Sole trader? Name your profile after your sign, not after yourself

In the register you trade under your own name — say, “Jan Novák”. Your customers know the name on the sign above the door. When your profile on Google or Firmy.cz is named differently from that sign, customers search for one thing and see another on the map.

What we measured

Of the 3,904 Prague companies registered as car services in our list from the public register, 2,278 are sole traders (živnostník). For 2,274 of them (99.8%) the trade name in the register is simply their first name and surname. That is not a mistake or an exception. It is how the register works: a sole trader trades under their own name.

Then we checked what Google sees. For 71 premises of sole traders we searched for the profile on Google Maps by the owner’s name and address. We did not get a confident match even once. When, for one of those places, we entered the sign and the street instead of the name, Google returned the right profile at the right address. In three more cases where we knew the sign, the name matched exactly.

What this does and doesn’t show: we measured our own searches, not customer behaviour, and we tried searching by the sign at only four places. It shows one thing — a profile on the map is named after the sign, not after the person. That is why the sign should be the same everywhere.

Where your name and your sign meet

• Trade register (živnostenský rejstřík): your first name and surname. That stays — but a premises can also carry its own name.
• Google profile: whatever the person who created it typed in. It should be the sign, exactly as above the entrance.
• Firmy.cz: a listing that Seznam created itself from the register carries the name from the register. It should be the sign.
• Website, invoices, business cards: the sign, with your name and IČO next to it.

What to do

1. Google: check the name in your business profile. It should be exactly what is on the sign, the website and the receipts. Google requires this itself: the name must reflect the business’s real-world name as you use it with customers.
2. Don’t add anything to the name. “[Name] – cheap repairs Prague 9” is not a name, it’s an ad. Keywords and locations in the name break Google’s rules, and the profile can be suspended for them.
3. Firmy.cz: look up your listing by your name and by your sign. If it was created from the register under your name, claim it and add the name of the premises — our guide on listings created by Seznam explains how.
4. Register: you can report the name of your premises to the trade licensing office (živnostenský úřad), in person or online through the single registration form (JRF). Ask the office what exactly to fill in.
5. The sign doesn’t replace the required details. The premises must still be marked with your name and IČO. The sign comes on top, not instead.
6. Align everything else: website, invoices, business cards, social media. The same sign everywhere, in the same form.

And if you don’t have a sign?

Then your name is your business name, and the profile should be called that too. Don’t invent a name just for the profile — Google wants the real name customers see. If you are thinking about a sign, put it on the premises and the website first, and only then into the profile.

A consistent name is the cheapest fix you can make to a profile: it costs nothing and takes a few minutes. Photos, opening hours and reviews only make sense once the profile carries the right name.