If someone needs a sparky, a plumber or a hairdresser, they don't ask around like they used to. They pull out their phone and type it into Google. If your business isn't there, you're not in the running — not because you're not good at what you do, but because they never saw you.
Good news: getting on Google isn't complicated, and most of it is free. It's just a handful of jobs nobody ever explains properly. Here's the plain-English version.
First, what "being on Google" actually means
There are three separate places your business can turn up, and they're not the same thing:
- The map — the little map with pins that shows up when someone searches for a tradie or a local business. That comes from your Google Business Profile.
- The blue links — the normal search results underneath. That's usually your website.
- Everything else — your Facebook page, a directory listing, an old ad. You don't control most of it.
You want the first two. They do different jobs, and having both is what makes you look like a real business rather than a phone number floating around the internet.
Set up your Google Business Profile
Think of your Google Business Profile as your shopfront on Google. It's the panel that shows your name, phone number, hours, photos, reviews and a "Directions" button. It's free, and it's the single highest-value hour you'll spend on this.
Head to business.google.com, search for your business name in case a listing already exists, and either claim it or create a new one. You'll need to prove it's really you — usually with a postcard to your address, a phone call or a video. That verification step is the bit most people start and never finish. Finish it.
Filling it in properly
- Business name — exactly what you call yourself. Don't stuff it with keywords like "Dave's Plumbing Best Emergency Plumber Sydney". Google can penalise that, and it looks dodgy.
- Categories — pick the closest primary category, then add a few secondary ones that genuinely apply.
- Service area — if you go to customers rather than them coming to you, set your service area and hide your home address. You don't need your house on the internet.
- Hours — real ones. Including whether you actually answer the phone on a Sunday.
- Photos — your work, your van, your team, your shopfront. Ten decent photos off your phone beat one stock image every time.
How you end up on Google Maps
You don't sign up for Maps separately. Once your Business Profile is verified, you're on the map. Where you show up on that map depends mostly on three things: how close you are to the person searching, how well your profile matches what they typed, and how established your business looks online.
That first one catches a lot of tradies out. Someone searching from the other side of town may not see you at all, even if you'd happily drive there. That's normal, it's not a fault in your setup, and no amount of fiddling changes physics. What you can control is being the obvious choice for the people nearby.
Keep your details identical everywhere
Your business name, address and phone number should match — character for character — everywhere they appear. Google Business Profile, your website, your Facebook page, any directory you're listed in, the invoice template you've used since 2019.
When Google finds three different phone numbers for the same business, it has to guess which one is right. Sometimes it guesses wrong, and a customer rings a number you disconnected years ago. Half an hour tidying this up is worth more than most of the clever stuff people try.
The usual culprits
- An old mobile number on a directory listing you forgot about
- "St" on one, "Street" on another
- A trading name on Facebook and a business name on Google
- An old suburb from before you moved
Spell out what you do and where you do it
Google isn't guessing what you do — it's reading. If you install split systems, repair ducted heating and do commercial fit-outs, say those things in plain words, in your services list and on your website.
"Electrical services" tells Google and a customer almost nothing. "Switchboard upgrades, safety switches, LED lighting and EV charger installs across the Northern Beaches" tells both of them exactly who you are and where you work.
Ask for reviews. Properly.
Reviews do two jobs: they help you turn up, and they help people pick you once you have. Most customers will happily leave one — they just never get asked, or they get asked in a way that's too much effort.
- Ask right after you've finished a job and they're happy, not three weeks later.
- Send the direct review link by text. Nobody is going to go hunting through Google for it.
- Reply to every review, good or bad. A calm, decent reply to a grumpy review does more for you than the review does against you.
- Never buy reviews. It gets found out, and it's the fastest way to lose a profile you've spent months building.
Do you need a website as well?
Yes — and not for the reason most people assume.
A Business Profile is Google's summary of you. A website is the bit you own and control. It's where you can explain your services properly, show the jobs you're proudest of, list every suburb you cover, answer the questions you get asked on every quote, and give people somewhere to land that isn't a social feed.
It also gives Google something solid to read. A profile on its own is a name, a number and some photos. A website backs it up — it confirms what you do, where you do it and that you're a real, ongoing business. The two together are much stronger than either on its own.
And there's the simple human version: plenty of people will look you up before they ring. A tidy website is often the difference between "yeah, these guys look legit" and a closed tab.
Local SEO, without the jargon
"Local SEO" just means giving Google enough clear, consistent information to be confident about showing you to people nearby. That's it. For most small businesses it comes down to:
- A verified, properly filled-out Google Business Profile
- A website that says what you do and where, in normal words
- The same business details everywhere
- A steady trickle of genuine reviews
- A page for each main service, rather than one page that lists everything in a blob
You can ignore most of what you'll read beyond that until you've done these. There's an entire industry built on making this sound harder than it is.
What you can knock over yourself this week
- Claim and verify your Google Business Profile. Finish the verification.
- Fill in every field — categories, service area, hours, services.
- Upload ten photos from your phone.
- Google your own business name and fix any wrong details you find.
- Text your last five happy customers your review link.
That's a couple of hours all up, it costs nothing, and it puts you ahead of a surprising number of your competitors.
How long does any of this take to work?
Honestly: it depends, and anyone who gives you a number is guessing. A new profile can start showing up within days. Moving up in a competitive area can take months, and some searches are crowded enough that you'll never be first — you'll just be one of the few people who turns up at all, which is usually enough for the phone to ring.
Be wary of anyone promising you the top spot. Nobody can promise that, because nobody controls Google's results — not us, not an agency, not the bloke on Instagram selling an SEO course.
When it's worth getting a hand
The Google Business Profile side is genuinely DIY. Do it yourself, and don't pay anyone a monthly fee to do something that takes one afternoon.
The website is where most people stall — not because they don't know it matters, but because the quotes come back at three or four grand and it goes in the too-hard basket for another year.
If that sounds familiar, that's exactly why ONYA exists. We build the website for you, and you pay monthly instead of copping a huge bill upfront — the site, the domain, the hosting, the security and the ongoing care all handled. $0 upfront, from $49/month, and most sites are live in 7 days or less.
Have a look at how it works, or some of the sites we've built, and if it makes sense, tell us what you do and we'll sort the rest.
Need a hand getting online?
You don't need to figure it all out yourself. ONYA builds small businesses a proper website — and you pay monthly instead of copping a big bill upfront. Most sites are live in 7 days or less.
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