When someone searches for a salon near them, the first thing they usually see is not a website. It is a map and a short list of Google Business Profiles, with ratings, photos, hours and buttons to call or get directions. For a lot of salons that listing is the most viewed thing they have online.
Google says local results are based mainly on three things: relevance, distance and prominence. You cannot move your salon closer to anyone, but the other two are largely in your hands. Google explains all three in its tips to improve your local ranking.
Before you start: the rules on names and addresses
Google publishes guidelines for representing your business, and breaking them can get a profile suspended. The ones that catch salons most often:
- Use your real business name. The name on your sign, not "Luxe Salon Best Balayage Brooklyn". Adding keywords to the name is against the guidelines.
- Use the address clients actually visit. If you rent a suite inside a larger salon or a studio building, include the suite number.
- One profile per location. Two addresses means two profiles, each with its own phone number and hours.
The checklist
Categories
Pick the most specific primary category that describes what you are, such as Hair salon, Beauty salon or Nail salon. Add secondary categories only for things you genuinely offer as a main service. The primary category does the most work, so choose it carefully rather than adding many.
Hours
- Set regular opening hours, and keep them true.
- Add special hours before holidays. A client who arrives on a closed day remembers it.
- If some days are by appointment only, say so in the description rather than listing hours nobody can walk in during.
Website and booking links
- Link to your own website, not only to a booking app profile.
- If your category offers an appointment link, point it at your booking page so people can book from the listing itself.
- Test both links on a phone. A broken link on the listing is a lost booking you will never hear about.
Services and description
List your main services with a short description and, where you can, a price. Write the business description for a person: who you are, what you are known for, and the area you serve. Leave out links and sales offers, which the description is not meant for.
Photos
Upload real photos: the outside of the building so people recognize it when they arrive, the reception, the chairs, your team, and recent work. Replace old photos when the salon changes. Stock images do more harm than good, because they make everything else look less real too.
Reviews: the habit that matters most
Prominence is partly about reviews: how many, how recent, and how you respond. Google's page on managing customer reviews is worth reading in full. In short:
- Ask every happy client, in person and with a link they can tap.
- Reply to reviews, including the unhappy ones, calmly and without sharing private details.
- Never pay for reviews, offer discounts for them, or only ask the clients you expect to be positive.
We cover how to ask without breaking those rules in getting more reviews for your salon the right way.
Keep the listing and the website in agreement
Your profile and your website should say the same things: the same name, address, phone number and hours. When they disagree, clients get confused and search engines have less reason to trust either one. It is the foundation of local search for hair salons, and the easiest part to get right.
Our free website check looks at whether your website links to your Google listing, and whether your address, phone and hours are on the page in a form search engines can read.
A five-minute monthly routine
- Search for your salon on a phone and read the listing as a stranger would.
- Check the hours, especially around holidays.
- Add a few new photos.
- Reply to any reviews you have not answered yet.
- Read the questions and suggested edits Google shows you, and correct anything that is wrong.
None of this is complicated. It is mostly a matter of doing it every month rather than once.