A woman who moved to your side of town last month wants a color correction before a wedding. She types "color correction near me" into her phone. Google shows a map with three salons, each with a star rating, a few photos and a Book button. She taps the one with the most recent reviews and books a Saturday slot without calling anyone.
You do color correction, and you are four streets away, but your salon was not one of the three.
That map block is the 3-pack, and for a search like hers it sits above every website. Google fills it from Google Business Profiles and ranks them on three things it names itself: relevance, how well a profile matches the search; distance, how far the business is from the searcher; and prominence, how well known the business is (Google). You cannot move your salon closer to the person searching. The other two you can work on, and this guide goes through them in the order that pays off first.
Pick the category that matches what you actually do
Your primary category tells Google what your salon is. In our experience it does more for relevance than any other field on the profile. Pick the one that describes most of your bookings: Hair salon, Barber shop, Nail salon or Beauty salon. The names vary by country; in the UK, for example, you will also see Hairdresser.
Secondary categories are for services clients book on their own, such as hair extensions or waxing. Adding one for something you rarely do brings you searchers you then have to turn away. If nothing fits cleanly, how to choose a category when none fits walks through the decision, and the primary category entry explains what the field controls.
Two more settings belong in the same sitting:
- Use the name on your sign. Google's guidelines say the business name should match the real-world name, with details such as services and location kept in their own fields (Google's guidelines). "Studio Nine Balayage Specialists Downtown" breaks that rule and can get the profile suspended.
- Keep regular and holiday hours current. Searchers who filter Google Maps to places that are open now never see a salon whose hours say closed.
List every service, with prices
Your profile has a Services section where each service gets a name, a price and a short description. Many salons stop at "Haircut" and "Color". Clients search for the service they want: balayage, highlights, keratin treatment, silk press, men's fade, bridal updo.
Add each service you offer under the name clients use for it, with a price or a "from" price. Google's own advice is that businesses with complete and accurate information are easier to match with the right searches (Google). A full service list also answers the first question a new client has, which is whether you do the thing she wants and roughly what it costs.
Put a Book button on the profile
If your booking system works with Google, clients can book straight from your profile. Open your Business Profile, select Bookings, choose Get started and pick your provider. Google says providers usually show up on the profile within a week, and that booking through Google is only available in some countries and with supported providers (Google). Check the provider list in that Bookings section before you change systems for it.
If your provider is not on the list, add your online booking page as a booking link on the profile instead.
Then test it the way a client would: on a phone, signed out of Google, from the Maps app. A booking link that opens a login screen, a desktop-only page or a closed calendar loses the client at the last step.
Get reviews that describe the work
Reviews do two jobs. Google says more reviews and positive ratings can help your business's local ranking (Google). And the next client reads them to decide whether you can handle her hair.
Ask every client, every time. The easiest moment is the end of the appointment or the thank-you message your booking system already sends. Ask them to mention the service and the stylist if they are happy to: a review that says "Maya fixed my brassy color in one visit" tells a stranger far more than "great salon".
Reply to reviews, good and bad, in a sentence or two. Google's advice is that replying shows you value the feedback (Google). A calm reply to a bad review is read by every client who comes after it.
Google's review policy rules out three things salons are often tempted to do, and breaking it can get reviews removed (Google Maps content policy):
- Offering a discount, a free treatment or anything else in exchange for a review.
- Asking only the clients you expect to be happy, or steering unhappy clients away from Google.
- Reviews from staff, including stylists reviewing the salon they work in.
If reviews your clients wrote never appear on the profile, Google's spam filter is usually why: see why Google reviews disappear.
Post photos of your own work
Google's advice is to use photos and videos to show customers what you offer (Google). For a salon that means your own work in your own light: finished cuts and colors, before-and-afters, your chairs, your front door and the street outside, so a first-time client knows what to look for. Stock photos and inspiration shots from Pinterest look like every other salon and tell a new client nothing about you.
Get the client's permission before you post a photo that shows their face, and keep a note that they said yes. Add new work as you do it; a profile with this month's photos looks like a salon that is open and busy.
If someone else has added photos to your profile that do not belong there, there is a report flow for them: how to remove photos that don't belong.
Stylists, chair rentals and suite salons
Google allows separate profiles for individual practitioners, and the examples it gives are doctors, dentists, lawyers, financial planners and insurance or real estate agents (Google's guidelines). Stylists are not on that list. Do not create profiles for stylists who work for you. Their names belong in your reviews and on your website.
A stylist who rents a suite or a chair and runs a separate business, with their own name, signage, phone number and bookings, is a different case. That is a business in its own right, and it can have its own profile if it meets Google's rules like any other business at a shared address.
Suite buildings, where many independent stylists share one street address, are where Google's duplicate checks cause trouble, because "multiple profiles have the same address" is one of the reasons Google gives for marking a profile as a duplicate (Google). If that happens to a real, separate suite business, the fix is an appeal with signage photos: how to appeal a wrong duplicate flag.
Make your website match your profile
Your website is where a new client checks your prices and your work before she books, and Google reads it too. Three things matter most:
- A page for each service you want to be found for, such as balayage, extensions or color correction, with prices, photos of your own work and a booking link.
- Your salon's name, address and phone number written exactly as they appear on your profile. This is your NAP, and it should be identical everywhere.
- A booking button that is easy to find on a phone, on every page.
List the salon the same way everywhere
Google says prominence is also based on what it knows about a business from across the web, such as links, articles and directories (Google). For a salon, the directories worth your time are the ones clients use: Yelp, Apple Maps through Apple Business Connect, Bing Places, Facebook, and your public page on your booking platform if it has one.
These listings are called citations. Use the same name, address and phone number on every one of them. An old listing with a previous phone number sends new clients to a line nobody answers, and it gives Google two versions of your salon to reconcile.
What not to spend time on
- Keywords in your business name. It breaks Google's guidelines and puts the whole profile at risk.
- Trading discounts or freebies for reviews. It breaks Google's review policy, and Google can remove the reviews it finds.
- Separate profiles for employed stylists. Put their names in reviews and on the website.
- Chasing followers for search. Instagram is where clients look at your work, and it is worth doing for that, but Google's description of local ranking says nothing about social followers.
Hair salon, nail salon or barbershop?
The work is the same, and the categories and service names change. A nail salon lists gel, acrylic, dip powder and pedicure services. A barbershop lists fades, beard trims and hot towel shaves. Set the primary category to what most of your bookings are, and name the services the way your clients say them.
How long it takes
The profile work in this guide takes an afternoon: category, services, booking link, hours and a first batch of photos. Google says edits usually go live within about 10 minutes, and that some take up to 30 days while it reviews them (Google).
Reviews and ranking are slower. They build as clients come through the door, and Google does not publish a timeline for ranking changes, so be wary of anyone who promises a date. If your salon is brand new, get it verified first: how Google Business Profile verification works and how long each method takes.
This guide is the do-it-yourself version. If you would rather hand it over, our local SEO work for salons covers the same list every month.
Want a second opinion first? Send us your salon's profile and we'll tell you the three changes that matter most, free. Check my salon's profile
