5 things often missing from Long Beach Google listings
Scroll through Maps on 4th Street, Pine, or Atlantic and these five gaps come up again and again. Here's each one and how to fix it in under 15 minutes.
1. Holiday and special hours
Regular hours are usually set. Holiday hours often aren't. So on Labor Day or the day after Thanksgiving, Google tells people you're open at your normal time, someone drives over, and you get a 1-star review for being closed.
Fix: In your Business Profile, go to Hours, then Special hours. Add every holiday you close or change hours for, for the whole year, right now. Add Grand Prix weekend and anything else that changes your schedule.
2. The services list
Plenty of profiles have a category ("Barber shop") and nothing else. Google lets you list every service you do, with a description and an optional price. A listing with "Fade," "Beard trim," "Kids' cut," and "Line-up" listed can match searches a bare category can't.
Fix: Edit profile, then Services. Add every service you'd put on a menu board. Keep the names plain, the way customers say them.
3. Photos from this year
If your newest photo is from 2021, Google and customers both notice. Businesses with recent photos look open and cared for. The photos don't have to be professional. Phone photos in daylight work fine.
Fix: Take five photos today: the front of the business, the inside, your best work or dish, the team, and a logo. Upload them. Then add one or two a month.
4. Replies to reviews
Pull up a few busy Long Beach listings and count the reviews with no owner reply. It's often a lot of them. A reply to a good review takes 20 seconds and tells the next reader someone's paying attention. A calm reply to a bad one does even more.
Fix: Reply to every review from the last 90 days this week. Short is fine. Then reply to new ones within a day. If you can't keep up, that's exactly what we do: review replies.
5. The right pin
Strip-mall and corner businesses get this a lot: the map pin sits on the parking lot or the business next door. People following directions end up at the wrong door and leave.
Fix: Edit profile, then Location. Drag the pin to your actual entrance. Check it in Street View.