Get Right with Google

Discoverability
If people don’t know you exist—or they simply can’t find you—you’ll start to hemorage potential customers. This is true whether you have a local storefront, you’re a local service provider (i.e. plumbers, landscapers, electricians, etc.), or you just need to connect with more people in your space.

There’s definitely information in this course module most people don’t know or think about, so you’re going to want to go through it all. To get started, here’s a simple “map legend” for our journey.

What are we talking about?

• Google Business Profile (GBP): Formerly Google My Business, a free listing that ensures your business appears prominently on Google Search and Maps.
• Yelp: A leading local search and review platform that many consumers trust for honest feedback and recommendations.
• Apple Business Connect: A newer tool from Apple that lets you manage how your business appears in Apple Maps, Siri, and more. If you don’t proactively add your info, Apple Maps often pulls details (including reviews) from platforms like Yelp.
• SEO (Search Engine Optimization): Techniques to help your website rank higher in organic (non-paid) search results.
• Review Management: The strategy and tools used to monitor, respond to, and encourage customer reviews across different platforms.

Step 1: Claim and Verify Your Google Business Profile

(10 minutes + “Up to 5 Business Days”)

1. Claim and Verify Your Google Business Profile (GBP): Search for your business and claim or create a listing. (This used to be called “Google My Business.”)

2. Enter Accurate Details: Include your business name, address, phone number (If you see “NAP” in your research, it stands for Name, Address, Phone), hours, and website link.

3. Submit Verification: In the past, Google would rely on sending a physical postcard to confirm you’re the rightful owner of your business address. (This helps eliminate spam accounts and keeps bad actors from claiming your business.)

While this is still a recommended path, Google has been rolling out a Video Verification feature to speed up the process. Their site walks you through the super simple sequence, where you actually take a video walking around your office, showing the outside and inside, any permant signage, locking/unlocking the door, employee-only access areas, etc. Again, this confirms you actually work there. This of course means you have to set this up in-person (you can’t work from home that day!).

Bonus Tip: When we set up our own GBP, we ran into issues using Safari and Edge on an iPhone, but found success with Google’s Chrome browser app. (Not sure why because they all use Apple’s iOS browser engine underneath…) Maybe it was a bug? Or maybe it’s just Google prefering it’s own products. Either way, we recommend conducting this process with Chrome just in case.

Google’s Video Verification Process

Why It’s Important

A verified and optimized GBP dramatically improves your visibility in Google’s local results—often the first place prospective customers look.

Step 2: Optimize Your Google Business Profile

1. Add High-Quality Photos: Showcase your storefront, products, or services. Soon, people will see your photos alongside user-uploaded pics, so the nicer you can make your photography look, the better.
2. Write a Clear Description: Summarize your unique selling points, and naturally include relevant keywords. Keep it upbeat, concise, and inviting. Talk to your audience instead of speaking in the 3rd person. (i.e. “We can eliminate weeds and give you a lawn to be proud of!” vs “Local Lawn care is an expert lawn care company with effective weed control products.”) Remember language from your Core Offer in Module 1.
3. Encourage Reviews: Ask happy customers to leave a review—positive feedback boosts local rankings.
4. Keep It Updated: Post changes to hours, promotions, or new photos as they happen, especially around holidays!

Step 3: Expand Your Reach on Yelp

1. Claim or Create Your Listing: Go to Yelp for Business and search for your business. If it isn’t there, create a new listing.
2. Complete Your Profile: Fill out business categories, specialties, contact details, and upload appealing photos. (Approval should take 1-2 business days.)
3. Leverage Reviews: Yelp is heavily review-driven, so invite satisfied customers to share positive experiences.
4. Monitor Activity: Yelp’s business dashboard shows you views, clicks, and other metrics.

Yelp’s Business Page

Why It’s Important

You may be thinking… is Yelp even relevant? Absolutely. And here’s why.

While the Yelp app has a relatively small marketshare, other apps use Yelp data for their data. Have you ever googled “plumbers near me” and found a link called “Top Plumbers in [Your City]”? That list is pulling top reviews from Yelp.

