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People go to a wine shop to get advice. Online, that advice doesn't show: supermarkets and wine websites display prices, ratings and very long catalogues. Your strength lies elsewhere. You know your bottles and your producers. I help you show it, on your Google Business Profile first, then on a few pages. Two points worth noting. Alcohol advertising is regulated, and I stick to information. And if you don't sell online, a short format is usually enough.
15 years in SEO
4 books on SEO and GEO
200+ sites tracked every day
1M / month visits to my e-commerce site
They trusted me with their visibility
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Ingram MicroYour result, read by an executive assistant
An executive assistant has to find gift boxes for her company's clients, in Angoulême. Your shop comes up third, below a national website and a supermarket. Your title says “Home”, your description talks about your “world”. Rewrite both lines.
Fig. 1. Three results for a corporate gift box. Only one can make it up locally. (The shop made up gift boxes every winter. Its website didn't say a word about it.)
What this means for you. I rewrite your titles and descriptions with information: the town, the service, how to order. Nothing else.
SEO for a wine shop is the work that makes your shop visible when someone searches for a wine merchant near them, a specific bottle or a gift idea. It relies on a complete Google Business Profile, reviews, and pages describing your selections, gift boxes and services. If you sell online, it also covers your product pages. All content stays informative, within the rules that apply to alcohol advertising.
The problem
For the name of a well-known appellation or estate, the top answers come from large online retailers. An independent shop won't beat them on those general searches. Its place is in local searches and on the wines only it stocks.
In the shop, you ask three questions and find the right bottle. On your profile and website, nothing shows it. The customer sees an address and opening hours, as for a supermarket aisle.
Many wine merchants launched online sales without the time to run them. The vintages are out of date, stock-outs aren't flagged, the product pages copy the producer's text. The online shop then costs more than it brings in.
An audit, for real
The site below doesn't exist, but its flaws do: they're the five I spot most often. Hover over a number.
A passion for wine
A demanding selection for beginners and connoisseurs alike.
EnterFig. 2. Fictional site, reconstructed. Any resemblance to yours would be a good reason to call me.
What your customers type
These six searches are examples built for this page. I find your real searches in your own data.
What works
Category, opening hours, services such as local delivery, order collection or gift box preparation, photos of the shelves and the shopfront. I also check that the profile's wording stays descriptive.
Gift boxes, corporate gifts, wines for a wedding, spirits, beers: each page says what you offer, in which price ranges, and how to reach you. You don't need to publish your entire stock to be found.
A few pages where you explain how you choose your producers, how to read a label or store a bottle. This content sets you apart from catalogues. I write it with you, from what you already say at the counter.
A page copied from the producer's text already exists on other websites. I add what only you know: why this bottle is on your shelves, its current vintage, its stock. I run my own online shops and I know this work.
Reviews almost always mention the advice people received. So they say what your website doesn't. I help you ask for them with nothing in return. I also plan a page for restaurants and businesses, who order in bulk.
What costs dearly
Each page then looks like the same page on ten other websites. Google has no reason to show yours. Two lines written by you are worth more than a copied paragraph.
Some websites pile up invitations to drink and prominent promotions. That's a risk under the rules that apply to alcohol advertising. I stick to describing products and services, and I flag the passages that should be reviewed.
The customer doesn't know whether the bottle is in stock or what it costs. They won't call to ask. They'll order from a website that tells them.
The post disappears within days and Google can't find it. A stable page on your website, updated for each date, stays visible and is just as easy to share.
The method
Four steps. The first two apply to every wine shop, the next two only to those that sell online or want to.
One-minute test
Five frank questions to find out whether support makes sense in your situation. Sometimes the answer is no, and I'll tell you.
Close to home
In Charente, a wine merchant works in a winegrowing département, between the Cognac vineyards and the town of Angoulême. Your shop can answer two kinds of search: the local resident who wants another region, a spirit, a beer or a gift, and the visitor who wants to take home a local product. I co-founded my agency, Newp, near Cognac.
