Businesses in Haifa and the north: how to show up first in local search

Why it all starts with the Business Profile

Marketing a small business in Haifa and the north sounds like paid ads, a website and social media. All of those are good, but a new customer searching for "cafe in Hadar" or "barbershop in the Krayot" first sees a list on the map. In it are Google Business Profiles: name, address, hours, photos, reviews, and buttons to call and get directions.

This profile is free, and it is yours. But it does not maintain itself. A profile with old hours, no photos and no replies to reviews looks like a business nobody runs, even when the business itself works very well.

How Google decides who to show

Google's help page on local ranking says results are decided mainly by three factors. The same page also says there is no way to request or pay for a better local ranking.

In simple words: whoever promises you "first place on Google" is promising something nobody controls. What you can do is make sure your profile is complete, correct and active. This article does not promise a ranking either.

The profile checklist

1. Verify the business. Only the owner of a verified profile can manage it and see the performance data.
2. The business name is the same as the name on the sign. Google forbids adding marketing slogans or location words to the name.
3. A correct and exact address, of the place where the business really operates.
4. A direct phone number to the business, not a call center.
5. A category as specific as possible, and few categories. Choose what the business is, not what it has.
6. Opening hours that reflect reality, and special hours before a holiday.
7. Photos: logo, cover photo, and photos from inside and outside.
8. A reply to every review, politely and briefly.

The same details everywhere

The name, address and phone should be the same on the Google profile, on the website, on the digital business card and on the sign. A customer who sees two different addresses does not know where to go. For example only: the fictional "Seven Steps Cafe" moved to another street a year ago. They updated the address on the website, but the old one stayed on the Google profile, and new customers arrived at an empty shop.

A profile that changes without you noticing

According to Google's help page, users can suggest updates to your Business Profile. When Google tells you about a suggestion, you have four days to approve or reject it. If you did not reply, Google may publish the update if it is supported by other information. Sometimes it updates without asking, too.

That is how a closing time can change without you touching it. In Shortip, if something changed on the profile, the address or the hours, you know, and you check whether it is right.

What people search to find you

A verified profile has performance data: how many people viewed the profile, how many called, how many asked for directions, and which words they searched when they found you. In Shortip you see this in the portal: how many people saw you on Google, called and asked for directions, and what they searched when they found you.

For example only: the fictional "Sea Wave Studio" in Kiryat Yam is sure people search for it as "pilates". The list of search words shows that many arrive through "reformer pilates" and "trial class". That changes what to write in the description, and which photos to upload.

Google posts

Google lets a business publish updates, offers and events on its profile, and they appear on Search and Maps. According to Google, when customers see the profile was updated recently, it encourages them to visit. A good post is short and practical: holiday hours, a new dish, a live music evening.

In Shortip you write a Google post in the portal, and it is published only when you press. Nothing goes up to Google on its own, not on a schedule and not automatically.

Reviews, with no incentives

Reviews and replies to them are part of prominence. Ask all your customers, the same way, and with nothing in return: Google forbids giving payment, a discount, or a free product or service in exchange for a review. And reply to every review. In Shortip every review arrives with a ready draft reply, which you edit and paste on Google.

What is special about Haifa and the north

Haifa and northern Israel are an area of neighborhoods, the Krayot and small towns, and of customers who speak Hebrew and Arabic. So it is worth thinking about two things: neighborhood and town names in the profile description, the way customers really say them, and replies to reviews in the language they were written in. Whoever searches "cafe in the Carmel" and whoever searches "cafe in Merkaz HaCarmel" are looking for the same thing, but your description should speak the language of both, without stuffing location words into the business name.

If you have a loyalty club with Shortip, a customer whose phone is in Arabic gets the club card in Arabic. And Shortip itself works in Haifa and northern Israel: Gal comes to the business and sets up the service with you.

Ten minutes a week

A good profile does not take a day of work. It takes a steady habit. Here is a short weekly routine you can do from your phone:

1. Check that the hours and the address are still correct, especially before a holiday or a week off.
2. Reply to every review from the last week, including the short ones.
3. Look at what people searched when they found you, and ask whether the description uses the same words.
4. Compare how many called and asked for directions with the week before.
5. If there is something new, upload a photo or publish a short post.

For example only: the fictional "Seven Steps Cafe" opens the portal on Sunday morning. It sees two new reviews and replies to them from the drafts, after adjusting the wording. It finds that the hours on the profile do not include the early Friday closing time, and fixes them. Before Hanukkah it writes a post about the holiday hours, and presses to publish.

Frequently asked questions