A common wrong idea
The address is written in the site's footer. The phone number is on the "Contact" page. The home page says 9 am to 10 pm.
So Google already knows, right?
No. Google reads the page, but it does not assume those lines are the business address, the business phone and the business opening hours. To it they are text like any other text.
People read and understand. A machine has to be told.
The rule for telling it
The web has a separate language for this job. Inside the page, where people do not see it, a small block says: this is a business, of this type, with this name, at this address, open Saturday from 9 am to 10 pm.
This is called structured data, and for a shop or an office it is called LocalBusiness. Google, Bing, and now AI assistants such as ChatGPT or Claude also trust this block the most, because there is nothing to guess.
What you get from it
The most visible result is that search shows your address and opening hours along with your shop's name. If someone searches "sweet shop Mirpur 10" at 9 pm, the difference between seeing "open now" and not seeing it can be one order.
Two more things come with it:
- A chance of showing on the map. Adding a business to Google Maps is a separate job, but when the information on your site matches, the two support each other.
- Your name coming up in AI answers. If someone asks an AI assistant "which is a good sweet shop in Mirpur", where will the assistant learn it from? From the sites that have written down clearly who they are.
One honest thing must be said: this is not a guarantee. There is no rule that Google will show it just because you gave the information. The decision is theirs. But if you do not give the information, the chance is never created.
What it used to take
It used to take writing code. You had to place a block by hand inside the page, in the right place, with the right spelling. One misplaced comma and the whole thing was cancelled.
So on the sites of small businesses it was almost never there. Some sites built by agencies had it, and the rest did not.
What it takes now
On BanglaCodes, the Business and appearance tab of the Manage site page has a form. Fill it in and tap Save, and the markup is added on every page of the site by itself.
What it asks for:
- The name of the shop or business
- Address and city
- Phone number, and email if you like
- Price range, meaning ৳, ৳৳ or ৳৳৳
- The Google Maps link
- Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram, YouTube, TikTok
- Opening and closing time for each day
In the opening hours box there is a tick next to each day. On the day you are closed, remove the tick. The closed day is reported too, because being closed on Friday is a piece of information, not a lack of it.
After you save, you do not need to Publish. It goes live on the site straight away.
Mistakes to avoid
Do not give wrong or old information. The site says open until 11 pm, and a customer arrives at 10:30 pm and finds it closed. That is worse than not giving the information.
Give the name the business is known by. What is written on the business card, what is written on the Facebook page, and what is written on the site work best when all three are the same.
Give the phone number that is really answered. Phone calls come straight from search.
How long it takes
Five minutes. Once. After that, when the address or hours change, just go into that form and change them.
For a small shop there is no cheaper SEO, because here the cost is zero and the job is one time.
It is shown step by step in the address and opening hours guide.
To build the shop's site, start from the e-commerce website page.
Questions and answers
If my business is already added on Google Maps, do I still need this? They are two different things, and they work best when both are there. The Maps listing is in Google's own ledger, and this markup is on your own site. When the information in both places matches, each supports the other.
If I give the information, will search definitely show the address and hours? There is no guarantee, and the decision is Google's. But if you do not give the information, the chance is never created. It is not buying a result. It is creating the chance of a result.
If I have a Facebook page, do I still need this? The page and the site work in different places. Someone who searches on Facebook directly will find the page, but when someone asks Google or an AI assistant, it reads pages on the web. The real job is keeping the same name and the same number in both places.
I have no shop and sell only online. Should I still add it? You can give the name, phone and opening hours, and the address box matters less then. There is no need to put in information that is not true. Saying clearly what is true is enough.
What happens if I give wrong or old hours? It is worse than giving no information. If a customer sets out after seeing the site and finds a closed shop, they will not look again next time. Write the closed day too, because that is also a piece of information.
Do I have to do anything after setting it once? No, as long as the details stay true. When the address, number or hours change, go into that form, change them and tap Save. Nothing has to be set up again from the start.