How do I get my video business found on Google locally?

Q: What should a video business post on its Google Business Profile each week?

Post once a week, built from work you have already delivered: a finished film, a client result, a behind-the-scenes moment, or a question buyers ask. Keep each post short, open with the phrase you want to be found for, add a still or a short cut of the film, and finish with a button linking to the matching page on your website.

Local search for a video business runs through your Google Business Profile, the listing on Google Maps and in the map results for searches like "video production [your city]". Claim and verify the profile, fill every field with the words your buyers type, and link each service to a matching page on your website. Then keep it active with weekly posts, new photos, and a review request after every job.

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Why doesn't my video business show up when people search locally?

A video business usually doesn't show up locally because its Google Business Profile is unclaimed or half-filled: one category, a thin description, no services, few reviews and nothing posted in months. That's the pattern I see when I look at owners' profiles in coaching.

When I looked at one city's "video production" search in 2025, the listing in first place had 243 reviews, no products listed and no description.

The profile won't win you the job on its own, but it shows a buyer comparing suppliers that you're an established business.

How to set up your Google Business Profile: the method, step by step

The Google Business Profile method is seven steps done once, in order, then kept up weekly.

Claim and verify the profile. Go to google.com/business and claim or create your listing. Google verifies you by whichever method it offers at the time. Use your business name and address exactly as they appear on your website, and settle both first, because changing either later usually triggers verification again.
Find the words your buyers type. Search "video production [your city]" and note who's in the map results, who's paying for the ads, and the phrases under "People also search for". Then check the cost per click for those phrases in Google Keyword Planner (free inside a Google Ads account), filtered to your city: a high bid means advertisers are paying for that buyer. Finish with 8 to 12 phrases to use across the profile and the website.
Choose your categories. Pick one primary category for the work you most want to be found for. Google allows more secondary categories than you need; I recommend five, each for work you deliver, because a category for a service you don't offer misleads buyers and can get the profile suspended.
List your services and products. List at least 20 specific services rather than broad headings, including the names buyers use for the same thing ("corporate video" and "company video"). Check every line is something you deliver, give each a sentence of description, and link each service to the matching main-service page on your website. Then add a product for each main service, with copy, an image and a link to the same page.
Write the description. Google's description field takes 750 characters, so use them: the area you serve, your years in business, what you're best at, the services in your buyers' words, and one next step. There's a filled example in the worked example below. If you haven't written the one line that says who you help, do that first with the message equation.
Add hours and photos. Set hours you keep. Upload your photo library: shoots, crew, locations, finished frames.
Connect the profile to your website. With one location, the profile links to your homepage, and its title and main heading carry your primary category and city ("Video Production Adelaide"). Give each main service its own page targeting "[service] [city]", at an address like /services/video-production/corporate-video-production/ and built the same way each time: what you do and for whom, what makes you different, proof, FAQs, one call to action. Done looks like every service and product on the profile linking to its main-service page.

Copy and paste: the profile set-up checklist

[ ] Profile claimed and verified, name and address matching the website exactly

[ ] 8 to 12 search phrases listed from the city search and Keyword Planner

[ ] Primary category and secondaries chosen, all for work we deliver

[ ] Services listed, each checked, described and linked to its main-service page

[ ] A product for each main service, linked to the same page

[ ] Description written to the field's limit

[ ] Hours we keep, photo library uploaded

[ ] Review request saved as a template, sent at the end of every job

[ ] First weekly post published, next four planned

Copy and paste: the category and service list to fill in

Business: [business name], [city], [area served]

Primary category: [for example, Video production service]

Secondary categories (we use five; type each into Google's category field, keep only the ones Google offers and we deliver): [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]

Worth checking for a video business: Video production service, Videographer, Video editing service, Film production company, Media company.

Main services, each with its page: [main service] at [/services/video-production/...]

Services (at least 20, specific, in our buyers' words, each linked to its main-service page):

[corporate video production] links to [main-service page]

[testimonial and case study videos] links to [ ]

[event and conference filming] links to [ ]

[training videos] links to [ ]

[ ] continue to 20 or more

Products (one per main service, linked to the same page): [ ]

What should a video business post on its Google Business Profile each week?

A video business should post once a week on its Google Business Profile, built from work it has already delivered: a finished film, a client result, a behind-the-scenes moment, or a question buyers ask. Keep each post short, open with the phrase you want to be found for, add a still or a short cut, and finish with a button linking to the matching page on your website.

Link back to the full piece on your website. The marketing asset you already have and keep ignoring shows how to turn a year of finished jobs into proof. The rotation below is a template to start from.

