How to get your business on Google in Ghana

01Two ways in: the map and the links

Search "website designer in Accra" on your phone and you'll usually see two kinds of result:

1. The map pack: a small map with about three businesses. These come from Google Business Profiles, free listings you create on Google itself.
2. Regular results: the blue links underneath. These come from websites.

A business can appear in both, and each helps the other. For local searches the profile is often worth as much as the site, so do both.

02What Google looks at for local searches

Google says local results are mainly decided by three things:

• Relevance: how well your listing and your site match what was searched. Does it clearly say what you do and where?
• Distance: how far you are from the person searching, or from the place in their search.
• Prominence: how well known and trusted you are. Reviews, mentions and links from other sites, and how strong your site is in general.

You can't change distance. You can fix relevance in an afternoon, and build prominence a little every month.

03Step 1: Create a Google Business Profile, if you're eligible

A Business Profile is free, but it has rules. Google says a business needs in-person contact with customers: either they come to you, or you go to them. A shop, chop bar or salon with a front door qualifies. A plumber or web designer who visits clients can usually list as a service-area business. A business that only ever works online is not eligible. If you're unsure, search for Google's "Guidelines for representing your business on Google" before you start.

Go to business.google.com, sign in with the business's Google account and add the business. Fill it in honestly:

• Business name: the real name, exactly as on the signboard and the website. No extra words like "Best Salon Accra".
• Category: the closest real one, such as "Hair salon" or "Website designer".
• Location: the real address where customers visit. If you work from home and go to customers, choose service-area and hide your address. Google still asks for it to verify you, but customers won't see it.
• Service areas, phone, website and hours: the areas you really serve, the number you answer, and the hours you actually keep.

Then verify the profile. Google chooses the method, often a short video of the business. It can take a few days, and the profile isn't public until it's verified. Meanwhile, add an honest description, your real services and real photos.

04Step 2: Make the website the clearest answer

Google needs to understand what each page is about. For a small business site, that's mostly a few simple things done properly:

• A clear title and description on every page. The title is the blue link in Google, around 50 to 60 characters, most important words first. The description is the grey text underneath, around 140 to 160 characters, written for a person who might click.
• Say what you do and where, naturally. "Braids and natural hair care in Madina" tells a customer and Google everything. Use the area where a person would expect it, not in every sentence.
• Answer real questions. A short FAQ with the questions customers actually ask, with true answers, helps people and gives Google more to understand.
• A sitemap and robots file. A sitemap.xml lists every page you want Google to know about. A robots.txt tells search engines what they may visit and where the sitemap is.

Our guide What makes a website win customers for a local business covers the rest of the page: prices, hours and a way to order or book.

05Step 3: Tell Google the site exists

Google finds most sites eventually by following links, but a brand-new site has almost none. Google Search Console is Google's free tool for site owners. Use it to:

1. Add the site as a Domain property and prove you own it with a TXT record on the domain. Keep that record forever: if it's deleted, you lose access to your data.
2. Submit your sitemap, so Google gets the list of pages.
3. Request indexing for the Home page, once. Pressing it ten times doesn't help.

A week later, check the Pages report to see which pages are indexed, and search site:yourdomain.com in Google. Being indexed means Google can show a page. It doesn't mean it will show it first.

06Step 4: Get reviews the honest way

Reviews are a big part of prominence in the map pack. There's only one way to get them: do good work for real customers, then ask them. In your Business Profile, find the option to ask for reviews, copy the short link, and send it to happy customers. Reply to every review, good or bad, politely and soon. Replies show future customers how you treat people.

07Step 5: Use the same details everywhere

Every honest mention helps. Put the same name, phone number, area and website, written the same way, on your WhatsApp Business profile, Instagram, Facebook if your customers use it, and one or two free, real local directories (avoid any selling "SEO packages").

Make sure Google knows exactly what you sell and where. Shouting your name a hundred times doesn't help.

08What never to do

These shortcuts get sites and profiles pushed down or removed, and some mislead the customers you want to serve:

• Fake reviews: paid ones, ones you write yourself, or friends who never bought from you.
• Keyword stuffing: "Accra salon Accra hair Accra braids" in your text, your titles or your business name.
• Fake addresses: a virtual office you never use, or a pin on a busy street you don't work from.
• Copied pages: the same page twenty times with only the area name changed.
• Buying links from anyone selling "1,000 backlinks".

09Be patient, and check once a month

Local search is slow. A new site can take three to six months to climb, sometimes longer in a busy city. Set a monthly half hour to:

• check Search Console → Performance for the searches that showed you, your clicks and your average position, and write them down
• add or improve one thing: an FAQ answer, a new photo of real work, or a helpful page
• post an update on the Business Profile and reply to reviews
• look at your analytics, which shows what happens after the click: visitors, top pages and where they came from

You're looking for a trend over months, not a jump overnight. If a busy phrase is too hard at first, try a narrower one you can win: your area ("tailor in Adum") or your speciality ("bridal makeup Accra").

10Learn to do this for every client

Module 12 of the course, Launch Like a Pro, takes you through all of it on your own site: titles, descriptions, share image, sitemap, Search Console, a Business Profile if you're eligible, analytics and a launch checklist you'll use for every client. If you build sites for others, our guide What a website really costs a small business in Ghana helps you explain the rest to owners. Module 0 is free, so you can see how the course teaches first.