How to get your business on Google Maps

If your business isn't on Google yet, go to business.google.com/add and choose Add your business to Google. If it's already there but nobody's claimed it, search for its name and suburb, choose Claim this business, then Manage now. Either way, you'll then verify it before customers can fully see your details.

Check if you're already listed

Search Google for your business's name and suburb first. Sometimes a profile already exists, created from a directory listing or a past customer's edit, without anyone having claimed it.

• Found, unclaimed: choose Claim this business, then Manage now, and pick a verification method.
• Not found: go to business.google.com/add and choose Add your business to Google, then follow the prompts to enter your details.

(Google)

If you work from a van, not a shopfront

Most tradies are a service-area business: you go to the customer rather than the other way around. Google still asks for a business address to set you up, but you don't have to show it publicly.

Under Edit profile, then Location, turn off Show business address to customers, and add up to 20 service areas by suburb or postcode instead. Google says the area shouldn't reach further than about two hours' drive from your base (Google). You're generally allowed one service-area profile if you have no public shopfront with signage.

Fill in the essentials as you go

While you're setting it up, add:

• Category. As specific as fits your trade.
• Phone and hours.
• Services, even a short list to start.

You can add more later. The full detail is in Google Business Profile for tradies: the complete setup guide.

Verify it

Being listed isn't the same as being verified. Until you verify, your content might not show properly across Google, and you can't reply to reviews. See How to verify your Google Business Profile for the ways Google verifies a business and how to film a verification video from a van.

Once you're live

1. Add a booking link so customers can book, not just call. See How to add a booking link.
2. Start asking every customer for a review. See How to get more Google reviews.
3. Come back to it every few months and run through the optimisation checklist.

TapBook works with Reserve with Google, so once your profile's set up, customers can book a time straight from it. See how it works.