Setting Up Your Google Business Profile

Your Google Business Profile is the free listing that puts your business on Google Search and Google Maps: your hours, your location, your reviews, your photos, all in one panel that customers see before they ever reach your website. Setting it up properly takes under an hour, and it is one of the highest-value marketing tasks a local business can do. By the end of this article, your profile will be claimed, verified, and complete.

What you need before you start

You need a Google account for your business, your exact business name as customers know it, your address or service area, your phone number, your website URL, and your business hours. Have a few good photos ready too: your storefront or workspace, your team, and your work. Businesses with photos get noticeably more engagement than those without.

Step 1: Claim or create your listing

Go to google.com/business and sign in with your Google account. Search for your business name first. If Google already has a listing for you, perhaps created automatically or by someone else, claim it rather than creating a duplicate. If nothing exists, choose to add your business and enter your business name.

Choose your business category carefully. The primary category should describe what you do in the words customers search for, such as “Plumber” rather than something clever but obscure. You can add secondary categories later for additional services.

Step 2: Tell Google where you operate

If customers visit you at a physical location, enter your address. If you go to customers, like a contractor or mobile service, you can list service areas instead of a street address and choose to hide the address. Be honest here: claiming a location you do not actually serve can get your listing suspended.

Step 3: Add your contact details

Add your business phone number and your website URL. Use a phone number you actually answer during business hours, and link to your homepage or, better, a dedicated landing page. Double-check that the name, address, and phone number match your website exactly, since consistency helps your local SEO.

Step 4: Verify your business

Google needs to confirm you are legitimate before your listing goes fully live. Verification methods vary, but commonly include a postcard mailed to your address with a code, a short video showing your business, or a phone or email verification. Follow the instructions Google shows you and complete verification promptly. Until you are verified, your ability to manage the listing is limited.

Step 5: Complete every section

Verification is not the finish line. A complete profile dramatically outperforms a bare one, so work through every section:

• Hours: your regular hours plus holiday hours. Nothing frustrates customers like showing up to a closed door Google said was open.
• Services or products: list what you offer with brief descriptions. This helps you appear for more specific searches.
• Description: a clear paragraph about what you do and who you serve, written for customers, not stuffed with keywords.
• Photos: upload your storefront, interior, team, and examples of your work. Add new photos regularly.
• Attributes: details like wheelchair accessibility, parking, or women-led, wherever they apply.

Step 6: Start using it, not just owning it

Your profile is a living listing. Post updates about offers, events, and news. Add new photos every few weeks. Answer the questions customers ask on your listing. And most importantly, start collecting reviews, which our guide How to Get More Google Reviews (the Right Way) covers in detail. An active profile signals to Google, and to customers, that the business behind it is alive and paying attention.

Common mistakes to avoid

• Keyword-stuffing your business name. Use your real business name. Adding extra keywords to the name field violates Google’s rules and can get the listing suspended.
• Creating duplicate listings. One business, one listing. Duplicates confuse customers and dilute your reviews.
• Setting it and forgetting it. Outdated hours and unanswered questions cost you customers silently.
• Ignoring the insights. Your profile dashboard shows how customers find you and what they do next. Check it monthly.

Still stuck? Open a support ticket and tell us your business name and where you are in the setup process. We will help you get unstuck.