And guess what the most popular app is that uses Yelp data?

Apple Maps.

That right, when you search for a business on Apple Maps, you are most likely seeing data scraped from Yelp. While Apple is creating it’s own local business data service (see next section), it still mostly makes use of Yelp.

Keeping Yelp updated in one place ensures consistent data across multiple platforms in many places.

Step 4: Set Up Apple Business Connect

1. Sign Up: Go to Apple Business Connect. You’ll need an Apple ID to begin.
2. Add & Verify Your Business: Different from the first two platforms, you first create your Business Connect account, then you add your physical locations and brand listing information by clicking “Locations” on the lefthand sidebar. You also manage your “Brand” and “Locations” separately. Apple claims verification can take up to 5 business days.
3. Optimize Your Listing:
   1. Accurate Info: Make sure your name, address, phone number, and website are correct.
   2. Add your logo, cover photo, business hours, and a gallery of high-quality photos (like the inside of your business).
   3. Create Showcases: Once approved, Apple Business Connect lets you feature offers or announcements that appear on Apple Maps.
4. Monitor Performance: Use Apple’s Insights to see how often your business is viewed in Apple Maps.

Apple’s Relatively New Business Connect

Why It’s Important

Because Apple Business Connect is relatively new (it was announced in 2023), many businesses haven’t taken advantage of it yet, giving you a chance to stand out.

As stated before, if you ignore it, Apple relies on third-party data from Yelp and other sources, however, Apple has introduced platform-specific features that users can take advantage of, so it’s worth taking the 10 minutes to get up to date.

For example, Yelp requires you to pay extra to upload your own logo, whereas Apple allows you to upload a logo and cover photo for free. You can also add your logo to emails that show up Apple’s Mail app, and create Tap-to-Pay on iPhones.

Step 5: Add Basic SEO for Your Website

SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is an entire industry, that leaves a lot of people wondering how to even get started without an expert-level degree in it. That said, you can actually make a series of small changes yourself and still see genuine results.

Here’s a few simple steps you can do this week:

Keyword Research: Identify 5–10 local terms (e.g., “best pizza in [City]”) that potential customers might use. Do your own “Googling” and see what comes up, or use a Keyword tool like Google’s free one.

On-Page Optimization: Place these keywords in your page titles, meta descriptions, and headers. For example, you might have a page called “Plumbing Services.” Underneath that heading, you could add “Proudly serving [Your City + Surrounding Cities or Neighborhoods]”.

Mobile-Friendly Design: Google favors mobile-optimized sites in its search results.

Local Citations: Make sure your NAP (remember? Name + Address + Phone) is consistent on your site, social media, and all listings (Google, Yelp, Apple, and Facebook).

Example: Check out how Oakwell Beer Spa includes “Denver” in the main heading of their homepage. It would have read just as clearly to say “Relax Differently at the Best Spa with a Craft Beer in Hand” but adding “Denver” makes it even more clear and triggers the SEO elves to get to work ranking their business higher.

Success Metrics

• Listing Views & Actions: Each platform shows how many people view your profile, request directions, or click through to your website.
• Review Quality & Quantity: Track both the number and sentiment of reviews; watch for trends.
• Local Search Ranking: Monitor how you rank for local keywords in Google and Apple Maps.
• Website Traffic: See if your new listings drive more visits and conversions on your site.

Sweetgreen is a fast-casual restaurant chain specializing in salads, known for fresh, locally sourced ingredients and eco-friendly practices. They started as a single shop in Georgetown (Washington, D.C.) and have since expanded nationwide.

How They Leveraged Local Visibility
From the beginning, Sweetgreen focused on hyper-local marketing—claiming Google Business Profiles, sharing updates on social channels, and making sure each new location was easy to find on Google Maps, Yelp, and Apple Maps. By doing so, they built a dedicated local following in each city they entered.

Scaling with Consistency
As they opened more stores, Sweetgreen maintained consistent branding, updated business info, and solicited reviews to reinforce their reputation. This approach helped them turn every new location into a local success story rather than relying solely on corporate-level promotions.

