For most small properties, more people see the Google listing than see the website.
It feeds Maps, the local results, and the AI summary at the top of the page. It is free. And most of it is empty.
Claim it first
If you cannot sign in and edit it, you do not control it. Members of the public can suggest changes to your hours and address, and those can go live.
Claiming takes twenty minutes plus a wait for verification. Video verification is common now, which means walking around your property with your phone.
While you are there, search your name and your address in Maps and look for a second pin. Duplicate listings split your reviews and confuse everything.
Then fill in every single field
This is where the value is, and it is where people stop.
Categories. Pick the primary one carefully. It decides which searches you are eligible for.
Attributes. Work the whole list. Pet friendly, free parking, pool, air conditioning, wheelchair accessible entrance, kitchen. When a guest filters for parking, this checkbox is what answers. An empty box means you are filtered out and nobody tells you.
Hours. Including holidays and seasons. A listing that says closed when you are open is worse than no listing.
Booking link. Point it at your own site. Leaving it on a booking platform means paying commission on a guest Google sent you free.
Photos and questions
Add your own photos every month. If you leave gaps, guests fill them, and guest photos are the worst pictures of your property that exist.
Use the questions section. You are allowed to post a question and answer it yourself. Put your five most common pre-booking questions there with your answers.
Reviews
Reply to all of them, including the bad ones. Write for the person reading in six months, not for the reviewer.
Then pick one moment in every stay where you ask for a review. Same moment every time. Occasional asking produces occasional reviews.
Next module: making your own site readable.
