No website yet? How to start getting found on Google

Not having a website doesn’t mean you have to be invisible. You can start showing up in local searches right away, and you can avoid the mistakes that businesses with older sites often have to pay to undo.

Step 1: Set up your Google Business Profile

If customers meet you in person, at your location or theirs, a free Google Business Profile should be your first move. It’s what can put you on Google Maps and in local results.

Pick the most accurate primary category, since that strongly shapes the searches you can appear for. Fill out your services, hours and service area, and add real photos of your work. If you work from home, you can hide your address and show a service area instead.

Step 2: Begin collecting Google reviews

Reviews help Google and customers decide whether you can be trusted. Ask real customers shortly after you’ve finished the job, while the experience is fresh, and make it easy by sending them a direct link. Don’t buy reviews or trade discounts for them, because that can get your profile penalized.

Step 3: List your business in local directories

Add your business to the main data sources and directories for your field, such as Bing Places, Apple Business Connect and any associations for your industry. Use exactly the same name, address and phone number everywhere.

Step 4: Secure a domain name

Even if the site isn’t ready, buy your domain now. Choose something short and easy to say out loud. Your business name is almost always a better choice than a keyword-stuffed domain, and it gives you a professional email address too.

Step 5: Plan your website’s SEO before design starts

This is where starting from nothing is an advantage. Decide what people need to find before thinking about colors:

• One page for each main service you offer
• A page for each important area you serve, if you have real things to say about it
• An about page that shows the real people behind the business
• A contact page with clear ways to reach you

Researching what customers actually type helps you decide what to call these pages. People might search “roof repair” while your trade calls it something else.

Step 6: Build a fast, mobile-friendly website

Many local searches take place on phones, often when someone needs help soon. Your site should load quickly on a mobile connection, and your phone number should be one tap away. A lightweight custom site or a carefully set up platform both work. What matters is the result.

What SEO work you can skip for now

You don’t need a blog with dozens of posts on day one, paid directory listings that nobody visits, or a logo that took three months. Launch a useful small site, and then improve it.

If you’d like help with any of this, take a look at our SEO website design service or request a free audit. Leave the website field blank and tell us what you do.