A new customer does not meet your shop first. They meet it on a phone screen: a name, a few photos, the hours, the stars and a few buttons. Many owners have never looked at it the way a stranger does. It takes about twenty minutes to check.
Imran runs a shoe shop. His regulars come back every year before school opens.
One day his nephew stood at a bus stop two streets away and searched "shoe shop near me". Three shops came up. Imran's was not one of them. Then he searched "Imran Footwear". The photos were years old, and the listing said Sunday: closed. Imran opens every Sunday. It is his busiest day.
How many parents had searched, seen "closed", and walked into another shop?
Before you start
Use your phone, because customers do. Your phone knows you and may show your shop first, so use a private window: a new Incognito tab in Chrome, or Incognito mode in Google Maps (tap your photo at the top). Better still, ask a friend to search on their phone.
Step 1: search your shop name
Type your shop name and area, like "Imran Footwear Karol Bagh". Does your listing come up? Is the name spelled right? Is the map pin on your door? Is the phone number one you pick up?
Step 2: search your category from a few streets away
New customers do not know your name. They type what they need.
Go two or three streets away. Search "shoe shop near me", then your category with your area name. Is your shop in the first few results? Which shops are? Do they have more photos, newer reviews, correct hours? Then try again from the other side of your shop. Customers come from every side. If you are not in the first few, see how to show up on page one nearby.
Step 3: look at your photos
If you had never been here, would these photos make you come? Is there a clear photo of the front, so people can spot it from the road? Are they from this year? Our guide on adding photos to your Google listing shows what to shoot.
Step 4: check your hours
Check every day, Sunday too, and festival days. A customer who sees "closed" does not call to ask. They go to the next shop.
Step 5: read your reviews like a stranger
Read the newest five, and look at the date of the last one. A shop with no new review in months can look shut. Did you reply to each one? Ask every customer for a review, not only the happy ones. If your stars are low, see how to raise your Google rating.
Step 6: tap every button
Tap Call. Does your phone ring? Tap Website. Does it open fast on a phone? Tap Directions. Does it lead to your door? If Call does not ring, see how to fix your phone number on Google.
Step 7: ask an AI app
Many people now ask apps like ChatGPT or Gemini, "good shoe shop near Karol Bagh?" Ask the same. Is your shop named? Is what it says correct? Read how AI apps pick local shops.
What to do with your notes
Fix the easy ones today: hours, phone number, a fresh photo of the front. Then search again next month, from the same streets.
Imran fixed his Sunday hours and added ten new photos that evening. Now, on the first Sunday of every month, he searches from that bus stop. He wants to see what a new parent sees, before they choose which shop to walk into.
Not sure what customers see? Viabe Pulse shows how visible your business is online and what people see when they search for you. It checks your Google listing, your website, your listings and your Instagram and Facebook pages where it can find them, next to the shops near you, and tells you what to fix first. Check your business. Full check ₹499 + GST.