You can search for “plumber Fergus Falls” and see your business near the top. Someone across town can search the same words and see a different set of businesses.
Google considers where each person is searching from. Their settings and past activity may also affect what appears or the order it appears in. If you’ve searched for your own business, visited your website, and looked at your listing, the results on your phone may be a poor picture of what a new customer sees.
That matters because a customer may make their first decision right there, looking at a map and a few business listings. They can compare reviews, photos, hours, and services before they ever visit a website.
So this week, I want you to see your business as close to a stranger’s view as you can. We can’t reproduce every customer’s search, but we can get past some of what your own search history is showing you.
Pull out your phone, open a private or incognito tab, and search for what you do plus your town. Try “plumber Fergus Falls” or “bakery near me.” The private tab reduces the influence of your past browsing. Your location still affects the results, which is why this is one useful snapshot rather than your one “true” ranking.
Now pretend you need help today and you’ve never heard of any of the businesses that came up. Which one would you call?
Most owners check their Google Business Profile for accuracy. Is the phone number right? Are the hours right? Those things matter, but a customer is doing something else. They’re comparing you with the businesses beside you and trying to decide whom to trust.
Give yourself 30 minutes to make that comparison.
Step 1: See what a stranger sees.
Open your listing and two others that appear nearby. If yours isn’t among the first few results, find it separately and keep going. The comparison is still useful.
For each business, jot down the rating and number of reviews, whether the hours and services are clear, and what the first few photos show. Then copy the business description and five or six recent reviews. You don’t need a beautiful spreadsheet. Rough notes are fine.
Paste those notes into ChatGPT or Claude:
I own a [type of business] in [town]. I searched for “[search phrase]” and collected what a customer can see on my Google Business Profile and two other listings.
Compare them as someone who needs [product or service] this week and has never heard of any of us. Based only on what I provide:
Which business gives you the strongest reason to call first? Point to the exact details behind your answer.
What would make you hesitate about my listing or leave you with a question?
What do the other listings show or explain that mine doesn’t?
Which one change to my listing would most help a customer make a decision?
Don’t assume a missing detail is missing from the live listing. If my notes aren’t enough to judge something, say so.
[Paste your notes here]
AI can’t tell you what every customer will do. It can help you notice that your photos show the front of your building while another business shows the work, or that your reviews answer a concern your description never mentions. Use its answer as something to check against the listings on your phone.
Step 2: Find out what customers already told you.
Your reviews may say more about why people choose you than anything you wrote about yourself. Customers mention the details they remember: someone called back, explained the options, finished when promised, or made a difficult job easier.
Copy about 20 of your recent reviews and run this in the same chat:
Here are recent reviews for my business and my current business description. Pull out the specific things customers say they valued. Group similar comments together, tell me how many reviews mention each theme, and include a short example in the customers’ own words.
Then compare those themes with my description. What are customers praising that I haven’t explained to a new customer? Don’t turn a one-time compliment into a claim about my business.
Description: [paste]
Reviews: [paste]
Look for something you can back up, especially if it answers one of the doubts from Step 1. If several customers praise how clearly you explain repairs, for example, a first-time customer might want to know that before calling.
Step 3: Fix the most useful gap.
A rewritten description might help. So might a clear photo of a finished job, accurate hours, or a service you offer that isn’t listed. Start with the change that helps someone decide whether you’re a fit.
If the description needs work, try this:
Based on the comparison and reviews above, draft a new Google Business Profile description. Explain what we do and whom we serve, lead with a specific strength supported by the reviews, and address one reasonable question a first-time customer might have. Use plain language that sounds like a real local business. Avoid generic claims such as “quality,” “trusted,” and “premier.”
Keep it short enough for the Google Business Profile description field. Do not invent services, guarantees, service areas, or customer results. After the draft, suggest three photos I could take this month that would help answer the remaining questions.
Read it out loud before you use it. If it sounds like a brochure, tell AI what you would actually say to someone who called. Check every claim, then update the listing yourself.
Put a reminder on your calendar to run Step 1 again in three months. Your photos will change, new reviews will arrive, and the businesses beside you may change too.
Your website and social media still matter. This exercise is about the moment before someone visits either one, when they’re looking at a few businesses on a phone and deciding where to start.
If you try it and find something surprising, hit reply and tell me what you saw. I read every one.
P.S. Run the same search on Bing when you have a few extra minutes. It has a separate business listing through Bing Places. Check that your information is accurate there, too; Bing offers an option to sync information from your Google Business Profile.