Google search results for your own business name

When a customer already knows your name, the search for it is the one that matters most: it is usually the last step before they call or visit. A healthy result shows your own website with a sensible title, your Google Business Profile with correct hours and phone, and a few listings you recognize. If anything in that picture is wrong, most of it can be fixed by you, from your own phone, in an afternoon.

How to search for yourself properly

Your own browser is a poor judge, because Google tailors results to people who have visited your site and signed in to your profile. To see what a stranger sees:

On your phone, open a private or incognito tab. In Chrome, tap the three dots, then New Incognito tab. On an iPhone in Safari, tap the tabs button, then Private.
Type your business name exactly as customers would say it, without the town.
Search again with the town added, and again with a common misspelling or a shortened version people use.
Repeat on a computer, because the layout is different.

Take screenshots. You will compare them after making fixes.

What a healthy result looks like

For a business with a website and a Google Business Profile, expect to see:

Your Business Profile. On a phone it usually sits near the top with your name, rating, hours, a call button and directions. On a computer it sits on the right. This box is what most people act on.
Your website, with a title that names your business and, ideally, what you do and where. Below it there may be a few extra links into your site, such as Services or Contact. Google chooses those; you cannot pick them directly, but a clear menu helps.
Your own listings elsewhere: Facebook, Yelp, the Better Business Bureau, a trade directory, the chamber of commerce. These are fine as long as their details are right.
Reviews from your profile and possibly other sites.

What you do not want to see: a competitor's ad above you, an old address, a closed second location, a site you stopped using years ago, a name that is not quite yours, or pages that have nothing to do with you.

Fixing the Business Profile box

Most wrong information sits here, and it is the easiest to fix.

If you are signed in to the Google account that manages your profile, searching your business name shows an owner panel above the results with buttons such as Edit profile. Use it to correct:

Hours, including special hours for holidays.
Phone number, the one you actually answer.
Website, pointing to your current site's home page.
Category, the main one first.
Business name, exactly as it appears on your sign and your paperwork. Adding extra words like "Best Plumber Denver" breaks Google's rules and can get the profile suspended.

If there is no owner panel when you search, either you are signed in to the wrong Google account or nobody in the business controls the profile. Website ownership and Google: who controls your listing explains how to find out who does, and what to do if it is a former employee or an agency.

When anyone can "suggest an edit"

Google lets the public suggest changes to a business. Sometimes these are helpful, sometimes they are mistakes, occasionally they are a competitor. If your hours or phone changed without you doing it, check your profile for edits Google applied and change them back. Keeping your profile up to date yourself makes Google less likely to accept strangers' suggestions.

Fixing what your website shows

The blue headline Google shows for your website usually comes from the page title of your home page, and the grey text under it often comes from the page's description or from text on the page. If the result says "Home" or the name of a builder template, the page title needs changing. Page titles and descriptions: what Google shows explains how to write both.

A good home page title for a local business is simple: your business name, what you do, and your town. For example: "Harbor Lane Bakery | Cakes and Bread in Portsmouth, NH".

After you change it, Google needs to revisit the page before the result updates. That can take from a few days to a few weeks.

When an old website or old address keeps appearing

If a site you no longer use still shows up for your name, find out who controls it. If it is an old site on your own domain, the cleanest fix is to forward its pages to your current site, so people who click land in the right place. If it is an old free page on a builder or a directory, sign in and delete it, or ask the directory to remove it.

An old address in a directory needs correcting at the source: sign in to Yelp, BBB, Facebook or wherever it appears and change it. Some directories copy each other, so fix the big ones first.

When a competitor's ad appears on your name

Some competitors buy ads on other businesses' names. It is legal in many cases, as long as their ad does not pretend to be you, and Google allows it in most circumstances. You cannot stop it outright. What you can do is make your own result clearly yours: a correct, full Business Profile, a website title with your name, and good recent reviews. If an ad uses your trademarked name in its text, Google has a trademark complaint process, which your attorney can help with.

When the wrong business shows up instead

If a different business with a similar name shows up first, or Google merges details from two businesses, make the difference unmistakable: your exact name, your town and your trade should appear on your home page in plain text, and in your Business Profile. If a duplicate profile exists for your business, Google's Business Profile help center has a form to report it. Do not create a second profile to compete with the wrong one.

What to do this week

Search your business name in a private tab on your phone, with and without your town. Screenshot it.
Sign in to your Business Profile and correct hours, phone, website and category.
Check the title of your home page in the result. If it is vague, rewrite it.
Fix any old address on the directories that appear on the first page.
Search again in two weeks and compare with your screenshots.

If the website in that result is the weak part, out of date or hard to use on a phone, you can see your site rebuilt first and compare it with what customers see today.