How to set up a strong Google Business Profile

Claim and verify the profile

Your Google Business Profile is the listing that appears in Google Maps and in local results on Search. To make it strong, claim and verify it, choose the right categories, fill in every relevant field accurately, and follow Google's guidelines so the listing stays live.

Search for your business on Google Maps first. If a profile already exists, request ownership rather than creating a second one. Google then verifies that you run the business. Depending on the business and region it may offer a phone call, text, email, video recording or postcard, and Google decides which methods are available. Some edits are not published until verification is complete.

Choose categories carefully

In practice, the primary category is the most important choice on the profile. It tells Google what your business fundamentally is and shapes which searches you appear for and which profile features are available. Pick the most specific category that describes the core of the business, such as Plumber rather than Contractor.

Secondary categories cover other real lines of business. Google's guidelines ask you to use as few categories as possible to describe your core business, so add only the ones that genuinely apply.

Complete every relevant field

• Hours: regular hours, plus special hours for holidays and temporary closures, so nobody arrives to a locked door.
• Services and products: what you actually sell, with plain descriptions and prices where they help.
• Photos: logo, cover, exterior, interior, team and examples of your work. Use real photos, not stock images.
• Description: a plain account of what you do, who you serve and where, in up to 750 characters, without links or sales offers.
• Posts: updates, offers and events that show the business is active.
• Questions and answers, where your profile still shows them: answer common questions accurately.

Keep the name, address and phone number identical to your website, character for character. Mismatches make it harder for Google to be sure the listing and the site describe the same business.

Stay within the guidelines

• Use your real-world business name, as it appears on your signage, website and stationery. Adding keywords, locations or taglines that are not part of the name breaks the guidelines and can get the profile suspended.
• Only list an address where you serve customers in person. A virtual office does not qualify unless it is staffed during your business hours.
• If you serve customers at their location rather than yours, set up as a service-area business and hide your address.
• Create one profile per real location, not extra profiles for each service or nearby town.

Google changes Business Profile features regularly and has retired some in recent years, including chat messaging and the simple websites built from profiles. Check the current profile editor for what is available rather than relying on older guides.