it helps address any questions or concerns they may have.

Keeping your profile up to date

As well as keeping on top of your content, information, photos and review responses, you also need to keep an eye on any edits that are suggested. Edits can be suggested by anyone that views your listing, just by pressing the “suggest an edit” button. Google says that it will email the owner of the listing every time one of these edits is suggested, but sometimes these can fall through the cracks so it’s a good idea to keep an eye on your listing and just make sure nothing has been changed without your prior knowledge.

Google Business Profile Performance

Google Business Profile offers simple and easy ways of checking your analytics. GBP Insights has up to 3 months of data, allowing you to view your growth by week, month and quarter. With these insights you can measure:

• Photo performance

• Phone calls 

• Direction requests

• Actions by the customer

• Keywords used to search for your business

• How customers search for your business.
  
  

Navigating to the Performance section

Go to your Google Business Profile and click Performance:

You’ll be taken to the Insights section, where you can see data such as any messages you’ve received, calls received or visits to the website. You’re also able to change the date range you’re looking at, though, as we noted above, you can only get up to 3 months worth of data. 

How customers search for your business

Knowing how your customers found your GBP listing can inform your marketing decisions in the future. Within this section there are three different search categories, direct, discovery and branded. 

Within ‘Direct’ you can see the impressions from users who know your business name and are searching for you directly. ‘Discovery’ shows you the users who found you organically by searching for terms such as toddler clubs near me or kids football in Lambeth. The users that fall into the ‘Branded’ category are those that search for brands that your business is similar to, this includes when your listing is viewed by someone searching for a business like yours. 

Using Customer Reviews and Queries to your benefit

You can also use the reviews and queries you receive from parents or guardians to improve your service, understand what parents or guardians value from your business or see what additional information it would be beneficial to provide on your website or social media. 

Track Engagement Trends

You can look for patterns in when and how people are finding your business in Search and use this information to time promotions, new posts or highlight new content on your website.