Rank higher in Google searches! Integrate your Google Business Profile (GBP) with SpotHopper so it automatically updates and keeps you coming up in the top results.
Contents:
- WATCH: How Restaurants Appear Higher in Google Local Listing Searches
- Overview
- Connecting Your GBP to SpotHopper
- Troubleshooting
- Integration Setup
- Important Notes: Google and Visibility
- WATCH: Send SpotHopper an Invite to Manage your Google Business Profile
WATCH: How Restaurants Appear Higher in Google Local Listing Searches
Overview
Nationwide, SpotHopper analyzed over 1000 restaurants that use SpotHopper's Google integration and over 1000 that don’t. The businesses who use it get 500 additional website visits per month. Even if you convert only 10% of those visits, that’s 50 extra new customers a month. At $100 per check that’s $5k/mo just from this one feature... 
Acquiring access and actively overseeing your Google Business Profile is crucial for the success of your restaurant in today's digital age.
Every Google Business Profile can have:
- 1 primary owner
- unlimited 'owners'
- unlimited 'managers'
It's important that you have 'primary ownership,' but in order to sync your Google Business Profile to SpotHopper–and begin rising in local rankings–you just need to be an 'owner.'
In most cases, gaining ownership access only takes a handful of days. Google provides existing business profile owners 3 days to initially accept/deny incoming requests to 'manage' or 'own' a profile. After those 3 days, users requesting access to the profile are allowed to verify ownership.
If you don't yet have access to your Google Business Profile, don't worry. Simply find your situation in the article below and follow the steps to begin the process.
The sooner you gain access to your Google Business Profile the better. Diners are searching for their next stop now.
Connecting Your GBP to SpotHopper
If you are the primary owner/owner of your restaurant's Google Business Profile, you will have no problem connecting that account to SpotHopper.
All you have to do is log into your SpotHopper account, and on the Google pop-up (or the "Google & Reviews" page), continue with Option 1.
Once you hit "Continue with Google," you will be prompted to either continue with an already signed-in Google account or add a new one.
Remember, you should sign in with the Google account that has owner permissions for the GBP you wish to connect!
After choosing and confirming the email address, another pop-up will appear, asking you to give SpotHopper additional access to your Google account. Click on "Continue."
Once you grant access, you will see all the Google Business Profiles under your account:
Choose the one you wish to connect to SpotHopper by clicking on "Connect."
Another pop-up will inform you that your GBP has been successfully connected to SpotHopper.
If you click on "Proceed to Google Integration," you will open the integration map where you can choose the sections you wish to have synced with Google. This will determine which information is automatically pushed from SpotHopper to your Google Business Profile.
Troubleshooting
Cannot connect your Google Business Profile to SpotHopper because you don't have owner permissions?
All you have to do is send SpotHopper an invite to manage your Google Business Profile, and your Support Rep will help you connect and sync everything within the platform.
Alternatively, you can also ask SpotHopper to send the management access request to the email address that created your Google Business Profile.
If you need to check which email that is, just click the "Own this Business" button in the Google results for your business.
You will then need to accept the request, allowing SpotHopper to manage your GBP.
After you give SpotHopper access, you will be able to see and control everything mentioned in this article.
Don't recognize the email adress of your GBP and don't know who the owner of that account is? Don't worry! You can still gain "owner" access to your Google Business Profile.
Integration Setup
To set up your integration map and control what you show on your Google Profile, navigate to the "Google & Reviews" page in SpotHopper:
1. Then, simply toggle each of the sections on or off. Please note: Changes you make can take up to 20 minutes to be reflected on Google searches. 
2. You can also customize your profile with a mouthwatering description that will lure customers in, adding additional video links, etc.! Please note: your description may not be updated if it does not comply with Google Business Profile policies.
3. If you wish to change the images that appear on your Google Business Profile, navigate to the "Website" tab of your SpotHopper admin,
click the "Photo Gallery" button, and upload the images you want.
Important Notes:
- Be sure to use Keywords in your profile - it makes you rank even higher!
- Google Attributes are almost as important as Keywords in helping you to appear in Google search results and on Google Maps! They work by associating your business with things people search for, e.g., the type of crowd you attract, languages spoken by your team, accessibility, etc. The more attributes you list that accurately describe your Spot, the more you will be seen by customers online.
- Save each section separately, or your changes will not sync with Google.
- Google restricts the number of images that can be displayed in menus to 80. If you have more than 80, only the first 80 will be synced.
- When syncing hours, only operational hours sync to Google - not your descriptive hours.
- If you have already added hours or menus to Google outside of SpotHopper, any changes to menus or hours made through SpotHopper will overwrite your existing information.
- Making a lot of changes throughout a single day may be flagged by Google as 'suspicious,' which would prompt Google to take 30 days to verify and approve changes.
- Maintain staying active on your Google Business Profile and start responding to Google Reviews through SpotHopper's platform.
- Reach your highest Google Reviews rating with SpotHopper's ReviewShield.
How many new customers do you think you can gain by appearing higher in Google Local Listings?
Send SpotHopper an Invite to Manage your Google Business Profile