Copy and paste: the weekly posting template

Week 1, a finished film. Open with [service] for [type of client] in [city]. Two or three sentences: what the client needed, what you made, where it's being used. Media: a short cut or still. Button: Learn more, to [service page].

Week 2, a client result. Open with [result] for [type of client]. What changed after the film went out, with a line in the client's words if they've agreed to it. Button: to [case study or service page].

Week 3, behind the scenes. Open with [service] in [suburb or city], with a set-up or crew photo.

Week 4, a question buyers ask. Open with the question in their words, for example "How long does a [service] take?" Answer it in three sentences. Button: to the page where the full answer sits.

Then start again with the next finished job.

How do I ask clients for Google reviews without it feeling awkward?

Ask every client for a Google review at the end of every job, using a template that walks them through it: a direct link to the review box and a screenshot of where to click. Asking every client, with no incentive and no request for a particular star rating, keeps you within Google's review policy, which doesn't allow asking only the clients you expect to be pleased.

Anything you repeat should be a template, and the steps should be explicit so nothing is left to chance about where they click.

Copy and paste: the review request message

Subject: [First name], could I ask a favour?

Hi [first name],

Thanks again for working with us on [project].

Could I ask a favour? Google reviews make a real difference to how a business like ours gets found locally. Would you mind leaving us a short review of how the project went?

[Optional, only if they've already sent you written feedback: If it's easier, you're welcome to use what you wrote to me about the project, as it is.]

Step one: click this link: [direct link to your review box].

Step two: the review box opens, like the screenshot below.

Step three: choose your rating, add your review, and click Post.

[screenshot of the review box with where to click marked]

Thanks so much. Let me know if anything doesn't open as it should.

[Your name]

When a review comes in, thank the client by name and describe the job in the terms your market searches for, the type of video, the occasion and the place: "Thanks [first name]. It was a pleasure making [the conference highlights film] for [company] in [city]."

A worked example

Here are two video production companies' profiles side by side, as they stood when I looked in 2025. The businesses are anonymised.

	Company A	Company B
Reviews	135 or more, five-star, each one replied to	8, no replies
Photos	170 or more	not counted
Services and products	A clear products section (for example, government and not-for-profit videos), each linked to its own page	Little detail or copy, no clickable links
Website	Testimonials, FAQs, quote forms, a review widget	No quote form, no review widget, no page per service

Company A had lined up its profile, website and reviews around the words its buyers use.

Here's the description step filled in for an illustrative company with a government specialism (an example, not a real business):

"[Business name] is a Sydney video production company with ten years' experience making video for government programmes. We produce public service announcements, training videos and corporate video, and we know the compliance requirements government work has to meet before it goes out. Serving Sydney and New South Wales. Request a quote through our website and tell us what the programme needs to achieve."

The mistakes that undo it

Three mistakes undo a Google Business Profile after it's set up.

Changing the profile's website link once it's working. A change to the profile's URL, like a change of name or address, can trigger re-verification. Choose the linked page at the start.
Setting it up once and leaving it. Google favours a profile that's kept fresh, so add photos as you shoot and post every week.
Leaving reviews unanswered. Company B in the worked example had eight reviews and no replies, against Company A's replies to every one.

The rule of thumb for local search

Fill every field with the words your buyers type, then add something new every week.

The benchmark: 750 characters of description, one primary category plus five secondaries, 20 or more specific services each linked to its main-service page, one post a week, and a review request after every job. Search is a long play, and it takes consistency and patience.

Hold yourself accountable

Which of these have you taken on or put in place recently?

Your Google Business Profile is claimed, verified, and matches your website's name and address.
Every service and product on the profile links to a page on your website.
You've posted on the profile in the last seven days.
You've sent the review request at the end of your last three jobs and replied to every review you've received.

Your one move this week

What's the one thing you can commit to implementing this week? If you're not sure, start here.

On your phone, search "video production [your city]". Screenshot the top three map listings and your own. Next to each, write what they've filled in that you haven't: categories, services, products, description, photos, reviews, replies, recent posts. That list is your set-up order.

One thing executed every week creates 50 strategic moves a year.

Questions like these come up regularly on our weekly Elite Boardroom calls. If you'd like someone to hold you to account each week, and to learn from a group of peers who run video businesses too, the Boardroom is for you.

Related tools and guides. The marketing asset you already have and keep ignoring (client results as posts), How do I write the one line that says who I help? (the line your description is built on), How to get more from referrals and networking, How to qualify a video lead before you pitch (what to ask once the enquiry arrives).