A phone repair listing on Google Maps that names the device, the fault and how drop-off works

How somebody holding a broken device picks a counter on the map

The search usually has two parts, a model and a fault. Then the person checks four things: whether you take this device, whether you do this repair, how to reach you and how drop-off works.

• Model and fault come first. Few people type the name of the trade, so a service list without models and repairs matches neither half of the search.
• Parts: whether the shop fits original or compatible ones. People also judge from how specific the listing is whether this model is familiar here.
• The way in. A stand in a shopping center, a shop with its own street door and a counter inside another store are found differently, so the floor, the entrance and the photos matter.
• Drop-off: whether a person can wait while a screen is swapped or has to leave the device, and what the shop says about backups and passcodes before anyone hands a phone over.
• Someone with a laptop, a tablet or a console checks that the list names it, because a listing that says only phone repair makes them call to ask.
• Reviews are read for what happened after the repair, and whether the shop looked at the device again when something went wrong.

Where devices, repairs and drop-off go when no field holds them

Google has no field for the devices a shop takes or for how drop-off works. Wording carries both: the service names, the description and a post.

• Services written as pairs of a device family and a repair: screen, battery, charging port, water damage, a laptop hinge or keyboard.
• Tablets, laptops, watches or consoles named separately where the shop really repairs them, and what it does not do, such as unlocking or devices blocked by a network.
• Parts described the way the shop supplies them: original, compatible or a choice of both. No line says a given part is in stock.
• How drop-off works, and the shop's own sentence about backups, passcodes and data.
• A primary category that matches the work that brings most of the orders, not the sign over the counter.

Choices that keep a repair counter inside Google's rules

A repair counter has few fields of its own, so the work is mostly choosing wording and a category that stay inside Google's rules.

1. 1

   Choose the repair category over a retail one

   Google asks for the most specific category on its list as the primary one, a few additional ones for real departments, and no category for every product or service. For a counter that mainly repairs, the repair category goes first, and a retail category is added only where the shop sells devices or accessories across a counter of its own. Adding or changing a category can trigger a new verification, so the change is agreed with you before it is made.

   Google's help on this: Manage your business category

2. 2

   Name each service by device and repair, nothing more

   Some categories offer a services editor, and a custom service there is named by the shop; Google automatically rejects names with prices, phone numbers, personal information, profanity or gibberish. A name such as a laptop keyboard replacement passes. The part type and your sentence about passcodes go into the description, where the shop's own wording can run longer.

   Google's help on this: Manage your services on your Business Profile

3. 3

   Keep a maker's name out of the shop's name unless the shop is a dedicated seller

   Google's naming guidelines say that a business selling another brand's products or services uses only its own name, and that only an authorized and fully dedicated seller of the brand may use the brand's name. A counter that repairs many makes follows the first rule: it names itself and lists the makes as device families in its services.

   Google's help on this: Guidelines for representing your business on Google

4. 4

   Put the floor and unit in the address and the pin on the stand

   Google asks for the building, suite and floor details that belong to the official address, and lets the pin be adjusted when the system cannot find the exact spot. A stand inside a shopping center can also ask for the center to be shown as the place that contains it. A landmark goes into the address only where the official address does not pinpoint the counter.

   Google's help on this: Manage your business address

5. 5

   When the stand moves, edit the profile and never open a second one

   A second profile for the same business counts as a duplicate, and Google keeps a duplicate off Search and Maps. Google's instruction for a relocation is to update the existing profile with the new address instead of creating a new one, so a stand that moves to another floor or another center keeps one profile and one address.

   Google's help on this: Resolve duplicate profiles & ownership issues

Posts that answer what people otherwise phone to ask

Useful posts answer the questions people otherwise ring about. The technical facts come from your shop, and the manager edits and publishes them.

• The device families you take now, updated when that changes.
• How drop-off works and what you ask people to do before they come: a backup, and what you say about the passcode and signed in accounts.
• Photos of the counter, the entrance and the team, taken from where a visitor would start looking.
• What you do not take, repeated when the same request keeps coming in.

What the counter confirms and what the manager writes