Your Google Business Profile is the listing customers see before your website. Get it complete: the right category, a real address or service area, hours including holidays, and photos of the actual business.
Then keep it alive. Post once in a while, answer every review, and update hours the day they change. A stale profile reads as a closed business.
We set profiles up as part of every build and hand you the keys. It takes an hour to do right and it feeds the map pack for years.
The setup checklist
Primary category that matches what you sell, secondary categories for the rest. Real hours with holiday exceptions. A phone number that a human answers. Ten real photos. A description in plain sentences with your city in it.
Every blank field is a point your Detroit competitor gains. Most profiles are missing half the list.
The maintenance habit
Fifteen minutes a month: answer reviews, post one update, and check that Google has not mangled your hours. That is the whole routine.
Profiles decay quietly. Google changes a field, a holiday sneaks up, and suddenly the listing says closed on a Saturday.
The mistake that costs the most
Keyword-stuffing the business name. 'Bob's Tires' is fine; 'Bob's Tires | Best Cheap Tires Detroit' risks a suspension that takes weeks to appeal.
Play it straight. The profile rewards completeness and activity, not tricks.
Quick answers.
I lost access to my profile. Now what?
Reclaim it through Google's verification. We help Detroit owners through this fairly often.
Service area or storefront?
Storefront if customers visit. Service-area if you go to them. Never both fake.
How many photos?
Ten to start, then a few new ones a month. Real beats polished.
Do posts actually help?
Modestly. They prove activity, which matters more than reach.
Related notes.
Keep reading:
How to rank on Google Maps How to get more reviews What is local SEO? More about Local SEO setup