A Google Business Profile checklist for local businesses in Norfolk and Suffolk

A customer in Diss searches for a service you offer. Someone in Norwich asks for a recommendation. A visitor in Bury St Edmunds checks whether you are open before setting off. In each case, your Google Business Profile can help them decide whether to contact you.

It is not a shortcut to the top of Google, and it cannot make you appear to someone far outside your area. But a complete, accurate profile gives Google and potential customers clearer information about what you do and where you work. Here is a straightforward checklist for getting the basics right.

1. Check that the profile represents the real business

Use the name customers actually know: the same name you use on your website, invoices, signs and other business materials. Do not add extra town names, services or promotional wording to the business name just to attract searches. Google says unnecessary details in a profile name can lead to problems, including suspension.

Choose the smallest set of categories that accurately describes your core work. Add your address or service area, opening hours and contact details in their proper fields rather than trying to squeeze them into the name or description.

If a profile already exists, claim and update it instead of creating another one. Google generally allows one profile for each business; duplicate profiles can confuse customers and cause information to display incorrectly.

Google’s business representation guidelines explain what to include and how the profile should represent your business.

2. Set your address and service area honestly

Think about where customers receive your service.

• If customers visit a staffed premises during your stated hours, show the address they can actually visit.
• If you travel to customers and do not serve them at your business address, remove or hide that address and list the areas you genuinely cover.
• If you do both, you may be a hybrid business: show the customer-facing premises and add the service area.

For a service-area business, Google allows up to 20 areas selected by city, postcode or another defined area. Choose places you can realistically reach, such as Diss, Thetford, Norwich, Ipswich or Bury St Edmunds where they match your normal work. Do not list every town in East Anglia if you would not take a job there.

Google’s guidance says the overall service area should generally stay within about two hours’ driving time from the business base. It also says not to use a radius setting: specify real places instead. Read Google’s service-area instructions.

3. Make it easy to understand what you do

Write a short, plain-English description for a potential customer. Explain your main service, who you help, where you work and what someone should do next. For example:

We provide domestic and commercial oven cleaning across Diss and nearby Norfolk and Suffolk towns. Contact us to ask about availability or request a quote.

Use your actual services and coverage. Keep the wording useful rather than repeating “Norfolk”, “Suffolk” and town names over and over. Add the relevant services in the profile’s service fields, and choose a category that describes the work you mainly do.

Keep your website, phone number, hours and profile details current. If you close for a bank holiday, move premises or change your service coverage, update the places customers are likely to check.

4. Add real photos that answer customer questions

Choose clear, recent images that help someone picture the service: your team, work in progress, finished results, products, vehicle or customer-facing premises. Use your own images and make sure you have permission to share photos that include other people.

A few useful photos are better than a large collection of unrelated ones. Replace anything that no longer reflects the business, and avoid graphics full of small text that are hard to read on a phone.

5. Ask for honest reviews and reply helpfully

After a job is complete, you can ask the customer to share an honest review. Make the request straightforward and give them the review link if that helps. Do not offer money, discounts or gifts in exchange for reviews, and do not ask only satisfied customers to post while steering unhappy customers elsewhere. Google prohibits incentivised or misleading review activity.

Reply in a calm, professional way. Thank customers for useful feedback, and take detailed service problems into a private conversation without exposing their personal information. A reply is also a chance to show future customers that a real person pays attention.

Google’s Maps content policy sets out what is allowed.

6. Connect the profile to a useful page on your website

Do not send every visitor to a generic homepage if you already have a page that answers their question. A customer searching for oven cleaning, for example, should land on a page that explains the service, the areas covered, how to request a quote and what happens next.

That page should work well on a mobile phone, load reliably and make the next step clear. Check the phone number, enquiry form and service-area wording yourself. If you use website analytics, a tagged link can help you distinguish visits from your Business Profile; only add tracking parameters if your analytics setup is ready to record them.

A simple monthly check

Once a month, take five minutes to confirm that your hours, phone number, website link, services and service areas are still right. Add a new photo when you have one that tells a useful story, and respond to recent reviews. These small maintenance jobs help keep your information trustworthy; they do not guarantee a particular ranking.

Google says local results are mainly shaped by relevance, distance and prominence. Accurate profile details can help with relevance, while distance depends on the searcher’s location. Google also says there is no way to request or pay for a better local ranking. See Google’s explanation of local results.

For a local business, the goal is simple: make it easy for the right nearby customer to understand what you offer, where you work and how to get in touch.