How do I set up a Google Business Profile?

Claim or create, then verify

Search for your business on Google Maps first. If a listing already exists, claim it rather than creating a duplicate. Otherwise create a new Google Business Profile with your exact business name, the way it appears on your signage. Adding keywords or a city to the name breaks Google’s guidelines and can get the profile suspended.

Verification methods vary. Google may offer a phone call, text, email, video recording or a postcard. Follow whichever it shows you, and don’t make major edits while verification is pending.

Storefront or service area

If customers visit you, show your address. If you go to them, like a roofer or a cleaning company, you’re a service area business. Hide your address and list the areas you cover instead. Businesses that do both, like a clinic offering home visits, can show the address and add service areas.

Pick your primary category carefully. It’s one of the clearest signals of what you do. Add secondary categories only where they’re genuinely accurate.

Fill it in properly

• Services, with short plain descriptions.
• Real photos: exterior, interior, team, work.
• Hours, including holiday hours.
• A description written for customers, not search engines.
• Your website link, ideally to the most relevant page.

Keep the name, address and phone identical to your website. That’s NAP consistency. Then reply to every review and post an update now and then.

Revisit the profile every few months. Google sometimes accepts edits suggested by the public, so check that your hours, phone and categories are still what you set.

When a client’s profile already exists, I make sure they own it with their own Google account, not mine or a previous agency’s. I check the primary category against what their best competitors use, fill in every service, and add real photos instead of stock. Then I match the website’s name, address, phone and hours exactly, and add LocalBusiness schema so both say the same thing. It’s an afternoon of careful work, and for many local businesses it’s one of the most visible places they appear.