This guide teaches you to sit in their chair and look at your Google profile the way a complete stranger sees it.
Take a phone, open a private window, search for your service + your town — and look at the first screen, not the whole profile. That screen is where the decision gets made.
—Why you do not see what the customer sees
The trouble with your own profile is that you never look at it as a customer. You are signed in, you know the phone number, you know you work on Saturdays and that the thing in the photograph is three years old. The customer knows none of that. They see one screen, at the moment they need something, and on the strength of that screen they choose between you and the competitor one row below.
So do not “tidy the profile” from memory — run a short test from the customer’s point of view instead. You do not need to change anything while you look — first just notice what somebody who does not know you sees.
01Seven steps from the customer’s point of view
Open a search on a phone, in a private window
Take a phone, not a computer — because that is how most people look for you. Open a private (incognito) window or the Google Maps app and search for your service and your town, “plumber Leeds” or “hairdresser Camden”, for instance. The private window matters: when you are signed in, Google tailors the results to you and shows you in a better light than it shows a stranger.
Look at what the customer sees first
Stop at the first impression, before you open the whole profile. On that first screen the customer sees only a handful of things: the name, the category, the main photograph, the rating and the number of reviews, the opening hours and the label “Open now” or “Closed”. Ask yourself honestly: if I saw this about a company I did not know, would I tap through, or move on to the next one?
Check that the category is accurate and specific
The category is not a detail — it largely decides which searches you appear in at all. “Business” or “Service” say nothing; “Plumber”, “Car mechanic” or “Hair salon” say something. If you do several things, the primary category should be the one you most want to be found for, and the rest go in as additional categories.
The photographs — are they real, and recent
Go through the pictures the way a customer does: swiping quickly. The question is not whether they are “nice”, but whether they are real and recent. Stock photographs of smiling strangers and pictures several years old work against you — a customer recognises them and assumes you are hiding something.
Opening hours, and holiday hours
Inaccurate opening hours are a quiet but expensive problem. If it says you are open and the door is locked, you have lost the customer and probably earned a bad review. Compare the hours shown with the real ones, and be sure to enter special hours for public holidays.
Questions and reviews, the way customers read them
Open the Q&A and the reviews, but do not read them as the owner — read them as a stranger deciding whether to trust you. Anybody can post a question on your profile, so an unanswered question makes it look as though nobody is there. With reviews it is not only the rating that counts: a calm, courteous reply to criticism often leaves a better impression than the review itself.
What makes a customer tap “Call”
Look at the whole profile together: is there enough reason here for somebody to tap “Call” instead of moving on? A customer taps when several things line up — they can see clearly that you do exactly what they need, that you work in their town, that you are open now, that other people had a good experience and that the profile looks alive.
02A list of 14 concrete checks
Once you have been through the seven steps “by eye”, go through this list too — concretely, item by item. This used to be a tool that gave you a score; now it is a list you go through yourself, because even then all the work lay in somebody looking and noticing.
Is the name on the profile exactly your company’s name, with nothing added?+
The name is the large text at the top of the profile. Additions such as the town, “24h” or the name of a service (“Miller Plumbing Leeds 24h”) are against Google’s rules and can get the profile suspended.
Does the category under the name accurately describe your main activity?+
The category sits right under the name — “Bakery” or “Website designer”, for instance.
Is the phone number on the profile correct — and do you answer it?+
The “Call” button, or the number in the details section.
Are the opening hours entered, and realistic?+
If it says “Open 24 hours” and you do not work round the clock, that erodes trust over time — a client who calls at midnight and gets nobody leaves a bad review.
Does the profile have a business description filled in?+
The “About” / “Information” section. Up to 750 characters, with no prices and no links.
Are services with descriptions entered on the profile?+
The “Services” or “Products” tab. Most businesses leave it empty — which is exactly why it is easy to exploit.
Does the profile have at least 10 photographs of your actual work?+
A logo and a shopfront alone do not count. Photographs of jobs, of the premises, of the team — Google rewards those, and they convince clients.
Do you have 10 reviews or more?+
The number sits next to the stars. For orientation: most small businesses in Serbia have fewer than 10.
Did the most recent review arrive in the last 6 months?+
Sort the reviews by “Newest”.
Do you reply to reviews — including the negative ones?+
“Response from the owner” appears under a review if you have replied.
Does the “Website” button on the profile work, and lead to your business?+
Tap it. A dead link or somebody else’s page = a client lost on the first tap.
Are the name and the phone number the same on the site and on the profile?+
Compare them letter by letter and digit by digit. Different details confuse people and Google alike.
Have you posted an update or an offer on the profile in the last 3 months?+
The “Latest” / “Posts” section. Empty = the profile looks abandoned.
Have you added a new photograph in the last 6 months?+
The date shows when you open the photograph.
03The three fixes that change the first impression most
An accurate, specific category
It decides which searches you appear in at all. The cheapest change with the biggest effect.
Accurate opening hours, including public holidays
The “Open now” label is only as accurate as what you entered. Wrong opening hours bring bad reviews.
Real, recent photographs
Your premises, your crew, your van, actual jobs. One honest picture of your work is worth more than ten polished ones off the internet.
04Checklist: the profile through a customer’s eyes
- You searched for yourself from a phone, in a private window, by service and town
- The first screen (name, category, picture, rating, opening hours) reads as clear and convincing
- The primary category is accurate and specific
- The photographs are real, yours and recent
- The opening hours are accurate, including public holidays
- There are no unanswered questions, and you have replied to the reviews courteously
- The profile as a whole gives a clear reason to tap “Call”
05How to fix what you noticed
If these seven steps turned up a couple of things that are off, that is good news — everything on the profile you can change yourself, and the changes usually show up quickly. Start with what confuses a customer most: the wrong category, the wrong opening hours and old photographs.
If you do not have time to sort it out, or you are not sure how to set the categories and the description properly, we do it for you as part of the Google profile service — from scratch, or as a repair of an existing profile.
06Common questions
Why a private window in particular?+
When you are signed in to a Google account the results are tailored to you — your business appears higher and looks better than it does to a stranger. A private window gives a view closer to what somebody looking for you for the first time sees.
How quickly do changes to the profile show?+
Most changes (opening hours, the description, photographs) show up quickly. Changing the category and the name sometimes goes through a review, so it can take longer. We do not promise timescales, because we do not control them.
Can I do this myself?+
Yes — all seven steps and all 14 points on the list you can go through yourself, without any tool. That is exactly why we wrote them this way. If you do not have the time, or are unsure about the categories and the description, we do it.
What if my profile does not appear at all?+
Then the question is not how it looks, but whether it exists and is verified at all. That is the first step, and it is what the Google profile service is for.