Visitors research weeks ahead from far away, so your website and listing must answer what they cannot check in person: where to go, when you open, what it costs in Canadian dollars, and how to book.

Planning from somewhere else

Summer visitors are planning now. A family in Calgary or Seattle is choosing where to eat, what to book and what to see on a July trip, from a laptop at home.

People moving to the area do the same for dentists, gyms, music teachers and mechanics, weeks before the moving truck arrives.

None of them can drive past to check. Everything they know about your business comes from your website, your listing and its reviews.

And the search results they see from home are not the ones your local customers see.

What a visitor cannot check

The fourth matters more than most businesses expect. Someone booking from another time zone, after their own working day, needs a way to reserve or ask that does not depend on catching you by phone.

Why their map results differ

Google has said local results depend on relevance, distance and prominence. When a local searches on a phone, distance from where they stand counts for a lot.

Someone searching from another province is nowhere near the businesses they want, so they add the town's name, and the results are ranked against that town instead of their own location.

That favours businesses clearly tied to the town: an address there, a listing in the right category, the town named on the website, and plenty of reviews.

A business that locals find easily because it is around the corner can be much harder to find from a thousand kilometres away.

Name the place, more than once

Visitors search with place names: the town, the lake, the island, the neighbourhood they will be staying in.

Use those names where they describe what you do: on the home page, on the page for each tour or service, and in the directions.

A website that never names its own town relies on visitors already knowing where it is.

Directions for someone who has never been

Local directions assume local knowledge: past the old mill, behind the hardware store, where the bank used to be.

Write directions for a stranger, from the highway, the ferry terminal and the main hotels, with the landmark at each turn and where to park.

If customers meet you somewhere other than your office, such as a dock, a trailhead or a parking lot, say so plainly and put that place on the map.

A photograph of the entrance or meeting point helps people recognise it when they arrive.

A worked example

A floatplane charter company on the coast flies sightseeing trips over glaciers and inlets, and charters to fishing lodges, from a dock in a harbour town.

Its office is in a row of shops two streets back from the water, and that was the only address on its website and listing.

Every summer, visitors who had booked weeks earlier from home arrived at the office instead of the dock, some with only minutes to spare before take-off.

The site also said nothing about weight limits for passengers and baggage, which matter on a small floatplane, or about what happens when weather cancels a flight.

Everything on the site made sense to someone who lived there. It had been written by locals, for people who could drop in and ask.

The company added a page for each trip with the dock's location, a photograph of the gangway, check-in time, baggage limits and the weather policy, with prices marked in Canadian dollars.

The booking confirmation now repeats where to go, with a map.

Prices, currency and booking

Visitors from other countries compare prices with what they pay at home. Say that prices are in Canadian dollars, and what they include: taxes, fees and equipment.

The lower Canadian dollar makes many prices attractive to American visitors, but only if they can see clearly what the price is.

Let people book, or request a booking, online, with a confirmation that arrives straight away. A reply sent the next morning may reach someone who booked elsewhere overnight.

Write your phone number in full with its area code, and in the international form beginning +1 for anyone calling from abroad.

Seasonal hours on the listing

Many businesses that serve visitors keep summer and winter hours. Update your Google My Business hours when the season changes, not after the first complaint.

Say on the website when the season starts and ends, and whether you open by appointment outside it.

Holiday hours matter as well. Summer long weekends bring visitors who look up your hours before deciding where to go, and a listing showing normal hours can send them to a locked door.

A listing that says open when you are closed costs more with visitors than with locals. A visitor has come further and has fewer days to try again.

Reviews written by other visitors

Visitors rely on reviews because they have nobody local to ask. Reviews from other travellers answer the questions they share: was it easy to find, was it worth the price, would they go again.

Reply to reviews on Google, and on TripAdvisor if you are listed there, since visitors read the replies as well as the stars.

The counter-case

A business whose customers are almost all local, such as a dry cleaner, has less to gain from writing for visitors, though newcomers to the area still look it up before they move.

And a business already full all summer may reasonably aim this work at its shoulder seasons instead.

For anyone who serves visitors or newcomers, the advice stands: write the website and listing for someone who has never been there and must decide from far away.

Before the summer rush

  1. Ask someone in another city to search for you.
  2. Name your town on every main page.
  3. Write directions for someone who has never been.
  4. Photograph the entrance or meeting point.
  5. Mark prices as Canadian dollars.
  6. Update seasonal hours on your Google listing.
  7. Let people book outside office hours.

Step one is where the surprises are. A friend searching from another city, with your town's name, sees what a visitor sees, and often finds a listing that answers none of a visitor's questions.

Who writes many of the long, specific reviews that visitors read, and how to reply to them, is covered in local guides reviewing your business.

Frequently asked questions

How early do visitors research local businesses?

Often weeks ahead, from home, while planning the trip. People moving to the area do the same for everyday services well before they arrive.

Why do visitors see different map results?

Local results weigh distance from the searcher. Someone far away adds the town's name, so results are ranked against that town, favouring businesses clearly tied to it.

What do visitors need most from a website?

Exactly where to go, seasonal hours, prices marked as Canadian dollars, a way to book outside office hours, what to bring, and what happens if weather or plans change.

Should prices mention the currency?

Yes. Visitors from other countries compare with prices at home. Saying Canadian dollars, and what the price includes, lets them judge it correctly and avoids surprises at the counter.

How should directions be written for visitors?

For a stranger: from the highway, the ferry terminal and the main hotels, with landmarks at each turn, where to park, and a photograph of the entrance or meeting point.

Do reviews matter more to visitors?

Usually, because visitors have nobody local to ask. Reviews from other travellers answer their shared questions, and visitors read the replies to those reviews as well.

West Coast Media Solutions Inc. provides web design, web development, hosting, digital marketing, and business consulting to organisations across Canada, drawing on more than twenty-five years in the field.

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