Based in Cape Town, working with businesses across South Africa
Google Business Profile setup and care, so you're one of the three on the map
When someone searches "plumber near me", Google shows three businesses on a map before any website. We set up and look after your Google Business Profile so yours is one of them, and so it's the one people choose to call.
- Setup
- R2,500 once off
- Care from
- R1,500 a month
- Contract
- Month to month
- The profile
- Free from Google and stays yours
The map
The map decides most local calls
For "near me" searches and searches with a suburb in them, Google usually shows a map with three businesses before the normal results. Many people call straight from there without opening a website.
Which three Google shows depends mainly on three things: how relevant your profile is to the search, how close you are to the person searching, and how well known and well reviewed you are. You can't move your business closer, but the other two you can improve, and that's the work.
Google My Business is now called Google Business Profile. If you set one up years ago, it's the same thing.
Profile Setup
Profile Setup: what we do
- Create or claim your profile, in your name, on your Google account
- Choose the right main category and the extra categories that match your work
- Set your service areas, or your address if customers visit you
- List every service, with a short description in the words people search
- Add your hours, phone, WhatsApp and website, matched to your site
- Upload real photos of your work, your team and your vehicle
- Help you through Google's verification
- Write your business description, plainly and within Google's rules
You own the profile from day one. We're added as managers, and you can remove us at any time. Setup is R2,500 once off.
Profile Care
Profile Care: what we do every month
- Weekly posts about real jobs, offers or seasonal work
- New photos each month, from jobs you send us
- Replies to every review, good and bad, in your voice
- A simple way for your team to ask for reviews on the day the job is done
- Answers to questions people ask on your profile
- Checks for edits by Google or the public that change your details
- A short monthly report: how many calls, website visits and direction requests your profile brought, and what we did
R1,500 a month, month to month.
Reviews
More reviews, the right way
Reviews are one of the strongest things on your profile, and Google is strict about how you get them. We help you ask every customer, at the right moment, with a direct link that takes them straight to the review box.
What we never do: buy reviews, write them, offer customers something in return, or only ask the customers we think will be happy. All of those break Google's rules and can get reviews removed or your profile suspended.
What you pay for
The profile is free. Here's what you pay us for.
Anyone can create a Google Business Profile for free, and our guide shows you how. What takes time is choosing the right categories, writing services that match real searches, keeping photos and posts fresh, asking for reviews every week and spotting the edits that quietly change your details. Most business owners start well and then run out of time. That's what Profile Care is for.
Categories
The right category for your business
Your main category is one of the biggest choices on your profile. These are the categories we usually start with. We check your competitors before choosing.
| Business | Main category we'd start with |
|---|---|
| Plumbers | Plumber |
| Aircon and HVAC | Air conditioning contractor |
| Electricians | Electrician |
| Builders | General contractor |
| Waterproofing and roofing | Roofing contractor, or Waterproofing service |
| Blinds and shading | Window treatment store |
| Solar | Solar energy contractor |
| Appliance repairs | Appliance repair service |
| Pest control | Pest control service |
| Cleaning | House cleaning service, or Commercial cleaning service |
| Law firms | The specific practice, such as Divorce lawyer or Real estate attorney |
| Dentists | Dentist |
| Guest houses | Guest house, or Bed and breakfast |
| Gate motors and security | Gate repair service, or Security system installer |
| Pool services | Swimming pool repair service |
| Locksmiths | Locksmith |
| Mechanics and panel beaters | Auto repair shop, or Auto body shop |
| Accountants | Accountant, or Tax preparation service |
Home and branches
Working from home, or from several branches
If customers don't visit you, you can hide your address and show the areas you serve instead. You still show on the map for searches in those areas.
If you have several branches, each real, staffed branch can have its own profile, with its own photos, hours and reviews. A profile for an address where you don't work breaks Google's rules, so we don't make them.
Specific help
Need help with something specific?
- Setting one up yourself?
- Profile suspended?
- Lost access, or someone else controls it?
Choose help
Before you hand over your profile to anyone
Ask any company, us included:
- Will the profile stay in my name, on my Google account?
- Will you add keywords to my business name? (The right answer is no; it breaks Google's rules.)
- Will you buy or write reviews? (The right answer is no.)
- What will I see each month?
- Can I leave at any time and keep everything?
Our answers: yes, no, no, a short report with calls and what we did, and yes.
Questions
Google Business Profile questions
Is a Google Business Profile free?
Yes, from Google. You pay us only for the work of setting it up and looking after it.
Do I need a business address?
No. If customers don't visit you, you can hide your address and show the areas you serve.
How long does verification take?
It depends on the method Google offers you. Some profiles verify the same day, others take longer. We help you through whichever one Google asks for.
Can you get me into the top three on the map?
We can't promise a position, and nobody honestly can. We can make your profile as strong as it can be, and show you every month what it brought in.
Can I do it myself?
Yes. Our guide shows you how. Most people we help started it themselves and ran out of time to keep it going.
Someone else set up my profile and I can't get in. Can you help?
Yes. Read our lost access guide, or WhatsApp us and we'll look at it.
Is Google My Business the same thing?
Yes. Google renamed it Google Business Profile.
Is there a contract?
Profile Care is month to month, with 30 days' notice.
Send us your website. We'll show you where the enquiries are slipping away.
Free audit video within 2 working days. Most people WhatsApp us; the form is here if you'd rather write it down.