How to get your business on Google, step by step, for free

Two ways people find you on Google

When someone searches for a business like yours, Google often shows two kinds of results. Near the top there's usually a map with a few local businesses listed under it. Those come from Google Business Profiles. Below that are the ordinary search results: websites, including yours, if Google has found it and thinks it answers the search.

You want to be in both, and neither costs money. Paid adverts are a separate thing: Google Ads are marked as sponsored, and paying for them doesn't move you up the normal results. Nobody can buy you the top unpaid spot, so be wary of anyone who promises it.

Step 1: Create your free Google Business Profile

Go to google.com/business and sign in with a Google account, ideally one the business controls rather than a staff member's personal email. Search for your business first. If Google already has a listing for you, perhaps added by a customer, claim that one instead of creating a duplicate.

Fill in each field carefully, because these details decide when Google shows you. If you work from home and go to your customers, set it up as a service-area business: list the areas you cover and hide your street address. That's how a home-based business gets on Google Maps without publishing where it lives.

• Business name: your real name, exactly as customers see it on signage, invoices and WhatsApp
• Category: the one that most closely describes what you do, plus a few secondary ones if they fit
• Location or service area: your address if customers visit you, or the areas you serve if you go to them
• Phone number and website: a number you actually answer, and your website if you have one
• Hours: your real hours, updated for public holidays

Step 2: Verify your profile and fill it in properly

Google needs proof that your business is real before your profile shows publicly. It chooses which verification methods to offer you, and these change over time. Often it's a short video showing your signage, tools, stock or workspace, plus something that proves you manage the business. Sometimes it's a code by phone, text or email.

Verification can take a while, and Google sometimes asks for more proof. Once you're verified, finish the profile: add real photos, list your services and write a plain description of what you do and where. Don't stuff extra words into your business name, like turning "Thandi's Cakes" into "Thandi's Cakes Durban Birthday Wedding Cakes". It breaks Google's guidelines and can get a profile suspended.

Step 3: Give Google a website it can read

You can get on Google without a website, and a profile is worth having either way. But a profile on its own gives people very little to decide with, and only a website appears in the ordinary search results. When someone taps through from Maps, the page should answer their questions and make it easy to reach you. Not sure you need one yet? Do I need a website? gives an honest answer.

Google mostly looks at the mobile version of a site, so the phone experience counts most. The rest is basic housekeeping, and it's the groundwork I build into every site: SEO-friendly websites explains it in more detail. Whoever builds yours, check it against this list:

• A unique title for every page, using the words customers search, like your service and area
• A description for every page that sums it up in a sentence or two
• One main heading per page, with clear headings underneath
• Real text, not words inside images, so Google can actually read your services
• Quick loading on mobile data, because people give up on slow pages
• Your business name, number and area, written out on the page

Step 4: Tell Google your website exists, with Search Console

Google Search Console is a free tool that shows how your website is doing in Google search. Add your site and prove you own it, usually with a small record added to your domain settings or a file or tag on the site. You can then see which pages Google has indexed, which it has skipped, and why.

Submit your sitemap, a file listing your pages, to help Google find them. For a new or updated page, the URL Inspection tool lets you request indexing. Later, the Performance report shows the actual searches people used to find you, which tells you what customers really type. For a quick check anytime, search site:yourdomain.co.za and see what comes up.

Step 5: Keep your name, number and area the same everywhere

Google builds its picture of your business from information across the web. If your profile says "Thandi's Cakes", your Facebook page says "Thandi's Bakery" and your website still lists an old number, that's confusing for Google and for customers. Pick one version of your name, phone number and area, and use it everywhere, right down to the spelling.

When something changes, like a new number or a move, update every listing on the same day. Old details left lying around quietly make a business look unreliable. Keep a short list of everywhere you're listed, so the next update takes minutes instead of an afternoon of searching. Places to check:

• Your Google Business Profile and your website
• Facebook, Instagram and your WhatsApp Business profile
• Online directories, and any old listings you've forgotten about
• Apple Maps and Bing Places, which also offer free business listings

Step 6: Ask for honest reviews

Google says local results depend mainly on relevance, distance and prominence, and reviews feed into prominence. They also help people decide. The simplest way to get more is to ask. After a job goes well, send the customer your review link, which you'll find in your profile's option to ask for reviews, with a short thank-you.

Reply to reviews, good and bad, calmly and in your own words. A thoughtful reply to a complaint can reassure the next customer as much as a glowing review. Never buy reviews, write your own or offer discounts in exchange for them. Google's policies forbid it, and fake reviews can be removed or put your profile at risk.

Why your business isn't showing on Google yet

If you've done the steps and still can't find yourself, it's usually one of the reasons below. Most need patience, not money. Google doesn't charge for a Business Profile, so be wary of calls asking you to pay for a listing or promising you the top spot.

If your profile is right but your website is missing or isn't pulling its weight, that's the part I can help with. I build small business websites with the groundwork Google reads, and they're yours to keep. Everything else in this guide stays free advice, and it's yours to do.

• It's still being verified or reviewed. Check your profile's status
• It's new. Google has to discover a website before it can show it
• You're searching from far away. Map results depend on distance, so search from your customers' area
• Your details don't match. Different names or numbers in different places confuse Google
• The search is competitive. Your own business name usually shows up well before a busy search like a service plus a city