Grace Gathering was a local church in New Haven, IN that expanded to two more locations in the 2010s—one on the Northwest side of Fort Wayne and one centrally located, just southeast of downtown.

But even though they had three locations, they didn’t show up on the first or second page of Google when searching “churches near me,” “churches in New Haven” or “churches in Fort Wayne”.

They spent a couple hours claiming 3 separate Google Business Profiles and Yelp Listings, asking some of their members to leave reviews. Then, they took an afternoon to create landing pages for each location with location-specific language in the header. For example, the church often used the tagline “We are a church who loves Fort Wayne,” so they just added additional communities, zip codes, and neighboring towns in the descriptions.

SEO isn’t an overnight game. It can take up to 6 months for Google search to start reflecting your changes.

Yet within about 3-4 months, each location started consistently showing up at the top or near the top of the same searches. They assigned a couple team members to monitor reviews and respond in a timely manner, and their online presence grew.

See how Grace Gathering East adapted their tagline for location-specific language: “We’re a church committed to loving New Haven, the East side of Fort Wayne, Woodburn, Hoagland, Monroeville, and more, and we meet near I469 in New Haven.”

Minimum Viable Product (MVP)

1. Claim & Verify: Google Business Profile, Yelp, and Apple Business Connect.
2. Basic Info: Ensure NAP, hours, and descriptions are consistent.
3. Add a Few Photos: Showcase your storefront or top-selling products.
4. Encourage a Handful of Reviews: Start by asking close, satisfied customers or loyal clients.
5. Local SEO Basics: Update your website’s title tags and page descriptions with location keywords.

Even this minimal effort can significantly boost your local visibility and credibility.

Expanded Version: “Blanket the Market”

Build an Ongoing Management Strategy

1. Ongoing Requests: Use email/SMS automations to invite reviews after each purchase or service.
2. Multi-Platform Approach: Encourage customers to leave reviews on multiple platforms (Google, Yelp, Bing), not just one.
3. Rapid Responses: A quick reply to a negative review can often turn it around—or at least show future readers you care.

Consistent Content Updates

• Photo Refresh: Add seasonal photos or highlight new products and services.
• Promotions/Offers: Utilize Google Business’s “Posts” or Apple Business Connect’s “Showcases” to broadcast limited-time deals.

Advanced Local SEO

• Citation Building: List your business in niche or industry-specific directories.
• Blogging: Create local-focused content (e.g., “5 Reasons to Visit Downtown [City] This Weekend”) that ties into your services.

By refining each of these steps, you establish a robust local presence that grows your audience, boosts credibility, and drives more in-store or online sales.

Google Keyword Planner

• What It Does: Offers keyword ideas, average monthly search volumes, and competition levels—straight from Google’s own data.
• Why It’s Useful: Great starting point to see which phrases customers actually search for, plus you get insights into potential ad costs.

SEMrush

• What It Does: Provides in-depth keyword analytics, keyword difficulty scores, and competitive analysis.
• Why It’s Useful: Lets you see what keywords your competitors rank for, helping you identify gaps and opportunities in your own strategy.

Moz Keyword Explorer

• What It Does: Generates keyword ideas and includes difficulty scores, search volume, and organic CTR data.
• Why It’s Useful: Moz also provides helpful SERP analysis and priority metrics, which combine volume, difficulty, and other factors to suggest which keywords to target first.

Ahrefs Keywords Explorer

• What It Does: Delivers keyword ideas, traffic potential, click data, and a robust competitor analysis feature.
• Why It’s Useful: If you’re serious about SEO, Ahrefs’ site explorer tool and backlink data give you a comprehensive view of how to rank higher for specific terms.

Ubersuggest

• What It Does: Offers keyword ideas, search volume, and content suggestions.
• Why It’s Useful: User-friendly interface, plus it’s a budget-friendly alternative to some of the more advanced paid tools.

Google Trends

• What It Does: Shows search interest over time for specific keywords and related topics.
• Why It’s Useful: A quick way to spot seasonal fluctuations, emerging trends, and regional popularity, helping you target relevant content and keywords at the right time.