After a visit, a traveller may want to take a bottle home and look for a wine shop in town. They don't know any addresses and read the Google Business Profiles. Saying that you offer local products and pack them for travel answers their question.
In town, people search for “wine shop” followed by the neighbourhood, a gift box, or Sunday opening before the holidays. The map may show several shops close together. Accurate opening hours and recent reviews help decide between neighbouring shops.
If your shop also sells deli products and hampers, say so on your profile. Mentioning these ranges and the villages you deliver to, around Jarnac, Barbezieux or Ruffec for example, widens the searches you appear in.
Beyond Google
Some customers now ask their question to an AI such as ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude or Mistral, with all the details. For example: “I'm looking for a wine shop in Angoulême that makes up gift boxes for a corporate gift, around fifty euros per box”. The AI cites a few shops and sums up what it knows about each one.
It repeats what's written on your website, your profile and in your reviews. A catalogue with no text teaches it nothing. A “gift boxes for businesses” page, with price ranges, lead times and delivery, gives it what it needs to name you. Your advisory trade lends itself well to these answers, provided it's written down somewhere.
Question asked to an AIWhich wine shop in Angoulême makes up gift boxes for a corporate gift, around fifty euros?
Three addresses match this search:
Fig. 3. Reconstruction, names hidden. This is the spot we aim for: on the list, with the most precise description.
Three typical cases
These three shops don't exist. I built them to show which format fits which situation.
Suggested level: a Google Business Profile audit, which is enough in this case.
Suggested level: a few hours of coaching or a short training session.
Suggested level: ongoing support, justified by the online shop.
In practice
Pricing
The fee depends on four things. I give you a precise amount after a free first thirty-minute conversation.
Fancy a game?
Google doesn't rank Kévin Papot. Kévin Papot ranks Google. Take the coin, slot it into the machine.
INSERT COINSLIDE THE COIN INTO THE SLOT
Fig. 4. Sixteen seconds. The facts are slightly exaggerated.
Together, let's devour your competitors.
One by one, and in order. Every spot gained makes the next one easier to take: that's why it keeps growing. See the method
Who you're talking to
My name is Kévin Papot. More than fifteen years in the job, four co-written books, and the Newp agency, co-founded in Charente. I also run my own online shops, in France and internationally: one of them went from zero to a million visits a month.
Before we talk tags, we talk margin, average basket and profitability. When you book a call, I'm the one who picks up.
FAQ
Yes, but in small doses. It's mostly about the Google Business Profile and two or three pages. Monthly support isn't justified. If your customers are regulars and you're not looking to widen the circle, the profile audit is enough.
Not on well-known appellations, and I won't pretend otherwise. You can be visible for your town, your services and the bottles from small producers those websites don't have. That's where I put the effort.
Information: origin, producer, grape variety, vintage, winemaking method, price. Alcohol advertising is regulated, and I don't write anything encouraging people to drink. I tell you which texts to submit to a legal professional.
Only if you have the time to run it and wines that can't be found everywhere. It requires accurate stock, sturdy packaging and after-sales service. Without that, one page per service and a phone do better.
I start by looking at what people actually search for and what only you offer. We keep those wines, describe them properly and remove the rest. A small, accurate catalogue beats a large, neglected one.
On a page of the website giving the date, the theme, the number of places and how to sign up. The text describes the event, nothing more. I recommend having this presentation checked against the rules that apply to alcohol advertising.
Yes, for gift boxes and for bottles sold online. Customers compare, and no price sends them away. However, I advise against building your pages around promotions. How they're highlighted is something to have checked.
You don't control what customers write, but you do control your replies. Thank them, talk about the advice and the service, keep it simple. Don't offer any bottle or discount in exchange for a review: that practice is regulated by the rules on reviews.
Fixes to the profile often show within a few weeks in calls and direction requests. Advice pages and product pages take several months to settle in. I make no commitment on Google rankings. We track enquiries and sales.
I've been doing this for fifteen years and have co-written four books on SEO, two of them on the Google Business Profile. I also sell online, with my own shops. So I know both sides of your trade: the shop people find on the map and the one that ships.
See also
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