How to Get Your Business Found on Google

When someone nearby searches "electrician near me" or "best café in Tenterden," you want your business to be the one they find. That's local SEO — and the good news is the basics are well within reach for any small business. You don't need to be a marketing expert; you just need to get a handful of fundamentals right. Here's how.

1. Claim and fill in your Google Business Profile

This is the single biggest lever for local visibility, and it's free. Your Google Business Profile is what powers the map listings and the box that appears on the right when someone searches your business name. To make the most of it:

• Claim and verify your listing at google.com/business.
• Choose the most accurate primary category (e.g. "Hairdresser," "Electrician").
• Add your address, phone, opening hours, and a link to your website.
• Upload real photos — businesses with photos get far more clicks.
• Post updates and keep your hours accurate, especially over holidays.

2. Get your website's foundations right

Google can only rank a website it can read, trust and load quickly. Make sure yours ticks these boxes:

• Mobile-friendly — Google ranks the mobile version of your site first.
• Fast — slow sites get pushed down and lose visitors.
• Secure (HTTPS) — the padlock is a ranking signal and a trust signal. It should be free.
• Clear page titles — every page needs a descriptive, keyword-rich title.
• Structured data — behind-the-scenes code that helps Google understand your business.

Every site we build comes with these foundations in place as standard — it's the difference between a website that just exists and one that actually gets found.

3. Use the words your customers actually search

Think about what a customer would type, not the industry jargon you'd use. People search "boiler repair Ashford," not "domestic heating engineering solutions." Work your services and your town naturally into your page titles, headings and copy. If you serve several towns, a dedicated page for each area helps you rank in all of them — it's exactly why we build location pages for clients who cover a wide patch.

4. Earn reviews — and reply to them

Reviews are one of the strongest local ranking factors, and they're powerful social proof. Ask happy customers to leave a Google review (a direct link makes it easy), aim for a steady trickle rather than a sudden flood, and reply to every one — good or bad. A thoughtful reply to a negative review often impresses future customers more than a wall of five stars.

5. Be consistent everywhere (NAP)

NAP stands for Name, Address, Phone. Make sure these are identical across your website, Google Business Profile, Facebook, and any directories you're listed in. Mismatched details (a "Road" here, a "Rd" there, an old phone number somewhere) confuse Google and dilute your ranking.

Local SEO isn't a one-off task; it's a habit. But the foundations above will get you the majority of the results, and they start with a website that's built properly from day one.