A little homework. On the house.
Plain guides to website costs and local SEO, with practical checks you can use today. Read them here, with no signup required.
What should a website cost? Is your Google listing set up properly? These are useful questions to answer before you hire anyone. Let’s make a start.
Open your Google listing in another tab and work through the checks below. Many take a few minutes, and you can do them one at a time.
Start with the everyday details: what you do, where you work, when you’re open, and how to get in touch. Your profile and website should give customers the same answers.
Work through the fields you control first. Save each change, then check the public profile to see what your customers see.
Keep your business details consistent online.
When another site lists your business name, address, phone number, or website, that mention is called a citation. Check that your Google Business Profile, major directories, social profiles, and website agree on those core facts.
Each piece has a job. Useful service and location pages explain the work. Schema labels your business details and the relationships between pages so search engines can read them. Google Business Profile carries your public local listing. Keep them accurate and consistent, so customers and search engines have less to puzzle out. None guarantees a ranking on its own.
Primary category
Choose the most specific available category that describes the main business. Add other categories only when they describe services the business provides.
Services
Review the service list and remove anything the business no longer offers. Add missing services with accurate names, descriptions, and prices where those details are useful.
Hours, including holidays
Keep regular hours current and set special hours for holidays, temporary changes, and other dates when the schedule differs.
Contact details and service area
Confirm the phone number, address, service area, and website link. The same core information should appear on the website and other listings the business controls.
Business photos
Add clear, current photos of the premises, team, products, or completed work. Use images that help a customer recognize and evaluate the real business.
Business description
Read the description as a customer would. It should explain what the business does and where it works without promotions, links, or claims that cannot be checked.
Reviews and replies
Check recent reviews and reply where a response is useful. Keep replies short, specific, professional, and free of private customer information.
The website link
Open the link on a phone. Confirm that it reaches the correct domain, loads properly, and shows the same hours, phone number, address, and services as the profile.
Want a second set of eyes on the profile?
We’ll work through this checklist using your live business information, explain what we find, and send you the priorities in writing.