If you serve clients in a specific area, your Google Business Profile brings more calls than your website — and it costs nothing. Most small businesses in Montreal set it up in five minutes, never touch it again, and wonder why competitors appear above them. Here is what actually moves you up.
Why it matters more than your website
When someone searches “comptable près de moi” or “cleaning service Laval”, Google shows a map with three businesses before any website link. That block gets the majority of the clicks. If you are not in it, you are invisible to people who are ready to buy right now — not researching, ready.
A website convinces someone who already found you. The profile is how they find you.
The fields almost everyone leaves empty
Primary category. This single field does more for your ranking than anything else on the profile. Be precise: “Tax preparation service” beats “Accountant” if that is what you actually do. Then add secondary categories for everything else you offer.
Services. A separate section from categories, and mostly ignored. List every service by name with a short description. These descriptions are searchable text.
Service area. If you go to clients, set the neighbourhoods and cities you cover instead of a single address. If clients come to you, use the address.
Hours, including holidays. Google demotes profiles with stale hours, and nothing damages trust faster than a client arriving at a closed door.
Attributes. Languages spoken, accessibility, payment methods. In Montreal, marking that you serve clients in French, English and Spanish is a genuine filter for a lot of searchers.
The 20-minute checklist
- Precise primary category, plus every relevant secondary one.
- Every service listed with its own description.
- Ten real photos: your team, your work, your space, your vehicle.
- Hours set, with holiday hours filled in.
- A description of 750 characters that says what you do, for whom, and where.
- Languages and payment methods under attributes.
Photos: the part that converts
Profiles with real photos get clicked far more than profiles with a logo and nothing else. Not stock images — your actual work. A cleaning company should show a before and after. An accountant should show the office and a real person at the desk. People are deciding whether to trust a stranger with their money or their home; faces and finished work do that work for you.
Add a few every month. Google reads activity as a signal that the business is alive.
Reviews, without begging
Volume matters, but recency matters more: ten reviews from this year beat forty from 2021. The method that works is unglamorous — ask in person, right after the client says they are happy, and send the direct review link by text the same day. One sentence: “If this was useful, would you mind leaving a quick Google review? It genuinely helps us.”
Reply to every review, including the bad ones. A calm, specific reply to a one-star review convinces more future clients than the five-star reviews above it. Never argue and never copy-paste the same thank-you.
Posts: five minutes a week
The Posts section lets you publish updates that appear directly on your profile. A finished project, a seasonal offer, a change in hours. They expire after a week, which is exactly why so few businesses bother — and why the ones who do stand out.
Three mistakes that cost rankings
- Inconsistent NAP. Your name, address and phone must be written identically on your profile, your website and every directory. “Suite 5” in one place and “#5” in another splits your signal.
- Keyword stuffing the business name. “REYS Creative Studio — Best Branding Agency Montreal” violates Google’s rules and can get the profile suspended. Use your real name.
- Setting it up and disappearing. An abandoned profile drifts down. Fifteen minutes a month keeps it climbing.
If you serve clients in more than one language
Write your description in the language most of your clients search in, and list the others under attributes. In the Montreal area that usually means French first, with English and Spanish declared. It is a small detail that decides who calls.
Want it done properly once
We set up and optimize Google and Meta Business profiles as part of our Business Profiles service, with the description written in English, French or Spanish. It is included free with brand identity. Either way, do it — it is the highest-return free hour in small-business marketing.
Written by Reys David Pérez Flores · REYS Creative Studio
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