Add Your Holiday Services to Your Google Profile

Most businesses set up their Google Business Profile once and leave it. The hours get updated when someone remembers, and the photos stay whatever was uploaded the first year. That is a missed opportunity in the weeks before the holidays, because the profile is often the first thing a nearby customer sees, and it can say a lot more than your address and phone number.

If you sell anything seasonal, whether that is gift cards, holiday catering, light installation, year-end appointments or a December promotion, the profile is a good place to say so. It takes an hour or two to set up, and October is the right time to do it, before people start searching in earnest.

Add seasonal items to your services or products

The services section of your profile lists what you do, and most businesses can add their own entries with a short description. Add the seasonal ones alongside the regular list: "holiday light installation," "gift card packages," "year-end tax appointments." Use the plain words a customer would use, not the name of an internal package.

If your business sells physical items, the products section works the same way, with a photo, a short description and, if you choose, a price. A product with a clear photo is easier to notice than a line of text, which makes it a good home for gift cards or anything you sell more of in December.

Post an offer or event with dates

Profile posts can be marked as an offer or an event, each with a start and end date. That makes them a better fit for holiday promotions than a general update, because the dates are shown with the post and it stops being presented once the offer has ended.

• Use an offer post for a promotion with a clear end date, and put the terms in the post rather than making people call to ask.
• Use an event post for anything that happens on a particular day, such as an open house, a holiday sale or extended hours on a weekend.
• Add a photo to every post. A post with an image is far more likely to be looked at than one without.
• Add a button that goes somewhere useful, such as a booking page or a page about the offer, not just your homepage.

Plan a few posts across the season rather than one in November. A post in late October about booking early, one in mid-November about the main offer, and one in December about last-minute availability will keep the profile current through the busiest weeks.

A customer who sees your holiday offer on the map doesn't have to go looking for it.

Keep it accurate

Seasonal information has a short shelf life, and a profile advertising an offer that ended two weeks ago does more harm than one that says nothing. Set a reminder to remove holiday services and products in January, and check that your holiday hours are set for every day you will be closed or open late. If you have not looked at the rest of your profile recently, update your Google Business Profile for winter covers photos, hours and the other details worth checking before the season starts.

If you are new to the profile itself, Google Business Profile 101 explains how it works and what Google uses from it.

Answer the questions it brings in

A more complete profile tends to bring more calls, messages and direction requests, and some of those will come in on days when the team is stretched. Decide now who answers messages from the profile, and make sure the phone number on it rings somewhere that gets picked up. A good holiday listing that leads to an unanswered phone is worse than an average one.

Local search marketing with Vizible keeps your profile and listings accurate across every major directory, so seasonal changes show up everywhere customers look. A free growth proposal shows what that would look like for your business.