Get found on Google and in AI search

The plan

1. Spend 20 minutes today fixing your Google Business Profile with the checklist below.
2. Ask one happy customer for a review this week. In your profile's editing panel, look for Ask for reviews to get the link.
3. Block 15 minutes on the same morning every week to reply to reviews, ask for new ones and post one update.

Try this now: fix your Google Business Profile in 20 minutes

Your Google Business Profile is the box on the right of Google (or on Google Maps) when someone searches your business name. It's also the listing that shows up when they search "plumber near me". Go to google.com/business, sign in with the Google account that manages your listing, and work down this list.

Never claimed your listing? Start there. Google makes you prove you run the business, and it picks how. Often that's a short video showing your signage, your premises or your work vehicle. Sometimes it's a phone call, an email or a postcard in the mail. It can take a few days, so work through the list while you wait.

• ☐ Business name is your real name, exactly as it appears on your sign. No extra words like "Best Plumber Surrey".
• ☐ Main category is the one thing you most want to be found for.
• ☐ Opening hours are right, and holiday hours are set for the next holiday.
• ☐ Phone number rings a person or a system that answers.
• ☐ Website link works and goes to your real site.
• ☐ Service area or address is correct.
• ☐ At least five recent photos of your real work, premises or team.
• ☐ Every review from the last three months has a reply.
• ☐ The description says what you do, who for and where, in plain words.

For that last one, open chatgpt.com or claude.ai, paste this in and fill the brackets:

Here is the current description on my Google Business Profile: [paste, or write "none"]. My business is [name], a [type of business] in [city]. We serve [areas]. Our main services are [list]. What customers tell us they like: [notes, or "skip"]. Things we don't do: [list].
Write a new description under 700 characters. The first sentence says what we do and where. Use plain words a customer would search for. No links, no prices, no special offers, no claims I haven't given you (no "best", no "award-winning", no years in business unless I gave them). Canadian spelling.

Check every fact before it goes on your profile. Google allows 750 characters, won't accept links or promotions in this box, and tells you if you run over.

1. Start here if you've never used AI

You don't need any AI experience. Most of this kit is housekeeping on your Google listing, and AI writes the words.

ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini are AI chatbots. A chatbot is a website or phone app where you type a message and it writes an answer back in a few seconds. OpenAI makes ChatGPT, Anthropic makes Claude, Google makes Gemini. All three have free plans, and every prompt here works in any of them.

A prompt is the message you type. Copy one of the ready-made ones here, swap the parts in [square brackets] for your own details, and send.

AI search is people asking a chatbot instead of scrolling links. Someone types "who's a good dentist in Langley that takes new patients?" into ChatGPT or Gemini, or reads the AI summary at the top of Google. This kit is about making sure those tools have the right facts about you.

It can be wrong while sounding sure. A chatbot might say you open Sundays when you don't. Read everything it writes before it goes anywhere.

Keep private details out. When you paste a review or a customer message into a chatbot, take the customer's name out first. It doesn't need to know who they are to help you reply.

Words you'll see

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