Google Business Profile: A Toronto Checklist

The map comes first

Search for "sushi near me" or "plumber North York" and Google shows a map with a short list of businesses before the regular results. Getting into that list is what people mean by local SEO, and for a neighbourhood business it is the most valuable free placement on the internet.

Google says it ranks those local results on three things: relevance (how well your business matches the search), distance (how close you are to the person searching) and prominence (how well known your business is). You can't move your shop closer to every customer, but you can work on the other two.

1. Claim and complete your profile

The information in that map listing comes from your Google Business Profile. If you haven't claimed yours, start there.

• Pick the most specific primary category. It has more influence on which searches you appear in than anything else on the profile. "Korean restaurant" beats "restaurant"; "roofing contractor" beats "contractor".
• Fill in everything: hours, phone number, website, services or menu, and a short description written for customers, not keywords.
• Service-area businesses — contractors, cleaners, mobile services — can list the areas they serve (Etobicoke, Mississauga, Vaughan…) and hide their street address if customers don't visit them.
• Add real photos of your storefront, your space and your work, and keep adding them.
• Update holiday hours before every long weekend. Nothing loses a customer faster than showing up to a closed door that Google said was open.

2. Keep your name, address and phone identical everywhere

Your business name, address and phone number — often shortened to NAP — should read exactly the same on your website, your Google profile, Yelp, Facebook, Apple Maps and any directories you are listed in.

"Unit 5" in one place and "#5" in another, or an old phone number still listed somewhere, makes it harder for Google to trust that the details are right. Pick one format and use it everywhere.

3. Let your website back it up

A profile alone can get you on the map, but a website linked from it gives Google much more to understand your business.

• Put what you do and where in your page titles and at the top of your home page: "Family dentist in Scarborough" says more than "Welcome".
• Show your address, phone number and hours in the footer of every page.
• Make sure it loads quickly on a phone. Most local searches happen on one.
• If you serve several areas, say so on the site — a line about the neighbourhoods you cover is useful to customers and to search engines.

4. Ask for reviews, and answer them

The number of reviews, your rating, and how recent they are all feed into prominence. Don't be shy about asking happy customers — a QR code on the receipt or the counter that links straight to your review page makes it easy.

Then reply to every review. A short thank-you for the good ones; for the bad ones, skip the argument and say what you'll do differently. Your replies are really for the next customer reading them.

What not to do

• Don't stuff keywords into your business name ("Joe's Pizza Best Pizza Toronto Downtown"). It breaks Google's guidelines and can get your profile suspended.
• Don't buy reviews or have staff write them.
• Don't list an address where you don't actually serve customers, such as a mailbox.

The short version

Local SEO is upkeep, not a one-time task: complete your profile, keep your details consistent, back it up with a clear website, and keep up with reviews. Do those four things and you will stand out in your neighbourhood's searches.

Every SERVITH site ships with the basics of on-page SEO built in. If you're not sure your current site is helping you get found, ask for a free quote and we'll take a look.