By Carson Handran, web designer in Bluffton, SC. About 2 minutes.
The short answer: the Google Business Profile work shows within weeks. Ranking in the map results for a competitive search like 'roofer Hilton Head' takes three to six months of steady activity and reviews. A new site shows up for its own name in a week or two. Anyone promising page one in 30 days is guessing or planning to buy ads.
The first month
The profile gets claimed, completed and matched to the site. Listings on Bing, Apple, Yelp, BBB and Yellow Pages get fixed so they agree. The site gets titles and descriptions that name the service and the town. Google usually re-reads all of this within a couple of weeks, and businesses often see the profile move for easier searches in that window.
Months two to six
Weekly photos and posts keep the profile active, which Google rewards. Reviews keep coming, which matters more than almost anything else. Service pages get added one at a time. This is when the map results for the main searches start to move. It is slow because Google is watching for consistency, not a one-time push.
What makes it faster
Three things, and none of them are tricks.
- Reviews. A steady few every month beats a burst of twenty once.
- Photos from real jobs, posted every week.
- A page for each service, so Google has something to rank for each search.
What makes it slower
A profile that says one phone number and a site that says another. A business name stuffed with keywords. Months of silence on the profile. And buying links, which can set you back further than doing nothing.
What it costs
The Grow plan at $499 a month does all of this every week and reports the numbers monthly. The one-time pieces are at /pricing. If you want to know where you stand today, the free audit at /free-website-audit is a five minute check.