Home › How to get found on Google

How to make sure customers can find you

Having a website is not the same as being findable. This is the order we would actually do things in for a small business starting from nothing.

Step one: tell Google you exist

Search engines find pages by following links and by being told directly. Submit your site through Google Search Console — a free tool that also shows you which searches are bringing people to your site, which pages are indexed, and any errors stopping pages being read. If you do only one technical thing, do this one.

Do the same with Bing's equivalent. It takes ten minutes and Bing quietly powers a reasonable slice of searches.

Step two: claim your Google Business Profile

For anyone serving a local area, this is the highest-value thing on the list. It is the panel that appears with your opening hours, phone number, reviews and map pin. It frequently gets clicked more than website results do, and it is free. We have a separate guide to setting it up properly.

Step three: match your pages to what people search

People do not search for "bespoke solutions". They search for "boiler repair Leeds" or "wedding photographer near me" or "how much does a new bathroom cost". Your pages should match the way customers phrase things.

The easiest research method is free: type your service into a search box and look at the autocomplete suggestions, then look at the "people also ask" boxes on the results page. That is real search behaviour, given to you directly.

Step four: build the pages you are missing

• A page for each individual service
• A page for each main area you cover, if you travel to customers
• An about page — people genuinely read these before trusting a stranger
• A contact page with your phone number as text, not inside an image
• Answers to the questions you get asked constantly

Step five: get reviews

Reviews influence both whether you appear in local results and whether anyone clicks when you do. Ask every satisfied customer, make it easy by sending a direct link, and reply to all of them — including the bad ones, calmly. A business with forty reviews and one complaint handled gracefully looks more trustworthy than one with five perfect reviews.

Step six: get mentioned elsewhere

Local directories, your trade association, suppliers who list stockists, the local paper if you do something interesting, sponsorship of a junior football team. Each is a real mention from a real organisation. Keep your business name, address and phone number written identically everywhere.

How long before it works

Expect the Business Profile to show results within weeks, and organic search to take three to six months to build. It is cumulative — the work you do now keeps paying afterwards, which is exactly why it feels slow at the start.

Related pages