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Join for freePosted: Wed 30th Sep 2026
Have you ever Googled your business name and been surprised, or alarmed, by what came up?
Many founders assume that having a website means Google can find them. It doesn’t. Some may have never checked what a potential client actually sees when they search for their business online.
In this Lunch and Learn, Eleyna Rennalls from Berhane & Co. takes you through the practical steps to get your business properly visible on Google.
She covers setting up and optimising your Google Business Profile to using Google Trends and keywords to understand exactly what your potential clients are searching for.
You can start building your Google Business Profile during the session, explore Google Trends for your specific business type and complete a live Founder Readiness Assessment to see exactly where your digital infrastructure score sits alongside the other five foundations every business needs.
How to set up and optimise a Google Business Profile that actually gets your business found in local and national search results
How to use Google Trends and keywords to understand what your potential clients are actually searching for and how to use that to your advantage
Why AI search is changing how businesses get discovered online and the three things founders can do today to stay visible
Eleyna is the founder of Berhane & Co., a South London-based business setup consultancy helping aspiring and early-stage founders build their businesses properly from day one.
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Lightly edited for clarity.
Ryan: Good afternoon, everyone, and welcome to today's Lunch and Learn. My name is Ryan, and I will be your host today. For those of you attending Lunch and Learn for the first time, Enterprise Nation is a vibrant community platform for start-ups and small businesses.
Today, I'm pleased to introduce the brilliant Eleyna Rennalls, who is the founder of Berhane & Co. Ltd. In this session, Eleyna will walk you through the practical steps to get your business properly visible on Google.
As always, if you've got questions, pop them in the chat, and we'll do our best to answer them at the end. The webinar is being recorded, and the recording and follow-up resources will go out later today in an email, so do keep an eye out for that. On that note, I'll hand over to you, Eleyna.
Eleyna: Lovely, thank you, Ryan. Good afternoon, everyone, and welcome – I'm really glad you're here. As mentioned, my name is Eleyna, and I'm the founder of Berhane & Co. Ltd, a set-up consultancy that helps aspiring and early-stage founders build their business properly from day one.
Today, we're going to be talking about Google Business Profile, one of the most powerful and possibly underused tools available to business owners. We're going to jump into that and get it set up.
It's the session I wish someone had told me about. I actually went to a Google Digital Garage training, and I think that was the foundation of wanting to put this together into a session for you.
There's an internet myth among founders that getting their website live and online automatically means Google knows they exist. I'll drop a question in the chat straight away: have you googled your business name, and what comes up when you do?
Do you think your site might rank highly in the search results? It's not necessarily as simple as that, and the way to crack it really is to create a business profile for yourself.
So that's what we're going to look at today. We'll then touch on Google Trends and how it's useful for creating content and supporting you in getting your business visible. We'll also have a look at Keyword Planner and Search Console, and then I'll run through a founder readiness audit that I use with my clients.
I'll put the link in the chat for you – you'll see here there's a live link and an embedded code. This is where we're going to go to set up and start a Google Business Profile, and I'm going to swap screens so that you can actually see the profile being built live.
It's also worth mentioning that for those of you who have found some sort of listing already for your business on Google, there will be an option to either create a profile or claim the business. But let's change the screen share first.
The link I've dropped in will take you to this site, and that's how to start your Google Business Profile. We're going to click on 'Create your profile', and that takes you here.
It says 'Confirm this is your business', partly because I'm running this as a demo within my own business profile dashboard, so you will see what it looks like. You will still need to verify your own, though.
To start, I would always recommend making a Gmail account if you haven't already got one. Thank you, Phil – there's a lovely little question there, and we'll come to that at the end.
So create the Gmail account, or use your business email. At that point, you'll be able to use the link I've given you to start creating a business profile.
Now, the business name. If anyone wants to give me a decent business name suggestion, I'm happy to put that in – otherwise, we're going to go with Honey Founders Demo.
Next is the business category, and I'm choosing business management consultant. I could just put consultant, but be very specific with the category here, because this is the beginning stage of which category Google is going to put your website in, so it's very important. You can add secondary categories later.
Next, it asks whether you would like to add a location. Are you a service-based business, or a physical retail outlet? You can put in an address, and that will show on Google Maps.
Make sure it's not your home address. If you operate and work from home as a service-based business, then put in a service area instead.
