What Google shows when someone searches your business
A Google result for your business has three parts to look for. They are a headline, an address line and the text under it.
Your own site is a source for each part, so you can ask for changes. You can see all three on your phone right now.
How to look yourself up
Open Google on your phone and type your business name. Read the first result about your business. Then search the way a stranger would. Type what you do and your town.
Take a screenshot of each result. Write down the headline, the address line and the text under it. Then note which of these signs you see.
- The headline says only Home or Welcome.
- The text under your name is a list of menu words.
- The address line is missing or wrong.
- The hours are missing or wrong.
The headline
The headline is the large line you tap. Google uses the page title as one of its sources for the headline of a search result.
A weak headline only says Home. It does not say what you do or where you are. Whoever built your site can change the page title.
Search your business name with a service you sell. Read that headline too. Each page on your site has its own title.
The text under your name
Google builds the text under your name in search mostly from the page itself. It can use your description tag when that describes the page better.
The description tag is a short summary kept in the code of your page. Whoever built your site can add one. The opening lines of your page matter too, so write them to say what you do and where.
Read the opening lines of your home page on your phone. Decide if a stranger would know what you do.
Your address and hours
A site can tell Google its business hours and address with Local Business structured data. Ask whoever built your site if yours does.
Compare the address line on your result with the address on your sign. Check the hours against the hours on your door. Write down anything that is wrong or missing.
Show your note to whoever built your site. Add a screenshot of the result.
How to write a good title and description
A good title names your business, says what you do and gives your town. A plumber could write: Your Business Name, drain and water heater repair in Dayton. Keep the title to one main service. A long list of services is hard to read.
A good description is one or two plain sentences. Say what you do and where you are. Add one fact a stranger can check, such as your hours. An example reads: Drain and water heater repair in Dayton. Open Monday to Saturday. Phone us to book.
Check your title and your description against this list.
- Name your business in the title.
- Name your town in the title.
- Say what you do in plain words.
- Leave out filler words such as Welcome.
- Write only what is true today.
What to send whoever built your site
Send these three requests in one message. Add your screenshots so the person can see what you see. Ask them to tell you when they finish each one.
- Change the page title of my home page to say what we do and where.
- Add a description that says what we do and where.
- Tell me whether our site gives Google our address and hours with Local Business structured data.