Google just turned 28. They marked it with a birthday Doodle and a trivia quiz walking through their own history: the early days, the quirks, the weird corners nobody remembers anymore.
It got me thinking about something you've probably never considered. Google has been building a file on your business too.
Google Remembers Everything (Your Customers Do Too)
That trivia quiz is Google showing you the public version of what they track. Behind it, they're holding 28 years of data on how local businesses show up, how people find them, and what keeps them in business.
Here's the part that matters to you. When someone searches "plumber near me" or "coffee shop open now" or "dentist accepting new patients," Google isn't guessing. It's pulling a record it's been building about your business since the day you opened. Are you part of that record the way you want to be?
You might not be. It's easy to let Google write the story by accident.
Your Local Visibility Is Your File
Think about what's in that file: your hours, your address, your phone number, your reviews, the photos customers posted, the words people type when they search for what you do. That's the record Google hands a customer before that customer ever calls you.
You don't get a choice about whether Google keeps this file. You do get a choice about whether it's accurate, whether it's complete, and whether it actually points customers toward you. That's a choice you might not even know you're making, or not making. One path costs you nothing but attention. The other quietly costs you customers who searched, found the wrong version of you, and moved on.
The gap between a sharp local presence and an invisible one isn't large. It's just attention almost nobody gives it.
Check Your File Right Now
There are three places your business shows up in local search. Your Google Business Profile is one part of the record. Your website is another. What customers say about you is the third. Ask yourself right now: can you name what each of those three says about you today? If you can't answer for all three, that's your gap. When those three don't match, or one's missing, Google hands the customer a broken version of you.
You can't fix a gap you haven't found. Start by finding it.
I built a free tool that shows you exactly what Google is saying about your business in your area right now, and where the record is thin or wrong. It takes two minutes.
If the check turns up gaps and you want help closing them, Handle My Visibility keeps your local file accurate and current for $197 a month. See what it covers at zakrproductions.com/services.
But start with the free check. Know what Google's telling people about you before you decide what to fix.
#LeaveTheHerd