If you don't have that physical location, you can put in where you serve your customers, and you can put in more than one area if you wish. It's always good to add a phone number, website or chat too.
You won't be able to go any further at this stage without putting in some sort of detail here. This also gives your customers options to contact you, be it through a website chat or a WhatsApp chat, which is always very useful. I'm happy to put in my business number here.
One of the important things about the Google Business Profile is the verification step. You will be asked to verify, which is to make sure that it's a real and genuine business that's going to appear in internet searches.
The address you provide will be hidden from the public, but a PO box is not eligible. Restrictions have tightened up in terms of what's required to verify and get your business profile live.
It's important that you put in the registered address you have for your business, ideally, in order to keep your home address off the records. This applies even if you're a service business rather than product-based.
And it's verified – you are now verified. I think that's partly come up because I do have an existing profile, but when I ran through the demo earlier, it didn't give me that. Apologies – let's continue.
Next are the hours. Just for the purposes of the demo, I'm going to put in that we're open from nine until five on Monday and Tuesday, so that you'll be able to see what the dashboard looks like at the end.
It does take a few minutes to set up, guys, but it's important that you go through these steps, because this is ultimately what your customers will see. I appreciate that we're doing this live, but it's worth spending that bit of time to get your business profile done properly. We can be closed on Tuesday – let's get moving.
This next part is important: the business description. You've got 750 characters, so you need to put in things that are relevant and important, and share that information quickly. It's similar to the conciseness of your social handles, but with a little bit more description.
For the purposes of this demo, we're just going to put in 'Founder demo'. Then there's a storefront photo – your Google profile is somewhere you can add photos, so I'm going to pop something up there for you.
You add in a storefront photo because this is your online storefront, and you can add more than one if you wish. We'll touch on ads and ad spend briefly in the Keyword Planner section later, so we'll skip this for now. This also shows you what your advertisements will look like, should you go down the route of paid ads later on.
Of course, it's also going to offer you the Google Workspace trial. It is worth having a look into, as there are a few benefits that might be useful in your specific business situation.
We're nearly at the end here, where you're going to be asked to verify yourself. This is the bare bones of what your Google Business Profile dashboard will look like: we've put in our business name, and we've got the one photo we added earlier. You can see it's not visible to customers yet because it's not verified.
Google's process for verification depends on what you've put in for your business – whether you've got a physical address or you're a service business, your website, and all the bits and pieces you've put in to build the profile this far. It really is Google that decides your verification method.
For example, mine was video, so I literally had to do a video recording of the street area and of myself entering my business premises. That was to show that it's a real, live operating business and that I'm in charge of that place.
To do that, you go here, and it will tell you what steps are required. It may be email, post, phone or text, and you'll wait up to five days to be verified. Once it is, you'll get your confirmation email, and the profile will say it's live.
You can edit your profile, guys, and please do fill it in with as much information as possible. I would recommend actively posting on your Google Business Profile to keep those online signals going to Google and the search engines. Eventually, it will improve your ranking on Google.
Get your customers to add reviews and, as I said, add photos and posts, just as you would with your social posts. You can list events and Q&As, add bookings and add your services too.
All of these things are really useful, and they create that online visibility for your business, so that when someone types in your business name, they'll see your reviews straight away. If you connect your WhatsApp, your customers can speak to you straight away, and they'll see your opening hours and your Q&As. It's all really useful, and it's incredibly underused.
I'm going to swap from that screen now. I appreciate I'm running through this quickly – time really is running away with me this afternoon.
I did also want to touch on Google Trends. If anyone in the chat wants to drop in some search terms that they think are useful for their business, you're welcome to do that while I swap over the screens.
So, two more links for you, starting with the link for Google Trends, which I'll drop in the chat. I see a couple of terms have come in already, so let's go and do one of the searches.
Here we have it: Google Trends. Just to pick one out, custom painted furniture – thanks, Michelle. Of course, my live demo of Google Trends didn't work.
But just to show you that it's still very relevant and important for your business, these are what's trending now. If you're looking to make content that's very up to date and based on things that are trending, these give you the search terms in real time, and that's why I thought it was important to show.
Save that link, have a look through the Google Trends homepage and see ways in which you can use this free tool to improve the content you write – the copy for your website and any social media posts you're going to put up. I think it's also interesting for you to understand the new trends in what the data's showing.
