Google / Guide 04
Google Business Profile: A Complete Guide for Businesses
For many local businesses the Google Business Profile is the first impression, not the website. It often appears earlier in the journey and answers the basics: where you are, when you are open, what you offer and what customers say about you.
Published 21 September 2026 · Updated 21 September 2026
A Google Business Profile is the free listing a business can have in Google Search and Maps. To appear, you create or claim the profile, complete Google's verification and fill in accurate details. Google does not guarantee placement or visibility — the profile is the foundation, not a ranking promise.
In this guide
01
What is a Google Business Profile?
It is the listing that can appear when somebody searches for your business by name, or for a relevant service nearby. It carries the name, category, address or service area, hours, phone number, website link, photos and reviews.
It does not replace a website. It is a presence inside Google's own products, with limited control over how it looks.
02
Which businesses need one?
It suits businesses that serve customers at a location or across a defined area: restaurants and bars, shops, clinics, beauty studios, garages, hotels and trades.
A business with no local element at all — no customer contact and no service area — is not always eligible. Google's own guidelines set out the requirements.
03
Setting up and verifying, at a high level
- Check whether a profile for the business already exists
- Create a new profile or claim the existing one
- Add the name, category and location or service area
- Complete the verification Google asks for
- Fill in the remaining details once verified
Verification is not one fixed process
Google may request a different verification method depending on the business and category. Follow the steps shown in your own profile rather than looking for shortcuts.
04
The business information
- Name
- The real-world name the business trades under, as a customer would see it.
- Category
- One primary category describing what the business is, plus secondary ones where genuinely relevant.
- Location or service area
- An address for a physical place, or service areas when you travel to the customer.
- Hours
- Regular hours, special hours for holidays and temporary changes.
- Services and products
- Short, accurate descriptions of what you actually offer.
- Contact
- A phone number somebody answers and a link to the right page on the website.
Do not add keywords to the business name
The name field is for the real business name. Adding services, locations or promotional wording goes against Google's guidelines and can lead to corrections or suspension.
05
Photos
Photos are often what a customer judges first. Use real images of the space, the products or the work, in decent light and in reasonable number.
Avoid generic stock imagery, heavily filtered shots and pictures that no longer represent the business. Refresh them when the space, the menu or the offer genuinely changes.
06
Reviews through the profile
Reviews are collected through the profile and are public. You can reply to them, which shows future visitors how you treat customers.
You may ask customers for reviews, without incentives and without choosing who gets asked based on how happy they seem. Google's policies prohibit fake and misleading reviews.
Continue here
07
Updates and questions
The profile allows short updates about news, offers or changes in operation. They help when they carry real information and stop helping when they exist only to look active.
People can also post questions. It is worth monitoring them and answering yourself, rather than leaving the answer to somebody else.
08
How it relates to Maps and to your website
The profile is what feeds your presence in Maps. Whatever you fill in is what a person sees when they find you on a map or in a local search.
The website does the work the profile cannot: explaining services in depth, showing work, answering questions and leading to contact or booking. They work best together when the details agree.
09
What maintenance actually involves
- Hours that stay correct, holidays included
- Prompt updates when a phone number or address changes
- New photos when something genuinely changes
- Replies to reviews and questions
- Checking edits suggested by other people
- Links that point to live, relevant pages
10
Common mistakes
- Keywords stuffed into the business name
- A wrong or overly broad primary category
- Hours that are never updated
- Few or no photos
- No replies to reviews
- Duplicate profiles for one location
- Details that contradict the website
Want a stronger local presence?
See how we work on local visibility and your Google presence.
Accurate details, sensible categories, useful content and consistency between the profile and the website.