Last week the tip was about setting your holiday hours before someone drives across town to a closed door. This week it is the other half of the same ten minutes: the pictures.

For most Missoula businesses the Google listing is the shop window, and the photo at the top of it is often whatever a customer uploaded in a hurry eighteen months ago. In November, when people are deciding where to spend, that picture is doing a lot of work.

What you can and cannot control

Worth knowing before you start, because it changes what is worth your time. Google's own documentation says you can add photos and videos of your storefront, products and services, and that you can set a cover photo you think best represents the business.

But Google is explicit that setting one does not guarantee it appears first. If your cover photo is low quality, or Google's other signals suggest a better image, a customer's photo can be shown instead.

So this is not a switch you flip. It is a matter of giving Google better material than the blurry one someone took from the car park.

Three things worth doing

• Look at your listing the way a stranger does. Search your own business name on a phone, logged out. Whatever you see at the top is what most people will ever see.
• Add a current exterior shot. People use it to recognise the door. If your signage, window display or entrance has changed since the last photo, the current one is more useful than the prettier one.
• Add what you actually sell this month. Seasonal items, the holiday menu, the gift sets. Google's media section shows your newest uploads first, so recent photos are the ones working hardest.

It takes ten minutes, it costs nothing, and it is the cheapest change most businesses can make before December.

Last week: set your holiday hours in Google now. And if you are wondering who we are, here is the Missoula Business Hub.

Brought to you by Missoula Business Hub — practical advice for Missoula small business owners. hello@missoulabusinesshub.com

Sources

• Google, “Add photos or videos to your Business Profile” — Google Business Profile Help, read November 3, 2026 — support.google.com