Google Business Profile: how a local business gets on the map

When someone searches for “nails near me” or “coffee shop”, Google shows a map and a list of places nearby. Each place on that list is a Google Business Profile: the address, opening hours, phone number, photos and reviews of a business. It’s free: Google doesn’t charge for creating or managing one (Google Help (opens in a new tab)).

Who needs one

Anyone with local customers: a salon, a café, a workshop, a company that comes to its clients. Your profile and your website work together: the profile shows your address, hours and reviews, and the website gives the details and the booking button.

How to create and verify your profile

1. Sign in to a Google Account. It’s better to have a separate account for the business than to use your personal one.
2. Go to google.com/business (opens in a new tab) and search for your business. It may already be listed; if so, claim it rather than creating a second one.
3. Enter your business name, category, address or service area, phone number and website.
4. Verify that you represent the business.

Verification is a must: until it’s done, customers won’t find your profile on Google (Google Help (opens in a new tab)). The methods are a phone call or text, email, a video recording, a live video call or a postcard by mail. Google decides which ones are available to you, based on your type of business, your region and other information, and you can’t switch to a different one (Google Help (opens in a new tab)).

If you go to your customers

A landscaping company, a renovation crew, a mobile hairdresser: if customers don’t come to you, you can hide your address and set a service area instead, by city or postal code. Under Google’s rules, you can have up to 20 service areas, and the whole area shouldn’t reach beyond about two hours' drive from where your business is based (Google Help (opens in a new tab)).

What to fill in

• Your name, as it appears on your sign. Google’s guidelines require the name to match how the business is known: on the storefront, the website and stationery. Taglines, services and locations aren’t allowed, so “Anna Studio — Best Nails Downtown” won’t pass (Google guidelines (opens in a new tab)).
• Category. The same guidelines recommend as few categories as possible, and as specific as possible.
• Opening hours, plus holidays when you’re closed or open different hours.
• Phone number and website link.
• Photos: the entrance and sign so people can find you, the inside, your work, your team.
• Services or products, each with a short, clear description.

Google says plainly that businesses with complete and accurate information are more likely to show up in local search results (Google Help (opens in a new tab)).

Reviews

Everyone who opens your profile sees your reviews. Here’s how to handle them:

• ask every customer for a review, not just the happy ones;
• reply to reviews, and to the bad ones calmly and to the point: Google notes that replies show you value your customers' feedback (Google Help (opens in a new tab));
• don’t offer discounts, gifts or money for reviews, and don’t ask only satisfied customers. Google Maps policies prohibit both (Google policy (opens in a new tab)).

Updates and performance

You can post updates on your profile: offers, events, new services. People see them when they find you on Search and Maps (Google Help (opens in a new tab)).

Your profile’s performance data shows how many people called you from it, asked for directions or clicked through to your website. It’s only available for verified profiles (Google Help (opens in a new tab)). Check it once a month to see whether your changes are working.

What decides where you show up

Google names three main factors (Google Help (opens in a new tab)):

• Relevance: how well your profile matches what someone is searching for.
• Distance: how far you are from the person searching.
• Prominence: how well known your business is. Google looks at things like how many websites link to you and how many reviews you have.

You can’t change your distance, but you can work on the rest: a complete, verified profile, fresh photos, replies to reviews. You can’t pay for a higher spot either; Google says so directly. And nobody can guarantee you the top spot on the map: not us, not anyone else.

Your profile and your website

Your business name, address, phone number and hours should match everywhere: on your profile, your website and your social media. Link to your website from the profile, and to your profile or a map from your website.

We set up Business Profiles and maps as part of our SEO and social media work: once, when your site launches, or every month, together with search and social media.