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Local SEO: how a Google Business profile brings customers
For companies serving a city or region, the Google Business profile is often a stronger lever than classic SEO. Here's how to set it up.
When someone searches a combination of "service + city name" (for example "plumber Banja Luka" or "dentist Novi Sad"), Google first shows a map with local business profiles — before the classic text results below. The Google Business profile (a free tool) is your entry ticket to that extremely valuable space at the top of the page.
How to set up the profile correctly
An accurate, consistent company name, a complete address, a precisely chosen business category, and up-to-date opening hours matching the real ones (wrong hours frustrate customers who arrive when you're closed).
Quality, professional photos of the exterior, interior and, where relevant, products or services — profiles with good photos get significantly more clicks than those without images or with poor, blurry ones.
Regular profile updates — posts about news, holiday hours or special offers keep the profile "active" in the eyes of Google's algorithm.
Actively collecting reviews from satisfied customers, and professionally responding to all reviews — positive (gratitude) and negative (solving the problem publicly, showing other potential customers you care).
Why this combination is so valuable
A Google Business profile and a website confirming the same information (same name, address, phone) build double trust — with real customers who see the consistency, and with Google's algorithm, which treats that same consistency as a signal of the company's reliability.
For local businesses (services, restaurants, clinics, shops), a well-maintained Google Business profile often brings more actual calls and visits than generic SEO optimisation of classic text results — because it is the first thing a potential customer sees when searching for exactly your type of service in your city.
Nikola Cerić
Founder & CEO, Manage IT
More than 10 years of software development experience — in his own company and in major IT companies across the Balkans.