Ask most Brighton shop or café owners where their customers find them and the answer is "Google Maps", even if they don't think of it as SEO. The Google Business Profile, the panel that appears in Maps and beside search results, is often seen by more people than the website itself. Yet many profiles in the city are half-finished, out of date or set up with the wrong category.
This checklist covers the things we fix most often for businesses in Brighton and Hove. You can do almost all of it yourself in an afternoon.
1. Claim and verify the profile
Search for your business name on Google Maps. If a profile exists and you don't control it, use the "Own this business?" link to request access. If none exists, create one at business.google.com. Verification methods vary: video, postcard or phone. Video verification usually involves filming your premises, signage and something that proves you run the business, so do it during opening hours.
If a previous owner, a former employee or an old agency still has access, ask them to transfer it. Shared logins cause problems later.
2. Get the name exactly right
Use your real-world business name, as it appears on your sign. Adding keywords ("Joe's Café Brighton Best Brunch") breaks Google's guidelines and can get the profile suspended, especially if a competitor reports it. In a crowded area like North Laine, competitors do report.
3. Choose the primary category carefully
The primary category is one of the strongest local ranking factors. Pick the most specific category that describes your main business: "Vegan restaurant" rather than "Restaurant", "Physiotherapist" rather than "Medical clinic". Then add secondary categories for the other things you genuinely offer.
A useful trick is to look at the categories used by the businesses that currently appear in the map results for your main search. Several free browser extensions reveal them.
4. Address or service area, not both by default
If customers visit you, show your address. If you visit them (plumbers, cleaners, mobile hairdressers), hide your address and set service areas instead. Choose the areas you really cover: Brighton, Hove, Portslade, Shoreham, Lewes and so on, rather than drawing a huge radius.
A specific Brighton problem: many businesses in Hove have "Brighton" in their address on some directories and "Hove" on others. Pick one form that matches Royal Mail's records and use it everywhere.
5. Hours, including the awkward ones
Out-of-date hours generate frustrated reviews faster than almost anything else. Set your regular hours, then add special hours for bank holidays and any planned closures. Seafront and hospitality businesses that change hours between summer and winter should put a reminder in the calendar for the switch.
Brighton has a busy events calendar. If you close early or open late for Pride, the Brighton Marathon, the Festival or a big match at the Amex, update the profile ahead of time.
6. Services, products and menus
Fill in the services section with each thing you offer and a short description. Shops can add products with photos and prices. Restaurants and cafés can link a menu or add menu items directly. These fields give Google more to match against specific searches like "gluten free cake Brighton" or "sports massage Hove".
7. Photos that look like the real place
Add a logo, a cover photo and at least ten genuine photos: the outside (so people can find you from the street), the inside, your products or dishes, and your team at work if you're comfortable with that. Avoid stock images. Add new photos every month or two; it signals the business is active and gives returning visitors something new.
Exterior photos matter more than usual in Brighton because so many businesses sit down narrow lanes or above other shops. A clear picture of your door saves a lot of "where are you?" phone calls.
8. Attributes
Attributes are the small labels such as "wheelchair accessible entrance", "dog friendly", "LGBTQ+ friendly", "outdoor seating" or "women-led". Searchers filter by them, and some appear directly in the results. Set every one that applies.
9. A steady flow of genuine reviews
Reviews affect both ranking and whether people choose you. The number, the recency and the content all count. The simplest system that works:
- Create a short review link from the profile dashboard.
- Ask happy customers in person, then send the link by email or text, or print it as a QR code on a small card at the till.
- Ask everyone, not just the people you think will be positive. Google's policy forbids filtering out unhappy customers before asking.
- Never offer discounts or freebies for reviews; that is also against the rules.
Reply to every review. Thank people briefly and specifically. For negative reviews, stay calm, acknowledge the issue, and offer to talk offline. Future customers read your replies as much as the reviews.
10. Posts and updates
Profile posts don't have a large direct effect on ranking, but they make the profile look cared for and can show up when people browse your listing. Use them for events, new stock, seasonal menus and offers. Once or twice a month is plenty.
11. Answer the obvious questions somewhere
Google has changed how questions and answers appear on profiles over time, so don't rely on that feature. Instead, make sure the answers to common questions, such as "Is there parking nearby?" or "Do you take walk-ins?", are in your description, attributes and website. If your profile still shows a questions section, check it regularly, because answers can come from strangers and be wrong.
12. Make sure the website matches
Your website should show the same name, address and opening hours as the profile. Link the profile to the most relevant page: usually the homepage for a single-location business, or the specific location page if you have several. Add LocalBusiness structured data to the site so search engines can match the two.
How the checklist plays out for different Brighton businesses
The same profile fields matter more or less depending on what you do. This is roughly where we would put the effort first:
| Business | Spend most time on | Often overlooked |
|---|---|---|
| North Laine shop | Exterior photos, products, accurate hours | "Shop online" and in-store stock links |
| Seafront café or bar | Seasonal hours, menu, recent photos | Outdoor seating and accessibility attributes |
| Hove clinic | Primary category, services list, reviews | Booking link and parking information |
| Trade covering the city | Service areas, reviews mentioning the job and area | Hiding the home address |
| Guesthouse or hotel | Hotel details, photos of rooms, direct booking links | Check-in times and amenities |
How to tell if it is working
Your profile has its own performance report, reached from the profile itself when you are signed in. It shows how many people viewed the profile, which searches triggered it, and how many asked for directions, called, clicked through to the website or made a booking. Check it monthly and compare with the same month last year, because Brighton's seasonal swings make month-on-month comparisons misleading.
Three numbers are worth tracking over time:
- Direction requests for businesses people visit. A rise usually means more people choosing you from the map.
- Website clicks for businesses where people research before buying.
- The searches list. If you see searches for things you don't offer, your categories or description may be too broad. If you never appear for your main service, the primary category is the first thing to check.
It also helps to check rankings from more than one spot. Map results in Brighton change a lot over short distances, so a café near the Clock Tower might rank well for searchers at the station and not at all for those on the Marina. Search from a few locations on your phone, or use a grid rank tracking tool, before deciding whether something is broken.
A monthly 20-minute routine
Once the profile is set up properly, keeping it in good shape takes very little time. Put this in the calendar:
- Reply to any new reviews.
- Check that hours, especially any special hours for the coming month, are correct.
- Add three to five new photos.
- Publish one post about something real: new stock, a menu change, an event.
- Look for suggested edits from Google or the public, and accept or reject them.
- Glance at the performance report.
Common Brighton mistakes we see
- Two duplicate profiles for the same business after a move, each with half the reviews.
- Pins dropped in the wrong place on narrow streets, sending people round the block.
- "Permanently closed" flags added by mistake when a business changed its name.
- Seasonal businesses left showing summer hours all winter.
- Service-area businesses showing a home address on a residential street.
What to do next
Work through the list above, then search for your main service from a few different spots in the city to see where you appear. If you would like a second pair of eyes, our local SEO service starts with a free look at your profile, and we will tell you which two or three changes are likely to make the most difference.