How to set up a Google Business Profile, formerly Google My Business

A Google Business Profile, which many still call Google My Business, decides whether a firm shows on the map and in local results. Here is the process step by step.

A smartphone showing a map and navigation — Photo: Santeri Viinamäki, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons

1. Create the profile

Sign in with the Google account that will manage the business. Avoid the personal account of someone who may leave.
On business.google.com, search for your business. If it is already on the map, ask to claim it. If not, add it.

2. Fill in the basics

The name exactly as the business trades, without stuffing in keywords. Choose the main category by what you do most often and add other categories only if they are real. Add the address or the area you serve, a phone number and a link to your website.

3. Verify the business

Google wants to be sure the business exists. Depending on the situation it offers verification by phone, email, video or post. Until the profile is verified it generally does not show on the map.

4. Add content

Opening hours and holiday exceptions.
A list of services, each with a short description.
Real photographs: premises, team, finished jobs. Not stock.
A short description of the business with no exaggerated promises.

5. Collect reviews

Ask satisfied customers for a rating and send them the link. Reply to every review factually and politely, including the worse ones. Do not buy reviews or write them yourself, Google recognises this and the profile can be restricted.

6. Keep the details the same everywhere

The name, address and phone number should match on your website, in your Google profile, on Mapy.cz and in directories. Differences confuse Google and customers alike.

What next

The profile is only one part of local SEO. For the wider picture see the article local SEO for small businesses, for tradespeople Google Maps for tradespeople, and for what the profile is, Google Business Profile: what it is. We can help with the setup too, see SEO services.