Someone choosing lunch needs different information from someone booking a treatment. Both need the address, hours and next step to agree wherever they find you.
Help customers reach the right entrance
Your public address, map pin and premises photos should help a first-time visitor recognise the business.
Compare the street address and postcode on your website with your Business Profile. Look at the pin yourself: does it identify the premises a customer can enter? A shop inside a larger building needs clear directions that describe the real entrance. Avoid adding search phrases to address fields.
Google’s profile guidelines require an accurate location and permanent fixed signage for businesses showing their address. Its local search guidance also recommends photos and complete business information. Use current exterior and interior photos to show the actual premises.
Our review compares location details visible publicly and in screenshots you supply. Tell us about a move or changed entrance. We can flag contradictions; we cannot establish a physical entrance from an ambiguous online record alone.
Make today’s hours useful
Opening hours should tell people when they can actually use the business, including holiday changes.
Check the normal week, then bank holidays, temporary closures and seasonal changes. Compare the website, profile and linked booking or menu page. A social post is easy to miss when the listing still shows the normal hours.
For a café, distinguish when customers can sit down and eat from any separate service times. For a salon operating only by appointment, make that requirement explicit: Google’s guidelines say appointment-only businesses should not provide profile hours. Do not imply that someone can walk in simply because the booking system accepts requests.
Hypothetical example: a café closes on a bank holiday, but its profile shows the usual opening time and its website links to an old menu. A useful action list records both mismatches and who updates each. This example illustrates the checks; it is not a reported client outcome.
Match the category and the next step
Your category should describe the business specifically, and your links should take customers to useful current information.
Google asks for categories that are as specific as possible and representative of the core business. Choose from what is actually available rather than adding unrelated categories for searches you would like to win. We review categories, services and their consistency with your website as part of the Local Audit’s profile work.
Then follow the customer’s next step yourself. A salon visitor needs the right treatment and booking route; a café visitor may need a readable menu; a shop visitor may need product or service prices. Check that the linked page describes this premises and is usable on a phone. A generic homepage may leave a customer searching again for information the link promised.
These are checks of information and navigation, not a claim that the audit tests every transaction in your booking or ordering system.
Compare local searches and listings
Consistent details help people identify your premises, while a near me result remains dependent on the searcher’s location.
Compare your name, address, phone and website across Google, Bing Places and Apple Business, formerly Apple Business Connect. Record the listing address and discrepancy instead of assuming that editing one platform updates the others. Include any old address that still appears publicly.
Google describes local ranking in terms of relevance, distance and prominence. Repeating near me throughout a page does not make your premises nearer to a customer. When checking manually, note the search words, date, device and location, and distinguish map results from website results.
The Local Audit reviews your Business Profile and listings and compares 3 competitors. Its 10 recorded AI answers add evidence of how assistants describe businesses for questions drawn from your intake form. The free check’s scope is narrower: it reads your website, not those listings or AI answers.
Get a plan for your premises
The Local Audit is the relevant option when you need your website and business listings considered together.
Choose the Local Audit (£184) for one website, one location and one main service. You receive evidence and actions in priority order, identifying what you, your web person or your host should do. Changes and ongoing monitoring are separate work.
For a cheaper website starting point, the Quick Fix Plan (£94) turns the free check into a plan checked by a person. You can run the free check first. Neither option promises a ranking or a particular number of bookings or visits.