"Pan bagnat Vieux Nice", "quick lunch Nice port", "bakery open on Sunday": people search for these on Google, not Instagram. And yet, it's the profile that business owners leave half-empty.
We regularly see excellent businesses with a carefully maintained Instagram account whose Google profile still shows lockdown hours and two photos taken by a customer three years ago.
It's a backwards trade-off. Instagram is for nurturing a relationship with people who already know you. Google is for being found by people who don't know you and are searching right now, two streets away from you, with the intention of buying within ten minutes.
For a local business, it's the most profitable channel there is, and it's free.
What really matters on the profile
The primary category. This is the most powerful setting and the one most often messed up. Google uses it to decide which searches you appear in. A business that mainly sells sandwiches but has classified itself as a "restaurant" is competing against every restaurant in the city, instead of showing up at the top for what it actually does. Choose the most precise category that describes your main activity, and add the others as secondary.
The hours, including exceptions. Incorrect hours cost you twice: the customer finds the door closed, then leaves a furious review. List special closures in advance, public holidays, and holidays. On the Côte d'Azur, where everything changes with the season, it's the detail that makes the difference between a reliable profile and one people ignore.
The photos, the real ones. Google defaults to customer photos, which are often bad and poorly framed. Your own images take precedence: the storefront as seen when arriving, the interior, two or three products, the team. The storefront photo is the most useful of all, because it helps people recognize you on the street.
The attributes. Outdoor seating, takeaway, accessible, contactless payment, vegetarian options. These are filters people actually use, and an unchecked box excludes you from the results.
The description and products. A few lines saying what you do using the words people use. If you sell pan bagnats, write pan bagnat, not "quality fast food".
The detail almost no one does
You can post on your Google profile just like on a social network. Almost no business owner knows it, so almost no one does it.
One post a week, even a brief one, even just the daily special or the arrival of a seasonal product, keeps the profile active and shows up directly in the results. It takes two minutes, and it sets you apart from everyone else on your street.
Geography matters more than you think
Google doesn't rank businesses at the city level, but within a radius around the person searching. This has two practical consequences.
First, your real competition is the handful of businesses in the same neighborhood, not the fifty in Nice. Ranking is won at the level of a few streets, which is much more achievable than it seems.
Second, mentions of your name elsewhere on the web count. A local news article, a page in a reputable directory, a profile on a local website, a neighborhood map: every mention with your name and address strengthens your profile. This is also one of the concrete benefits of being covered by local media, beyond the readers.
Three mistakes to fix tonight
One unverified profile, automatically created by Google, that you don't control. You can claim it; you need to do it.
Two profiles for the same address, often after a change of name or owner. They cannibalize each other and split up reviews. You need to request a merge.
An outdated phone number or website. It's silly, it's common, and it negates everything else.
Next week, we'll talk about reviews: how to respond to them, and especially what to do about bad ones. In the meantime, if you want us to look at your profile and your photos, it's through Gusta Nissa Studio.
