Module 5: Get first inquiries
Help local customers find you on Google
Use accurate business details, useful pages, real photos, and honest reviews so nearby customers can understand and find your service.
Outcome
Publish accurate local-business details and help people find and contact you without fake locations, copied city pages, or ranking promises.
Set up an accurate service-area business
Google says a business may be eligible when it has a place customers can visit or travels to customers. If you deliver to customers but do not serve them at your address, hide the address and use specific cities, postal codes, or other supported service areas.
Use one profile for the business location and its real-world business name. Do not use a virtual office, borrowed address, invented storefront, or a separate profile for every city you hope to serve.
- 1Confirm the business is eligible before creating or claiming a profile.
- 2Enter the real business name, phone, website, category, and operating hours.
- 3Hide the address when customers are not served there.
- 4Choose the specific areas you actually reach and can support reliably.
Give customers complete and useful information
Google explains that local results are mainly shaped by relevance, distance, and how well known a business is. Complete, accurate details help Google understand the business, but nobody can promise a particular position or pay Google for a better local ranking.
Keep the website and profile consistent. Add real photos, current hours, service-area details, a working contact link, and pages that answer genuine customer questions.
- 1Compare the business name, phone, website, hours, and service areas everywhere they appear.
- 2Add current photos that help customers recognize the machines and service.
- 3Write useful pages for real questions instead of copying one page and changing the city name.
- 4Check the public profile and website after any change to your business details.
Ask for honest reviews
Ask real customers to describe their real experience after you have completed meaningful work for them. Google allows businesses to share a review link or QR code, but incentives, selective positive-only requests, and fake reviews are not acceptable.
A balanced review can still be useful. Respond professionally, protect customer privacy, and fix service problems instead of arguing in public.
- 1Choose a natural point after delivery or a resolved service visit to ask.
- 2Send the same neutral request to customers without asking for a specific rating.
- 3Never offer money, discounts, gifts, or another benefit for a review.
- 4Reply calmly and do not reveal private rental or payment details.
Honest review request
A neutral message you can adapt
Thanks for choosing [business name]. If you would like to share your honest experience, you can leave a Google review here: [review link]. Your feedback helps us understand what is working and what we should improve. There is no reward for leaving a review, and you do not have to leave one.
Use paid ads only after customers can contact you
An ad cannot fix a confusing offer or a broken reply process. First test the website, contact link, alerts for the person who replies, and follow-up steps. Then, if you choose to advertise, start with a spending limit you can afford to lose while learning.
Google Ads uses an average daily budget and may spend more on some days; Google describes the usual monthly limit as 30.4 times that daily amount. Count questions received, customers you can serve, and paying rentals separately before deciding whether the spending is worthwhile.
- 1Confirm the website and contact form work from a signed-out phone.
- 2Choose a small average daily budget and calculate the possible monthly limit.
- 3Use one focused offer and service area instead of sending everyone to a generic page.
- 4Review which inquiries became paying rentals before increasing the budget.
Current official guidance used
Completion check
Make your local business details accurate and useful
- The business is eligible for a profile and uses its real name and contact details.
- A service-area business that does not receive customers at its address hides that address.
- Service areas, hours, website, category, photos, and contact information are current.
- Location pages contain useful local information rather than copied city-name swaps.
- Review requests are honest and never offer a reward for a positive review.
Use this in Rivet
Use your business’s inquiry link to manage new requests.
Rivet gives your business a public inquiry link, sharing and QR tools, and an organized place to review and respond to new requests. It does not provide or guarantee customers.
- Confirm the public offer and who will respond.
- Check that your business’s inquiry link and QR code open the right page.
- Submit one clearly labeled test inquiry, then leave it out of customer-acquisition results.
The lesson and tool remain free without an account. New workspaces are free for up to three active rentals with no payment method required. Optional services have separate published scopes and limits.