Ultimately, this is about getting your business found on Google and also being found in things like the AI overviews of searches, or when people type things into ChatGPT. Eventually, you want to have enough of a Google footprint, or a strong and active enough Google Business Profile, that you start creeping up the rankings of the search pages. And this is a free tool.
There are also the keywords, which I've mentioned here – racing through, as I say. I'll put the link in the chat, which will lead you straight through to Keyword Planner.
Keyword Planner is a paid option for your Google Ads, and it's worth mentioning the distinction between the two. Google Trends is a free tool, whereas Keyword Planner is what you would use to make your paid campaigns as effective as possible.
That is a completely separate issue, and I would not advise you to jump straight into paid ads. Do get specific guidance and support when starting a paid ad campaign, but do keep Google Keyword Planner in mind as a tool when you're thinking about how to put together your ad campaigns.
Let's just go back to the PDF. That was a whistle-stop tour of setting up a Google Business Profile, Google Trends and how best to use it for making content – do have a read and a look at the website – and then Keyword Planner and how you could implement it for a paid ad campaign.
Going back to the timeline in the PDF, I also wanted to touch on AI and Google Search Console. This is one of the reasons it's so important to use this free tool, your Google Business Profile: keep it active, and post your events, your stories, your posts and your blogs on there.
When people search on Google nowadays, you'll notice that there's an AI overview, which appears above the standard search results. So instead of clicking through to a website straight away, you're actually going to get a little summary.
You need to consider how you're making your content and the structure of your website to make sure that it can be read. That's why it's important to have a consistent business name and to be consistent with the regular activity you're posting, so that you can eventually appear there.
It is a long-term game rather than a quick fix, but in the grand scale of things, you would eventually hope to appear in the AI overviews, or for them to be able to generate a summary about your business. To be read by AI, you do need to consider the structure of the headings on your website.
It needs to be consistent across all bios and all your social channels, so that you start to leave these trails alongside your Google Business Profile. That ultimately will improve the search results for your business and its visibility.
Whereas Google Trends shows what people are searching for in general, Search Console shows you what people type in to find your particular website. I'm happy to share my screen on this and show you what it looks like.
We won't go through setting up Search Console today because it's tailored to your specific business and website, so it does take a little bit of time and a few steps to set up. But in terms of being able to access that information and see what your customers are looking for, the problems they have and how they are searching for your business, it really is another fantastic tool.
So here is Search Console, which is your website analytics. I could click 'Start now', but that would take me through to my own business account, and then you'd see my analytics. Rather than doing that live, do it specifically for your own business in your own time.
By all means, keep the link – I'm happy to drop it in the chat as well. Time really is racing this afternoon, so thank you, everybody, and thank you for your patience while I bounce from one screen to another. I'm just trying to make this as interactive as possible for you.
I can see there are lots of comments popping up in the chat, and we will get to those – I'm sure Ryan will help me go through them. In the last couple of minutes, we're going to run through one last interactive thing that you can do yourselves: the founder readiness audit.
It's a quick self-audit across six core areas of building a business properly, the sort of thing that's covered by Berhane & Co. Ltd, such as setting up and optimising your Google Business Profile. You're going to see a QR code on screen, and I'm also going to drop a link in the chat.
You're welcome to do this individually at your own speed, and you'll get a score and a summary at the end. You're welcome to drop your scores in the chat too.
I'll do a run-through of this live on screen so you can see what it looks like as well. Here it is: the founder readiness assessment, a quick self-audit across six core areas of building a business properly. At the end, you'll receive a summary score and your key next steps.
There are no right or wrong answers, but it's an opportunity for you to find out where your business stands. For the purposes of this, I'm going to put in my founder name now. There are a lot of questions popping up, and we will come to those as best we can.
Have you formally confirmed your business structure, such as sole trader or limited company, and is it currently being used? I'll read these questions out loud for you, but for those following on screen, I'm just selecting some answers to keep the session moving, and then we can see what happens at the end.
Brand and presence: does your website clearly communicate what you do, who you help and what to do next, with a visible CTA? Have you created and verified your Google Business Profile? Here we are – we've created it but not yet verified it.
Do you have a contract or service agreement ready before beginning work with a client – yes or no? When a customer or client says yes, do you have a clear process for what happens next?
Operations and security: do you have your privacy policy and cookie banners, and are your accounts protected with two-factor authentication? For example, the score I've got there is eight.
