What shows up on a Google Business Profile?
Your business name, category, address or service area, phone number, hours, website link, photos, and reviews, plus buttons to call you or get directions. It's the box people see when they search your business name, and the pin they tap on Google Maps.
Google says businesses with complete and accurate information are easier to match with the right searches, so a half-filled profile shows up less often.
Do I need one if I already have a website?
Yes. They do different jobs. Your profile is how you show up on the map when someone nearby searches for your trade. Your website is where they see your work and your prices and decide to call, and your profile links to it.
Google used to build free basic websites from Business Profiles, but it shut them down in 2024. If your profile's website link ends in business.site, it no longer works. Replace it with your real website.
Use the same business name, phone number, and address on both, so customers and Google see one business, not two that look alike.
Can every business get a Google Business Profile?
No. Google only allows businesses that meet customers in person during their listed hours, either at the business or at the customer's location. Businesses that only sell online can't have one.
- Storefronts like shops, restaurants, and offices show their address, and customers come to them.
- Service-area businesses like plumbers, cleaners, and mobile groomers go to their customers. They hide their address and list the areas they serve instead. Google says a service area shouldn't reach past about 2 hours of driving from where you're based.
- Home-based businesses can have a profile too. If customers don't come to your home, hide the address and list your service area.
Don't use a PO box, a mailbox store, or a virtual office as your address. Google can suspend profiles that do.
How much does a Google Business Profile cost?
Nothing. Google doesn't charge to create, verify, or keep a Business Profile, and there's no renewal fee. Google Ads are a separate product, and you don't need them to have a profile.
Watch out for scam calls. People sometimes call claiming to be from Google and say your listing will be removed unless you pay. Google says it won't call to ask for your verification code, and it won't ask you to pay to keep, verify, or restore your profile. Hang up, and never share a code.
How do I set up a Google Business Profile?
Search your business name and city on Google Maps first. If a profile already exists, choose Claim this business. If not, go to business.google.com/add. Either way, you'll finish by proving to Google that you run the business.
- Enter your business name exactly as it appears on your sign, with no extra words.
- Choose the most specific category that fits, like “Plumber” instead of “Contractor.”
- Add your address if customers come to you, or your service areas if you go to them.
- Add your phone number and website.
- Verify. Google decides which methods you can use. Often it's a short video you record on your phone showing your location, your equipment or tools, and proof you run the business, like unlocking the door. Some businesses get a phone call, text, email, or postcard instead.
Google says its review can take up to 5 business days, and a postcard takes about 14 days to arrive. Your profile usually won't show publicly until it's verified.
What should I fill in after I'm verified?
Everything that applies. Start with your hours, services, photos, and description, then keep them up to date.
- Hours, including holiday hours, so no one drives over to find you closed.
- Services in the words customers use, like “water heater repair” instead of “plumbing solutions.”
- Photos of real jobs, your team, your vehicles, and your storefront if you have one. Skip stock photos.
- A description of what you do and where. Google allows up to 750 characters but may show only the start, so put the most important part first. Leave out links and sales.
- Reviews. Ask every customer for one and reply to them. More on that in how to get more Google reviews.
Then check your profile every month or two. Anyone can suggest edits to it, and Google sometimes updates details on its own, so make sure your hours, phone number, and website are still right.