When a skier searches for "ski rental" plus the name of the resort, Google shows them a map with three shops. Most people don't expand it any further. If your shop isn't one of those three, you don't exist for that customer, even if you're fifty metres from the chairlift.
What Google Looks at to Pick Those Three
- Relevance: your profile clearly says you rent ski equipment.
- Distance to the person searching or to the place they're searching for.
- Prominence: reviews (how many, how recent and what rating), photos, links to your website and profile activity.
You can't change the distance. You can change the other two.
What You Can Do This Week
- The right primary category. "Ski rental service" or the closest one Google offers you, and as secondary categories everything else you do (sporting goods shop, snowboard rental, ski school).
- Your real name, without adding keywords: Google penalises it and a competitor can report it.
- Season opening hours and special hours on long weekends and public holidays. A profile with the wrong hours sends the customer to the shop next door.
- Recent photos of the counter, the equipment and the shopfront, so the customer recognises it on arrival.
- Products with prices: ski pack, snowboard, helmet, clothing. They're shown inside the profile.
- Book button: add an online booking link so the customer can book straight from the map.
- Reviews every week, asked of all your customers. We explain how in how to get more Google reviews.
The Booking Link, Without Building a Website
With Caranva you get a direct booking link for your Google profile, your Instagram or your WhatsApp, free and with no fee: the customer chooses equipment and dates and the booking reaches you by email. Whatever comes in through your link is 100% yours. More in online booking engine.
And On Top of That, Customers Searching Outside Maps
Many people who rent don't search on the map: they search on Google, on resort websites or ask ChatGPT. That's where we show up and where we send you bookings from. Some of our shops:
- For one of our rental shops we've generated more than €112,000; for another, €92,000.
- On average, we generate €34,000 for every shop that works with us.
Do you run a rental shop or school? Send me your rates (a photo of the price list is fine) to caranvasports@gmail.com and I'll have it all set up for you in 48 hours, with no monthly fee: just 15% of the bookings we bring you. More at caranva.app/para-tiendas.
— Jaime, founder of Caranva
