Someone searching for a hairdresser near me sees your Google Business Profile before they ever see your website. That is where your booking link belongs, in the appointment field, not buried in the description. This guide shows where the link goes, how to add it step by step, what Google shows on a phone, and how to check whether the button gets tapped.
Why the Google profile comes before your website
Most new customers never type a business name. They type hairdresser near me, physio Manchester, or nail salon open now, and get a map with three entries. Those entries are Google Business Profiles, not websites. Whoever is on that map gets called or booked. Whoever is missing does not get found, however good the website is. The profile is the first contact, and often the only one before the appointment.
The profile shows opening hours, reviews, photos, the phone number and, if you add it, a button for booking an appointment. That button is the shortest path from search to appointment: one tap, and the customer sees your free slots. Without it, the only option is a call, and the call usually comes when you have both hands busy.
That is why the half hour it takes to add the link pays off better than any ad. The link costs nothing, stays put, and keeps working in the evening and on Sunday when nobody answers the phone. It is the one change in the profile that brings appointments directly, not just attention.
Appointment link Google Business Profile: where it goes
Google offers several places for links in a Business Profile, and they are not equally valuable. The most important one is the appointment link, labelled Bookings, Appointments or Book online depending on the version. Whatever you put there, Google shows as its own button in the profile. The website field points to your home page and can stay in place alongside it. The description is plain text; links in it are not clickable.
Put the address of your booking page into the appointment field, not your website's home page. After the tap, the customer wants services and free slots, not another search for a button. With terminio, that is the link of your booking page, which you copy from the app and paste into the profile. It works without an app or an account on the customer's side, and that matters most for people who come from search and do not know you yet.
- Appointment link: the address of your booking page, shown as a button in the profile
- Website field: your home page, can stay in place as well
- Posts: text with a button, good for offers and last-minute free slots
- Description: no clickable link, but your services in words
- Services in the profile: the same names as on the booking page
Google Business Profile booking button: five steps to add it
Today you manage the profile directly in Google Search or Google Maps, once you are signed in with the account that owns it. The old Google My Business app is gone, but many owners still think of it by that name. The steps are the same on a phone and on a desktop, only the menus look slightly different.
Allow anywhere from a few minutes to a day for Google to review the change and show it. In some categories Google also shows the button in Maps, in others only in Search. If the button is not visible after a day, first check that the address starts with https and that the profile is verified.
- Sign in to Google with the account that owns the profile and open Edit profile
- Go to Bookings or Appointments, found under Contact or More depending on the version
- Paste the address of your booking page, complete with https at the start
- Save and wait for Google's review, usually less than a day
- Search for your own business in an incognito window and tap the button
What Google shows on mobile and on desktop
On a phone, the customer sees your profile as a card with a photo, a rating and a row of buttons: Call, Directions, Website and, if you added it, Book. The button sits in the first row, no scrolling needed. That is exactly what makes it work: the choice between calling and booking takes a second, and anyone who does not feel like a phone call taps Book.
On a desktop, the profile sits to the right of the search results with the same details and more room. The appointment link appears there as a line or a button, depending on the category. Since most searches for nearby businesses come from phones, check your profile there first. Open it in an incognito window so you see what strangers see, not the owner view with its edit buttons.
One more thing: your booking page has to load quickly on a phone and work without zooming. Someone who taps the Google button and lands on a page that opens with a menu or a cookie banner is gone before they have seen a single service.
Opening hours and services: one truth, two places
The most common frustration comes from the profile and the booking page saying different things. The profile says Saturday until 4 pm, the booking page closes at 2 pm. Or the profile lists a service that cannot be booked online. The customer does not remember where the mistake was, only that they did not get an appointment.
So decide on one place where the truth lives, and maintain the other from it. The booking page is the sensible choice, because it knows the real calendar. Holidays, closures and changed hours go there first, then into the profile as special hours. Copy service names word for word, so the customer recognises what they searched for after the tap.
- Compare opening hours in the profile and on the booking page once a month
- Enter holidays and closures as special hours in the profile
- Name services in the profile exactly as on the booking page
- Maintain prices in one place only, or leave them out of the profile
- Check the phone number and address in both systems
Reviews after the appointment, with no incentives
Reviews help decide who gets booked from the map. Ask right after the appointment, while the customer is standing in front of you and happy, not days later. One sentence is enough: if you enjoyed it, I would love a review. Google provides a short review link for this, found in your profile under Ask for reviews, which you can send as a message or print as a QR code at the counter.
What is off limits: discounts, vouchers or prize draws for reviews, and asking only happy customers while leaving out the rest. Both break Google's policies and can lead to reviews being removed. Legally, paid or filtered reviews can also count as misleading advertising in many countries. This is orientation, not legal advice. And reply to every review, the good ones included, in two sentences.
Measuring clicks: the performance report in your profile
You can see whether the button is doing anything in your profile under Performance. Google shows how often the profile was viewed, how many calls, direction requests and website clicks it produced, and, depending on the version of the report, clicks on the booking link as a separate figure. Compare the months before and after adding the link. If calls go down and bookings go up, the button is working.
The second number lives in your booking software: how many bookings actually arrive. If Google counts a hundred clicks and you see ten bookings, the booking page is losing ninety people, usually because of too many services or no free slots. If clicks and bookings rise together, everything is in order. With terminio, you see the bookings in the calendar and, on Pro, in the statistics.
