Why your name, area and phone number should match on Google and directories

I look after Google Business Profiles and websites for trades across Sussex. When a plasterer, a painter and decorator, or a landscaper asks me to get them on Google, I check three facts first: the business name, the area you cover, and the phone number.

People find you on Maps, then on your site, then on Checkatrade, Yell or FreeIndex if a neighbour mentioned one. I will not invent a figure for map positions. Mixed details are enough to send someone to the next trade.

What should be the same

You do not need the same paragraph everywhere. You need the same facts, spelled the same way.

The name is the one on the van, the invoice, and the way you answer the phone. "Harris Plastering" is a name. "Harris Plastering Emergency Rendering Best Prices" is search words stuffed into a name. Google's Business Profile guidelines ask for the real-world name. A stuffed name is also a common reason a profile gets suspended.

The phone number is one number you answer. Call it from another phone. If it diverts, check it reaches the mobile you carry on site. A number you dropped stays published until you replace it.

The area is where you will actually go. Most plasterers, decorators and landscapers visit the customer. If nobody comes to a yard or a shop, hide the home address on Google and list the towns you really cover. "The whole of the south" on one listing and two towns on another describes two businesses.

A directory may still ask for a street address. I will not guess what Checkatrade, Yell or FreeIndex display. Open the live page after you save. If a home address is public and you did not want that, change it or ask them to hide it.

Where the details drift

The website still has your first number. A Facebook page uses a nickname you no longer put on quotes. The Google name was typed from memory, or a directory was filled in from an old card. These are the usual mismatches.

• Two names. "Greenfield Landscapes" on Google and "Tom Green Landscaping" on a directory, or a short name on the van and a longer one on the site.
• A personal name, a trading name, and a limited company. Use the trading name on every public listing. If that differs from the registered company name, explain it in one sentence on anything you show Google. That is not legal advice. Invoice wording is a question for your accountant.
• Categories for work you do not do. A landscaper who lays patios can say so. A plasterer who does not fit kitchens should not look as if they do. The business name stays the trading name.
• An old number on Yell or FreeIndex. People ring the number on the page they found. If it rings out, they call someone else.
• An address you have left, or a second Google profile under an old name. Do not open another profile to start again. Update the one you have, or remove the address and state the areas you cover.

Why customers hesitate

They look for a review, a photo of a real job, and a number, then check you are who the neighbour meant. Different names make the review look like someone else's. Different numbers leave them unsure which phone to try while you are on site. If only one listing mentions their town, they may think you will not travel.

Google is comparing the profile, the site and the other listings. When they agree, you have described one business. When they do not, the old details stay in circulation, including a quote in one name and an invoice in another. I will not claim a change in Maps.

A check you can finish in an evening

If a directory login is locked, use the password reset on that site. Do not make a second listing to get round it.

1. Write the trading name on one line. Check the van, a recent invoice, and how you answer the phone.
2. Write one phone number and call it, including any divert.
3. Write the areas you cover, and whether anyone can visit. If they cannot, do not publish an address that looks like a shop.
4. Open Google, your website, Checkatrade, Yell and FreeIndex, plus Facebook if you have a page. Note the name, the number, and the area or address.
5. Change Google and the website first, then the directories. Same spelling, same "Ltd" or not, same "&" or "and", same dialling code.
6. Search the old name and the old number in quotation marks. Update your own pages. Ask a directory you have left to correct or remove an old number, and keep what you sent.
7. Open the public page later, not only the form. Read the name and tap the number.

Set the main Google category to the work you mostly do. Put the same number on the invoice, the van and the email signature.

What to leave alone

Do not add towns to the business name, and do not join a pile of new directories in an afternoon. Do not rename the firm every few months, and do not copy a listing stuffed with search words.

If the profile is suspended, sort the name and the address before you appeal, and do not open a replacement. A directory that brings work you want can stay, once the details match.

A customer should be able to move from Google, to your site, to a directory, and still see one business, on a number you answer.

If you want me to mark what does not match, start with a free website and Google review. Tell me whether you plaster, decorate or landscape, and which areas you cover. I will say what I would line up first.