Google Business Profile: 9 things Vienna businesses can fix in 30 minutes
Anyone searching "café near me" or "locksmith 1100" first sees a map with three businesses. Those three get most of the calls and directions requests – often before anyone opens a website.
Google itself names three factors for this local ranking: relevance, distance and prominence. You can't change the distance. The other two you can, and mostly for free, in your Business Profile.
1. The right primary category
The primary category is the most important setting in the whole profile. Choose the most precise one there is: "Pizza restaurant" rather than "Restaurant", "Nail salon" rather than "Beauty salon". Additional categories cover whatever else you offer.
2. Your real name – no keywords
Enter the name that is on your sign. "Salon Anna – cheap hairdresser Vienna" breaks Google's guidelines and in the worst case can get the profile suspended. The short-term boost isn't worth the risk.
3. Opening hours, including holidays
Nothing annoys customers more than a locked door while Google says "open". Add special hours for public holidays, closures and bridge days. Google rewards up-to-date information, and customers remember a wasted trip.
4. Phone and website link
Use a number where someone actually answers, and link to the right page of your website – not just any home page, but the one where people can book, order or get in touch.
5. Services with starting prices
The profile lets you list services and products. Use it: "Women's haircut from €45" answers the most common question before it is asked and helps Google understand what you are relevant for.
6. Real photos, regularly
Upload your own photos: the entrance from outside so people can find you, the team, the rooms, your work. No stock photos. A few new pictures every month show the business is alive.
7. Reviews: ask, but never buy
Ask every happy customer for a review, ideally with the direct link or a QR code at the till. Buying reviews, trading them for discounts or only asking customers you know are happy is against Google's policies – and Google increasingly removes such reviews automatically.
8. Reply to every review
Say a short thank-you for positive reviews and reply calmly to negative ones. It is not only the author who reads the reply but every future customer. A calm, friendly answer to criticism often builds more trust than five stars with no reply.
9. The same details everywhere
Name, address and phone number should be exactly the same on Google, your website, Herold and social media. Inconsistencies confuse customers and Google alike, and the AI answers of search engines pick up on them too.
Bottom line: profile and website work together
The Google profile brings people to you. The website decides whether they call. If both are in order, you are already ahead of most competitors in your own neighbourhood.
Want to know how your presence looks from the outside? Send us your website and you get a short video with honest feedback for free – including your Google profile.