You can put in a quick email address and your phone number, should you wish to keep in contact with us. That shows your founder readiness is at a developing stage, with a score between seven and nine – I've scored eight, so I'm building a business that's ready to grow.
Some of you will have seen this screen pop up as your results – thank you, Ian. It'll give you an idea of what your next steps should be.
If you want to, you're more than welcome to get in contact with me on the Enterprise Nation platform, and we can go through any of your specific gaps or queries. Well done, Trish – 11 out of 12. As I said, a lot of questions popped up in the chat today, and you're more than welcome to send me additional messages and book discovery calls on the Enterprise Nation platform.
This is my last screen share of the afternoon – there we are. We've just done a whistle-stop tour, and here's a quick summary page for everyone to see what the scores mean, now that you've had your individual ones pop through.
That leaves us with about four minutes. The last thing to say is that you're welcome to get in contact with me on the Enterprise Nation platform and book that discovery call. I've got sessions available where we can spend 60 minutes specifically on your business set-up queries.
We've also got the fantastic Founders Suite Live coming to Balham on 11 November, and I'm pleased to say Enterprise Nation will be in the room with us. Bring your business idea and your operational queries – there's a code out there for Enterprise Nation members to get a good price on tickets as well.
It would be lovely to see you in the room, and you're welcome to get in contact with me. Thank you, everybody.
Ryan: Amazing – thank you so much. That was really interesting, and there was a lot to go through.
Eleyna: It was a lot. There's never enough time in these sessions, so I think there'll definitely be some more questions coming up, but I hope you found it valuable.
Ryan: Definitely. As I say, I think it's some really, really helpful information. We've got a few minutes left, so let's go over a few questions.
I'm going to start with a few that came up around the business profile and people not wanting to show their home address. If someone works from a coffee shop, for example, what would be the best workaround?
Eleyna: Possibly put yourself down as a service area to start with. You will have to verify a mailing address, but if you've listed a service area as opposed to a retail premises, that won't appear.
You'll see when you click through the verification screens that you're just verifying that you're a real business operating from a real place, which is why you can't put a PO box. It does need to be a physical, real place.
As I said, when I verified my own business, it was by video, and I did end up showing the street view in the recording. So yes, it's collecting information, but it really wants to see that you're a real person who can access and operate from a real address.
Ryan: Got it. Is that sometimes when people receive a card through the post at their address, with a code or something on it?
Eleyna: Yes. I think it will be up to Google to choose – I would have done anything rather than a video verification. It's random which verification method you get: maybe it's a postal thing, or maybe it's a phone call, but it does depend on what your business is and what you've listed on the profile.
Ryan: Amazing. The next question is from somebody in the chat who has taken over the lease of a shop, but the shop listed at that address on the business profile is not active, and they've inherited all its bad reviews. What would be the best way to get a clean slate on that?
Eleyna: Possibly start again, though I appreciate you've got a business name. Google are also there to help, so get in contact with them – if it's a business you're taking over, they can best advise you on starting again and how to do that. You now know how to build your profile, so it's about finding a way for them to understand that there will be another business coming up, but you may have to start again.
Ryan: Got it, brilliant. We also had a couple of questions around online-only businesses. If you've just got an online store, are you able to have a Google Business Profile as well, or do you need a physical premises or an office?
Eleyna: It's a service area. For example, Berhane & Co. Ltd doesn't have a shopfront that you'd come to see, but we are a service business, so it's very important to set your service area. That was shown in the locations, where I quickly typed in London.
Just to clarify, your service area is separate from the physical address you have to verify. It's called a mailing address on there, and what you put in there is what you will verify.
Ryan: Got it. Amazing – that's brilliant. Well, thank you so much.
Eleyna: Thank you, guys. Lots of you in the house this afternoon – really chuffed. I hope you found it valuable.
Ryan: Brilliant. It was great to see so many comments and questions coming through, and some really nice feedback at the end. I think we're just at time now.
Just to say again, please do reach out with any further questions – I've popped Eleyna's LinkedIn profile in the chat. We didn't have enough time to go over all the questions, but a recording will go out later, so keep an eye out for that if you want to rewatch it.
And a big thank you to everyone – it's been a really, really great session and really helpful.
Eleyna: Thank you, guys, I really appreciate that. Have a good day, everyone, and enjoy the rest of your day. Take care.
Ryan: Thanks, everyone. Take care, and see you all later. Bye.
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