MEO management and Google Maps for inbound visitors
As your MEO agency, we set up the English name, description, payment and other attributes and booking link on your Google Business Profile, and reply to reviews in the language they were written in — so you stay on the list when visitors search Google Maps.
Your Google Maps listing,
readable in English.
The first day we opened the Google Business Profile of a shop we look after, nothing had been set up for English. The payment attributes were blank, and no review had ever been answered.
Visitors look for places on Google Maps before they arrive and during their stay. TABICO makes your name, description, attributes and booking link readable in English, and replies to reviews in other languages. So far we have handled local search for a coffee shop and a kimono rental shop in Tokyo.
AT A GLANCE
OVERVIEW
| Provider | TABICO LLC (Dogenzaka, Shibuya, Tokyo). We also run Japan Trails, our own walking tours for visitors to Japan. |
|---|---|
| Who it is for | Restaurants and cafes, experience businesses such as kimono rental and tea ceremony, and shops that welcome visitors to Japan |
| Scope | Google Business Profile (your Google Maps listing) and local search ads on Google Maps |
| Area | Mainly Tokyo |
| Language | Mainly English. We reply to reviews in the language they were written in, including English and Korean. |
| How to engage us | Set-up only, or set-up plus ongoing review replies. We can also hand the profile over to your staff once it is set up. |
| Fees | From JPY 30,000 a month for MEO support. We give a formal quote after looking at your current Google Business Profile and agreeing what we will take on. Set-up only is JPY 20,000. Google Maps ad spend is charged separately at cost. You can cancel the monthly service by telling us at least one month before the month you want to stop. We do not promise any ranking on Google Maps. |
What we take on
SCOPE
Visitors to Japan look at the photos first on Google Maps, then at the stars and reviews.
- Checking where you stand
- We open the profile and check how far the English settings, attributes and review replies have got.
- Photos
- We set a cover photo that shows at a glance what your shop offers. Photos appear newest first, so we plan the order we upload them in to tell the story you want. Photo shoots at your shop are charged separately, at JPY 50,000 per shoot.
- English name and description
- We add an English name rather than replacing the Japanese one, so people searching in Japanese still see what they saw before. The description is written in English from what makes your shop distinctive.
- Attributes
- We fill in payment methods and other attributes. Attributes are picked from a list and appear in the viewer's language, so no English writing is needed. If they are blank, visitors cannot check how to pay before they come.
- Booking link
- We set the Google Maps booking link once you have decided where bookings should go. If it points to an OTA and your shop can handle them, we make sure it accepts bookings one or two days ahead and on the day.
- Posts
- Before posting begins, we agree a number of posts you can keep up.
- Replies to reviews in other languages
- We reply in the language each review was written in, using a tool, in batches about twice a month. For one- and two-star reviews, we check the facts with you before replying.
- Google Maps ads
- We also run the local search ads that appear on Google Maps. For a kimono rental shop we look after, we spend about JPY 1,500 a day. Ad spend is charged separately from the monthly fee.
Who it suits
FOR YOUR SHOP
- Nothing set up for English
- Being registered is not the same as being set up for visitors from abroad. We start with shops whose payment attributes or booking link are still blank.
- Unanswered reviews piling up
- One shop started with several hundred unanswered reviews. One- and two-star reviews are answered only after we have checked what they say.
- Stuck on registration or verification
- If your ownership verification will not go through, your shop is listed twice, or your profile has been suspended, we deal with that with you before the set-up. Google decides whether a suspension is lifted, so we cannot promise the outcome.
- You want to carry on yourselves
- We can set everything up and then hand the profile over to your staff. After the handover, I still check your Google Maps listing and let you know if I notice anything.
How we work
FLOW
One person is your contact from the first conversation to the final report.
Looking at your profile
We look at your current Google Business Profile and note the empty fields and the number of unanswered reviews.
Photos, attributes, booking link, description
We set the cover photo and photo order, then fill in payment attributes, the booking link, and the English name and description. So far, description changes have gone live within tens of minutes at the earliest and a few days at the latest.
Checking the display
We switch Google Maps between English and Japanese and check how the listing looks in both.
Replies and handover
We keep replying to reviews. If you take the profile over, we agree which tasks your staff will keep up and hand them over.
CASE STUDIES
CASES
A coffee shop in Tokyo
Instagram management. We direct everything from filming and editing to posting. We previously also handled their local search and replies to reviews in other languages. Some of their posts have reached 10,000 and 100,000 views.
A kimono rental shop
A kimono rental shop in Tokyo. Alongside building their products on Viator and GetYourGuide, we put their Google Maps listing in order and ran Google Maps ads. Staff now ask every guest to write a review after the experience, and the number of reviews went from 50 to 200 over the past year. The listing is also shown more often to people looking for kimono rental in English. Once the reviews and rating were in good shape, we started spending about JPY 1,500 a day on Google Maps ads and walk-in guests have increased. Sales doubled compared with the previous year. We were working on the OTA listings, Google Maps and ads at the same time, so we see it as the result of all of them together rather than any one.
When we took over at this coffee shop, no Google Maps review had ever been answered, and several hundred had built up over a year. While we handled it, we replied in batches on two set days a month.
At the kimono rental shop, walk-in guests have increased since we set the payment attributes and booking link. We were also running Google Maps ads at the same time, so we see it as the result of both.
The languages reviews arrive in differ from shop to shop. At one shop we have looked after, the most common after English was Korean, not Chinese.
FAQ
QShould we change our shop name to English?
No. Keep it, and add an English name. Google sometimes translates a Japanese name for people viewing in another language, but adding your own English name shows the name you want to be known by. People searching in Japanese still see the same listing. Google's guidelines do not allow writing Japanese and English side by side in the name field. The only things to write in English are the name and the description; attributes such as payment methods are picked from a list.
QWill you reply to reviews in other languages?
Yes. We reply in the language each review was written in, Korean as well as English. For one- and two-star reviews, we check the facts with you before replying.
QCan you help if we have a backlog of unanswered reviews?
Yes. One shop started with several hundred. We check one- and two-star reviews before answering them, then reply in batches about twice a month.
QCan we ask for set-up only and carry on ourselves?
Yes. At the shop we handed over after set-up, the staff keep asking guests for reviews, updating photos and replying to reviews. I give advice when it is needed.
QHow do you measure results?
We look at views, direction requests, calls and website clicks on the Performance screen of your Google Business Profile, and report the results and what to improve next. We do not count changes in your rating as the result of review replies, because the season and how visible the shop is play a part at the same time.
QWhich parts can we do ourselves, and which should we hand over?
Setting up photos, attributes, the description and the booking link is free, and shop staff can do it themselves. Review replies and analysis carry on every month, so we suggest weighing your own time against the monthly fee before deciding to hand them over. We can also take on the set-up alone, for JPY 20,000.
QHow much does it cost?
As a guide, MEO support starts from JPY 30,000/month. We give a formal quotation once we have seen your Google Business Profile and agreed the scope. Google Maps ad spend is charged separately at cost.
QWhich areas do you cover?
Mainly central Tokyo. Photo shoots take place at your shop and cost JPY 50,000 per shoot, separate from the monthly MEO fee.
Areas you can combine
RELATED SERVICES
One area on its own or several together. The same person is your contact from start to finish.
Contact
Work with us
Talk to us about bringing in visitors from overseas. It is free, and you do not need to know where to start.
Service guide (Japanese)
Want to look things over with your team first, or still gathering information? Download our service guide (in Japanese).