Visibility guide Get your business on Google in Mauritius: 3 simple steps

1. Create and complete your Google profile

It is what makes you appear on Google Maps and in the box on the right of the results, when someone looks for your kind of business nearby. It is free, at business.google.com.

• Your business's exact name, nothing more. Adding a town or a slogan to the name, when it isn't part of it, is against Google's rules and can get the profile suspended.
• The right category, opening hours, phone number, a link to your site, and real photos.
• Do you travel to your customers? Hide your address and set a service area instead. Google asks that you meet your customers in person, at your place or theirs.

Google will then ask you to prove your business exists, often with a short video.

2. Ask for reviews, and reply to them

Reviews are what make people choose between two profiles. In Mauritius, they are word of mouth you can read online.

• Ask all your customers, not only the ones you know are happy: Google forbids cherry-picking.
• Offer nothing in return, no discount, no gift: that is forbidden too, and those reviews get removed.
• The link to send: in your profile, choose "Read reviews", then "Get more reviews", and copy the link. Send it by WhatsApp after the job, without pushing, rather than asking for a review on the spot. On a computer, the same menu also offers a QR code you can print.
• Reply to every review, even negative ones, calmly and with a solution. Future customers read your replies too.

3. Put the words your customers type on your site

Nobody searches for your slogan. People search for a type of business and a place. Your site has to say both clearly:

• The title of each page, the one shown in Google, contains your activity and your town. For example: "Your activity in Grand Baie, Business name".
• The same name, address and phone number everywhere: on your site, your Google profile and your Facebook page. Conflicting details confuse Google.
• One page per important service, rather than a single page that says everything in three lines.

What doesn't help, or makes things worse

• Adding keywords to your Google profile's name: it is forbidden, and the profile can be suspended.
• Buying reviews, or swapping them with other businesses: Google removes them.
• Paying someone who promises first place in Google's organic results within days: nobody can guarantee it. Google Ads, on the other hand, can show above them as soon as they go live, labelled "Sponsored", but only for as long as you pay.

And at Quartz?

The third step is included in every site I deliver: titles, copy and markup built for Google, in both languages. The first two are up to you, and they are often what makes the difference locally. To start on the right foot, also read how to choose your domain name.

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Frequently asked questions