How to Set Up Your Google Business Profile in Baton Rouge

Here's how to do it, step by step, and the mistakes we see most often on Baton Rouge profiles.

Step 1 of 9

Search for your business name on Google Maps. If a listing already exists (Google sometimes creates one from public information, or a customer adds it), you'll claim it. If nothing shows up, you'll create a new one. Google walks through both in its guide to adding or claiming your Business Profile (opens in new tab).

Step 2 of 9

Google won't show most of your edits publicly until the business is verified. Depending on your business, Google may offer verification by phone, text, email, a video recording, or a postcard mailed to your address. You don't get to pick from every option; Google shows you the ones available for your business. The details are in Google's page on verifying your business (opens in new tab).

If you're asked to record a video, plan to show your signage or storefront, your location, and proof that you manage the business, such as tools of the trade or a business document. Do it in one take, in daylight if you can.

Step 3 of 9

Google's guidelines for representing your business (opens in new tab) are specific: use your real-world business name, the same one on your sign, your cards, and your paperwork. Don't add keywords or a city to the name. "Smith Plumbing" is right. "Smith Plumbing Best Baton Rouge Plumber 24/7" breaks the rules and can get the profile suspended.

If customers come to you, list your street address. If you go to customers (lawn care, mobile detailing, contractors) and don't serve people at your address, you're a service-area business. Hide the address and list the areas you serve instead.

Then make sure the name, address, and phone number on your profile match your website, your Facebook page, Yelp, and any other directory you're on. This is often called NAP consistency (name, address, phone). When those match everywhere, Google and your customers aren't left guessing which phone number is the real one.

Step 4 of 9

Your primary category tells Google what kind of business you are, and it matters for which searches you show up in. Pick the most specific one that describes your core business. A "Wedding bakery" or "Cake shop" says more than just "Bakery" if that's your main work. Then you can add a few additional categories for other things you genuinely do. Don't add categories for services you don't offer.

Step 5 of 9

Google's own tips to improve your local ranking (opens in new tab) list accurate hours as one of the basics, including special hours for holidays. Few things lose a customer faster than driving across town because Google said you were open. Set special hours ahead of Thanksgiving, Christmas, Mardi Gras, and game days if you close early.

• Thanksgiving
• Christmas
• Mardi Gras
• Game days

4

Bayou Bean Coffee 1

4.8(126) 5

Coffee shop 2

Open · Closes 6 PM 3

Holiday hours: Mardi Gras, closes 2 PM

CallDirectionsWebsite

1. 1 Business name (Step 3)
2. 2 Category (Step 4)
3. 3 Hours (Step 5)
4. 4 Photos (Step 6)
5. 5 Reviews (Step 7)

While you're in there, fill in everything else that applies: phone, website link, a short description in your own words, services or menu, and attributes like wheelchair access or online appointments. Google explains each field in Edit your Business Profile (opens in new tab).

Step 6 of 9

Add your logo, a cover photo, the outside of your building (so people recognize it from the street), the inside, your team, and your work. Use real photos you took, not stock images. Google has a photo and video content policy (opens in new tab) that photos have to follow, and pictures that misrepresent the business can be removed.

• 

  Logo

• 

  Cover

• 

  Outside

• 

  Inside

• 

  Team

• 

  Your work

Step 7 of 9

Reviews are a big part of how people choose between businesses on Google. Google's guide to getting more reviews (opens in new tab) suggests the obvious thing that most owners skip: ask. Share your review link after a job well done, in a follow-up text or email, or on a card at the register.

What you can't do: pay for reviews, offer discounts in exchange for them, or write them for yourself or your friends. That's against Google's policies and can cost you the reviews you earned honestly.

Reply to your reviews, the good and the bad. Google suggests keeping replies short, addressing the reviewer by name, and responding to what they actually said. For a negative review, stay calm, thank them, and take the conversation offline if it needs solving. The next customer reading it is judging how you handle problems, not just the problem.

Step 8 of 9

Holiday hours

Bayou Bean Coffee closes at 2 PM on Mardi Gras day.

You can publish short updates right on your profile: a new service, a seasonal special, an event, holiday hours. Google explains how in Create and manage posts (opens in new tab). Posts are a simple way to show customers your business is active. A short post once or twice a month with a real photo is plenty for most small businesses.

Step 9 of 9

Depending on your profile, Google may show a questions section where the public can ask about your business. If yours has one, check it and answer questions yourself so a stranger's guess isn't the only answer.

Also know that anyone can suggest edits to your listing, and Google may apply some of them. Log in every month or so and confirm your hours, phone, and address are still what you set.

Want a second set of eyes?

Most owners can set up a solid profile on their own using the steps above. If you'd rather have someone look over your profile, fix your categories and photos, and check that your listing matches your website, that's part of what we do at Red Stick Digital.

Marshall Naquin

Baton Rouge web designer, Red Stick Digital