Your business description is the paragraph under your name on Google Maps, on a directory page, in your Instagram bio and on your website. Most owners write it once, in a hurry, and never look at it again. That is a pity, because it is one of the few places where you choose exactly which words describe you, and those words are what people type when they search.
What a good description does
A good description answers the questions a customer has before they call. Read yours and check that it says:
- What you do, in plain words: "car mechanic", "bakery", "women's hair salon", not "solutions" or "excellence".
- Where you are: the neighbourhood, and a landmark people know if there is one nearby.
- Who it is for: families, students, brides, restaurants that buy wholesale, owners of Japanese cars.
- What makes you different, stated as a fact: "baking since 1998", "we repair hybrids", "open until midnight".
- The practical details: opening hours, whether you deliver and to which areas, how people can pay (cash in dollars or lira, card, a transfer app) and which languages you speak.
A customer who finds all of that in 30 seconds does not need to send you a WhatsApp message asking "where are you exactly?" and "do you deliver?". When they message you, it is to order.
Use the words customers actually search
People do not search for your business name unless they already know you. They search for a thing and a place: "mechanic in Dekwaneh", "birthday cakes Jounieh", "hair salon Zahle", "pharmacy Hamra". Your description should contain phrases like these naturally, inside full sentences.
To find your words:
- Write down how customers describe you when they call or message. If they say "garage" and you say "automotive service centre", use their word.
- Type your trade and your area into Google Maps and read the suggestions that appear as you type. They give you a good idea of how people phrase the search.
- Name the areas you really serve. If you deliver from Achrafieh to Gemmayzeh, Mar Mikhael and Badaro, say so.
- Add the two or three specific things you are known for: "manakish", "brake repair", "keratin treatment". Specific words bring customers who want exactly that.
Put the most important sentence first
On most platforms the description is cut after a line or two, with a "more" link that many people never tap. So the first sentence has to carry the whole message on its own: what you are, where, and one reason to choose you.
A pattern that works for almost any trade: [what you are] in [area], [for whom, or known for what]. Then a second sentence with the practical details, then anything else.
Keep the history of the shop, the thanks to your customers and the founder's story for the later sentences. They are good to have. They are just not what a stranger needs first.
What to leave out
- Keyword stuffing. "Bakery Achrafieh bakery Beirut cakes cake shop best cakes" reads as spam, to people and to search engines. Say each important phrase once, inside a sentence.
- ALL CAPS. It is harder to read and looks like shouting. Use normal capitals.
- Claims you cannot back up. "Best in Lebanon", "number 1" and "cheapest prices" tell a customer nothing and invite a bad review from the first person who disagrees. Replace them with a fact they can check.
- Prices and promotions. A price in a description goes stale fast, especially when you move between dollars and lira. Keep prices on your menu or price list (see pricing in dollars and lira) and keep the description for what stays true.
- Links, phone numbers and emails inside the text. Most platforms have separate fields for them.
Google's own rules for the Business Profile description are a good standard for every platform: do not exceed 750 characters, focus on the business rather than promotions, prices or sales, and do not include URLs or HTML code.
Three examples, before and after
The businesses below are hypothetical. Each one shows a weak description and a better one for the same shop.
Notice what changed. Every better version says the trade and the area in the first line, names specific services, gives hours and practical details, and makes no claim a stranger would have to take on trust.
Write it in Arabic, English and French
Customers in Lebanon search in Arabic, in English, in French, and in Arabic typed with Latin letters. A description in English only will miss the person who types "حلاق زحلة". Write a real version in each language your customers use, not a machine translation pasted as it is: a word by word translation often picks terms nobody searches for.
Keep area names in the form people use in each language: Jounieh and جونية, Saida and صيدا. Where two names are common, like Jbeil and Byblos, use both once.
On Lebanon Local, each business page has a description field in English, Arabic and French, so each version goes in its own language instead of three languages mixed in one block.
Once the text is right, reuse it on your Google Business Profile, your Instagram bio and your WhatsApp Business profile, shortened to fit each field. Adding your business to Google Maps shows where it goes on Google, and taking good photos of your shop with a phone covers the other half of a good page.
Checklist
- The first sentence says what you are and where you are.
- It uses the words customers say, not industry jargon.
- It names two or three specific products or services.
- It gives hours, delivery areas, payment methods and languages spoken.
- It states one fact that makes you different, and no "best in Lebanon".
- No ALL CAPS, no repeated keywords, no links, no prices that will go stale.
- It exists in Arabic and English (and French if your customers use it), written by a person, not only machine translated.
- It stays under 750 characters, so the same text fits on Google.
- You reread it whenever your hours, services or areas change.