How to get your business higher on Google

1. Complete your Google Business Profile

The business profile is what shows on the map when someone searches “plumber Drammen” or “hair salon near me”. Google itself says local results depend on relevance, distance and prominence. You cannot change distance. You can work on the other two.

Pick the primary category that best describes what you do, and add secondary categories for the rest. Fill in opening hours, phone, website and services. Upload real photos of your work, premises and people. A profile with empty fields loses to a complete one, even when the business behind it is better.

2. Ask for reviews, and answer them

How many reviews you have and how recent they are affect both ranking and whether people pick you. The simplest method is to text the short review link right after a job, while the customer is happy. Reply to all of them, the bad ones too. A calm reply to an angry review says more about the business than ten stars.

Do not buy reviews or offer discounts for stars. It breaks Google’s rules, and the reviews can be removed.

3. Make one page per service

A website with one page called “Services” and a list of ten things ranks poorly for each of them. Make a separate page for every service people search for, such as “bathroom renovation” and “heat pump”, with a price or price level, photos of jobs you have done, where you work and answers to what customers usually ask.

Mention place names where it is natural. If you work in Asker and Bærum, say so on the page. Do not create twenty near-identical pages where only the town name changes. Google calls these doorway pages and ranks them down.

4. Write titles people actually search for

The page title is the blue link on Google. “Home” or just the company name says nothing. “Plumber in Drammen: emergency call-outs and bathrooms | Company Ltd” tells both Google and the customer what the page is about. Every page needs its own title and a one or two sentence description that gives a reason to click.

Check that the heading at the top of the page says the same as the title. When a page promises one thing on Google and shows something else, people go back to the results.

5. A fast page that works on mobile

Most local searches happen on a phone. If the page takes several seconds to load, or the buttons are too small to tap, you lose the customer before Google measures anything. Compress images, remove plugins you do not use, and test the site on your own phone over 4G, not only at the office.

6. Directory listings and links from others

Make sure name, address and phone number are identical on Gule Sider, 1881, Proff and anywhere else the business is listed. Different versions make Google unsure which details are correct.

Links from other websites still count. The best kind for a small business is local: suppliers, your trade association, the sports club you sponsor or a local paper that has written about you. One link from a relevant site is worth more than a hundred from directories nobody visits.

7. Measure with Search Console

Google Search Console is free and shows which searches your site appears for, how high, and how many people click. Add the website, submit the sitemap and look at the report after a few weeks. Searches where you sit at positions 5 to 15 are the quickest to improve: Google already knows the page is relevant.

Expect months, not days. A new page can take a long time to earn a place in the results, especially in competitive trades.