What is a Google Business Profile?
A Google Business Profile is the free listing that shows your business on Google Search and Google Maps. When someone searches for your business name, it’s the panel with your hours, photos, reviews and phone number. When someone searches for a service near them, like “dentist near me”, Google often shows a map with a short list of businesses. That list comes from Business Profiles too.
For a local business, it’s often the most valuable listing you have. Many customers call, ask for directions or visit your website straight from your profile, without ever scrolling to the regular search results.
Who can have a profile
Google’s rules are simple but strict. To have a Business Profile, a business must make in-person contact with customers during its stated hours. That can happen in two ways:
- At your location: a shop, restaurant, office or clinic that customers visit. You show your address.
- At the customer’s location: a service-area business, like a plumber, cleaner or mobile hairdresser. You can hide your address and list the areas you serve instead.
Some businesses can’t have a profile. That includes online-only businesses, and addresses you don’t really operate from, such as virtual offices or mailboxes. Using an address like that is one of the most common reasons profiles get suspended.
How to create or claim your profile
- Use the right Google account. Sign in with an account the business will keep, not a personal account an employee might take with them. You can add other people as managers later.
- Search for your business at google.com/business or on Google Maps. If a profile already exists, perhaps created automatically or by a previous owner, choose to claim it. If not, create a new one.
- Enter your business name exactly as it appears in the real world: on your sign, your website and your paperwork.
- Choose your primary category. This is one of the most important choices you’ll make (more on this below).
- Add your location or service area. If customers visit you, add your address. If you visit them, add your service areas and hide your address.
- Add your phone number and website.
- Verify your business when Google asks.
How verification works
Before your profile appears publicly, and before your edits go live, Google needs to confirm that your business is real and that you’re allowed to manage it. Google chooses the method, and it can vary by business type and country. Common methods include:
- Video recording: you record a short, continuous video showing your location or business, your signage or branded equipment, and proof that you manage the business (for example, opening the shop or showing tools of the trade).
- Live video call with a Google support team member.
- Phone call or text message with a code.
- Email with a code.
- Postcard by mail with a code.
Video verification is common today. Plan it carefully: film in one continuous take, show the street or your vehicle and branding, and show something only the owner or staff could access. Reviews of verification videos can take a few days or longer, so start this step first.
How to fill in your profile
Complete every field that applies. Empty fields are missed chances to match what customers are searching for.
Business name
Use your real business name only. Adding keywords or locations, like “Northside Plumbing | Best Emergency Plumber Springfield”, breaks Google’s guidelines. It might help briefly, but competitors can report it, and it’s a common cause of suspensions.
Categories
Your primary category tells Google what your business is, and it has a big influence on which searches you appear for. Choose the most specific category that describes your main business, such as “Plumber” rather than “Contractor”. You can then add secondary categories for other things you genuinely do. Don’t add categories for services you don’t offer.
Address or service area
Make sure your address matches your website and other listings exactly, including details like “Suite 4” and abbreviations. If you’re a service-area business, list the cities or areas you actually serve.
Hours
Keep regular hours accurate, and add special hours for holidays. Showing “open” when you’re closed frustrates customers and leads to bad reviews.
Phone number and website
Use a local phone number you answer. Link to your website’s home page, or to the page for that location if you have several.
Description
You have up to 750 characters to describe your business. Write for customers: what you do, who you help, where you work and what makes you different. Mention your main services naturally, and don’t stuff keywords or include links.
Services and products
List your main services, ideally with short descriptions and prices where it makes sense. This helps Google match you to specific searches and helps customers understand what you offer.
Attributes
Attributes are extra details, like wheelchair access, online appointments or payment options. Add the ones that are true for your business.
Photos
Add real, good-quality photos: your logo, your storefront or vehicle, your team, your work and the inside of your location. Photos help customers choose you, and businesses with up-to-date photos look active and trustworthy. Avoid stock photos.
How Google decides who shows up
Google says local results are based mainly on three factors:
| Factor | What it means | What you can do |
|---|---|---|
| Relevance | How well your profile matches the search | Accurate categories, complete services, a clear description |
| Distance | How far you are from the searcher or the area they named | Not much. Make sure your address or service area is correct |
| Prominence | How well known and trusted your business is | Reviews, an active profile, a good website, consistent listings and mentions on other sites |
You can’t move your business closer to every customer. You can make your profile more relevant and your business more prominent, and that’s where all the real work goes.
How to keep your profile active
A profile that’s set up and then left alone slowly loses ground to competitors who keep theirs fresh. A simple routine is enough:
- Post an update every week or two. Share offers, news, seasonal tips, before-and-after photos or events.
- Add new photos every month, especially of recent work.
- Check your hours, particularly before holidays.
- Answer questions customers ask, where your profile shows that feature.
- Update services and prices when they change.
Reviews: getting them and replying
Reviews are a big part of prominence, and they’re often what makes a customer choose you. The best way to get more is to ask every customer, every time, and to make it easy with a direct review link or a QR code.
Follow the rules. Google doesn’t allow you to offer incentives for reviews, to ask only the customers you expect to be happy, or to post reviews yourself. In the US, the FTC also has rules against fake and paid reviews.
Reply to every review. Thank people for positive reviews. For negative ones, stay calm, acknowledge the problem and offer to sort it out offline. Future customers read your replies as much as the reviews themselves.
Measuring results
Your profile’s performance section shows how people found and used it: how many people viewed it, which searches it appeared for, and how many calls, website clicks, direction requests and bookings it produced. Check it monthly. Watch the trend over months rather than reacting to a single week.
Common mistakes that get profiles suspended
- Adding keywords or locations to the business name
- Using a virtual office, mailbox or an address where you don’t really operate
- Creating duplicate profiles for the same business
- Listing a service-area business at a home address and showing it publicly when you don’t serve customers there
- Offering incentives for reviews, or posting fake reviews
- Changing many key details at once, like name, address and category, without a real reason
If your profile is suspended, don’t create a new one. Fix whatever broke the guidelines, then request reinstatement through Google’s support process.
When to get help
Everything in this guide can be done yourself, and many owners do. If you’d rather spend your time running your business, our Google Business Profile service handles setup, verification and monthly care for a flat monthly price. Either way, start with a free audit to see where your profile and website stand today.