Get more bookings from your Google Business Profile

Before a new client ever sees your website - if you have one - they see your Google Business Profile. Someone searches "barber near me" or "facial in town", the map appears, and the decision happens right there: who looks real, who looks open, who looks bookable. For a local business, that little panel is the homepage now. The good news: it is free, and most of your competitors are neglecting theirs.

Claim it, then fill in every field

Google favours complete profiles, and so do people. Pick the most specific category you can, list your services with prices, write a short description in plain language, and set your hours - including holidays. Every empty field is a question a potential client has to answer some other way, and "some other way" usually means the profile below yours. Fifteen minutes of filling things in is the cheapest marketing you will do this year.

Add a booking link where the thumb lands

The profile has room for a website link and an appointment link. Point the appointment link straight at your booking page - not a homepage, not a contact form. Someone who found you on the map at 9pm is ready to pick a time right then; the fewer taps between "found you" and "booked you", the more of them become clients. If the only option is "call during opening hours", the ready-to-book visitor keeps scrolling.

Photos are proof, posts are a pulse

People do not book descriptions, they book results. A steady stream of recent photos - your work, your space, your team - does more convincing than any text. Posts matter too, less for what they say than for what they signal: this business is alive. An active, well-fed profile is also what search engines and their AI summaries reach for first when someone asks who to book nearby.

Reviews decide who gets the tap

Between two similar profiles, the one with more recent reviews wins the tap almost every time. You do not need hundreds; you need a steady trickle of real ones, and replies that show a human reads them. Ask right after the appointment, while the good mood is real. And keep your hours honest year-round - one client standing at a locked door because the profile said "open" undoes months of good impressions.