How to get on Google Cairns and FNQ

How to Get Your Business on Google in Cairns

A plain English walk through of exactly what to do, in the order to do it, with no jargon and nothing to buy. Follow these six steps and you will be ahead of most businesses in town.

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Free to do yourself
No jargon
Takes an afternoon
Bernie talking a Cairns business owner through getting on Google
Straight answer
Six steps, one afternoon
Everything here you can do yourself for nothing. Bernie is happy to check it over when you're done.
Bernie showing a Cairns business owner their Google listing
Before you start

Getting on Google is free, and most people stop halfway

There are two separate things people mean when they say they want to be on Google. One is the map listing with the pin and the reviews. The other is your website turning up in the ordinary search results underneath. They are different jobs and the map one is far easier, so start there.

Everything on this page you can do yourself, for nothing, in an afternoon. No software, no subscription, no agency. If you get stuck partway through, ring 0455 836 000 and Bernie will talk you through it.

The map listing side of this is what most people mean by local SEO, and it is where nearly every Cairns business has the most to gain for the least effort.

The six steps

What to do, in the order to do it

Step 1. Claim your Google Business Profile

This is the free listing that shows your business on Google Maps and in the box at the top of the search results. Go to google.com/business, search for your business name, and claim it. Google posts a postcard with a code to your address, or rings you, to prove the business is really yours. Nothing else on this list works properly until this is done.

Step 2. Fill it in properly, not halfway

Most Cairns businesses claim the listing and then stop. Put in your exact trading name, your phone number, your hours, and the suburbs you actually work in. Pick the most specific category you can find rather than a vague one. A plumber should choose Plumber, not Contractor. This one choice decides a lot of which searches you turn up in.

Step 3. Add real photos of real work

Ten decent photos of your actual jobs, your van, your shopfront or your team beat one stock image every time. People scrolling Google Maps in Cairns are deciding whether you look like a real local business or a fly by nighter, and photos are how they decide it.

Step 4. Make your website say the same thing

Your business name, address and phone number need to match exactly between your listing and your website. Not roughly, exactly. If your listing says Unit 2 and your site says U2, that is enough to slow you down. Your site also needs to name the suburbs you serve, because that is how Google works out where to show you.

Step 5. Ask every happy customer for a review

Reviews are the single biggest thing separating the businesses at the top of the map results from the ones underneath. Ask at the end of the job while they are still pleased with you, send them the direct link, and reply to every review you get, including the ordinary ones.

Step 6. Keep it alive

A listing that has not been touched in a year drifts down. Post an update now and then, keep your hours right over Christmas and Easter, add photos as you finish jobs. Fifteen minutes a month is genuinely enough to stay ahead of most of your competition in Cairns.

Where Cairns businesses come unstuck

The three mistakes that undo all the work

Bernie sees the same three problems over and over on Cairns businesses that have done everything else right.

Picking the wrong category

  • Choosing a broad category like Contractor instead of Electrician quietly cuts you out of most of the searches you want.
  • You can change it any time, and changing it to something more specific often moves things within a few weeks.
  • Pick the one that describes what you actually do most days, not the widest one you qualify for.
How Bernie sets up Google Business Profiles →

A listing that points at a broken website

  • Half the value of the listing is the click through to your site. If that site is slow, old or does not work on a phone, the call never happens.
  • Most people finding you this way are on a phone, standing somewhere, deciding who to ring right now.
  • A site that loads fast and shows your number at the top does most of the work for you.
What a properly built website looks like →

Doing the listing and nothing else

  • The map listing gets you into the top box. It does not get your website into the results underneath it.
  • Those are two different jobs, and the second one is where the longer term work sits.
  • If you want both, that is the point where it is worth talking to someone rather than doing it yourself.
Getting found in the Google results too →
Common questions

What people ask about getting on Google

Straight answers, no runaround, no jargon.

How do I get my business on Google in Cairns?

Claim your free Google Business Profile at google.com/business, verify that the business is yours, then fill in your name, phone, hours, categories and service area properly and add real photos. That gets you onto Google Maps. Getting your website into the search results underneath is a separate and slower job.

Is it actually free?

The Google Business Profile listing is completely free, and always has been. If someone rings you offering to register your business on Google for a fee, they are charging you for something you can do yourself in about twenty minutes. Ignore them.

How long before I show up?

The listing itself usually appears within a few days of being verified. Where you sit against your competitors takes longer, generally a couple of months of having reviews come in and the details right. Anyone promising you the top spot next week is guessing.

Do I need a website if I have a Google listing?

You can start with just the listing, and for some businesses that is enough to get the phone going. But the listing sends people to your website to decide whether to ring, and without one you are asking them to take you on faith. Have a look at what Bernie builds for Cairns businesses if you are weighing it up.

What if I work across a few suburbs instead of one shop?

Set yourself up as a service area business and list the suburbs you actually travel to. Tradies across Cairns and the northern beaches almost always want this rather than a shopfront address. Your website should name those same suburbs so the two agree.

Can Bernie just do this for me?

Yes. If you would rather not spend the afternoon on it, Bernie sets these up properly as part of his Google Business Profile work, and will tell you honestly if you do not need him for it.

Keep reading

More plain English guides for FNQ business owners

No jargon, no sales pitch, just the things Bernie gets asked most often.

All guides Google Business Profile Getting found on Google Common questions Get in touch

Cairns and Far North Queensland

Want someone to check it over?

Once you have worked through the six steps, Bernie will look over your listing for free and tell you what is still missing. No charge and no pitch.

Let's have a chat about your Google listing 0455 836 000
Mon to Fri, 9am to 6pm, you'll get Bernie