How to set up your Google Business Profile the right way

1. Claim and verify your profile

Verifying proves to Google that you own the business. Until you do, you can't fully control what shows on your profile.

1. Sign in to the Google account you want to own the profile. Use one you'll keep for years, not a staff member's personal account.
2. Search for your business name and city on Google. If your profile already exists, claim it. If it doesn't, add it at business.google.com.
3. Select Get verified and use one of the methods Google offers you.

You don't get to pick the method. Google decides based on your business type, region and other details. The options can include phone or text, email, a live video call, a recorded video or a postcard.

• Video is common now, and Google recommends it when offered. Be at your business. Show your outside signage or a nearby street sign. Show branded equipment or tools. Then show something only an owner can, like unlocking the door or an employee-only area.
• Postcards usually arrive within 14 days, and the code expires after 30. While you wait, don't edit your name, address or category, and don't request a new code. Either one resets the process.

After you finish, Google says its review can take up to 5 business days. If you've already verified your website in Google Search Console with the same account, verification can sometimes be instant.

2. Use your real business name

Your name should match what's on your storefront, website and business cards. That's it. Google's guidelines are specific: adding unnecessary information to your name can get your profile suspended.

Google's list of things that don't belong in your name includes:

• Marketing taglines ("Best Pizza in Town")
• Services or products ("Auto Service Experts")
• Location details ("near Downtown")
• Phone numbers, website addresses or hours
• All capital letters, unless that's how your brand is really written
• Legal terms like LLC or Inc., unless you can show they're part of your name on real signage

Stuffing keywords into a name is tempting. It also invites competitors to suggest an edit or report you, and it puts the whole profile at risk. If your real name is "Smith Plumbing," use "Smith Plumbing." Let your categories and services do the rest.

Use the exact same name, address and phone number everywhere else your business is listed. The business listings guide covers how to clean those up.

3. Choose your primary and secondary categories

The first category you pick is your primary category. In my experience, it's the single biggest setting on your profile. It tells Google which searches you belong in.

Google's own test is helpful: pick categories that finish the sentence "This business is a..." rather than "This business has a..." A barbershop is a "Barber shop." It isn't a "Hair products store" because it sells pomade.

1. Pick the most specific primary category that describes your core business. Type a few words and read every suggestion before choosing.
2. Add secondary categories only if they describe what you are, not features you have. Google allows up to 9 more, but its guidelines say to use as few as possible.
3. Don't use categories as keywords, and don't add categories for a business located inside yours.

A useful check: search for your main service in your town and open the top three profiles on Maps. Their primary categories tell you what Google expects. Don't copy blindly, but if all three use one you skipped, look at it again.

4. Set your address or service area

This depends on one question: do customers come to you, or do you go to them?

• Customers come to you (storefront). Show your full street address. Google expects permanent signage with your business name at that address, and staff there during your posted hours.
• You go to customers (service-area business). Hide your address and set a service area by cities or ZIP codes. Google's example is a plumber who works from home. Keep the service area within about 2 hours of driving from your base.
• Both (hybrid). If your location is staffed and you also travel to customers, you can show your address and add a service area.

Some addresses aren't allowed at all. P.O. boxes, virtual offices and mailbox rentals are not eligible. A co-working desk qualifies only if it has clear signage and is staffed during business hours. Put a suite number in "Address line 2," not line 1.

5. Set your hours and special hours

Enter your regular customer-facing hours. Wrong hours send people to a locked door, and they tend to remember it.

• Special hours: set these ahead of every holiday or closure. It takes a minute and saves you angry phone calls.
• More hours: if you have separate hours for something specific, like walk-ins, add them here. They should fall within your main hours.
• Seasonal businesses: during the off-season, mark the business temporarily closed instead of deleting hours.

One detail many owners miss: Google's guidelines say businesses that operate only by appointment generally shouldn't list hours. If you take walk-ins at any time, list the hours you're actually open.

6. Add your services or products

Depending on your category and region, you may see a services editor, a menu editor (food and drink only) or a products section (retail). Use whatever you're offered.

• List the services you actually provide, using the words customers search for. "Drain cleaning," not "Hydro-solutions."
• Add a short, plain description to each service if the editor allows it.
• Keep it complete and current. Google's guidelines call for a list that represents what's really available, not a "popular items" sample.

Each important service should also have its own page on your website. The service pages guide shows how to build them.

7. Write your business description

You get up to 750 characters, which shows in the "From the business" section. Google suggests covering what you offer, what makes you different, how long you've been in business, and anything else customers need to know.

Google's rules for this field:

• No links or website addresses of any kind.
• No prices, sales or promotions. Save those for posts.
• No gimmicky characters, misspellings or text unrelated to your business.

Write it the way you'd explain your business to a neighbor. Name your town and the main services you offer, once each, in normal sentences. Put the most important line first, since many people only see the start.

8. Add real photos and keep adding them

Photos help customers recognize you and decide whether to come in. Google notes that an exterior photo helps people find you when they arrive.

• Start with: a logo, a cover photo, your storefront from the street, your entrance, the inside, your team and your work.
• Use real photos you took. Skip stock images. They tell customers nothing, and they look generic next to competitors' real ones.
• Add a few every week or two. A profile with recent photos looks open and cared for.
• Check customer photos. Customers can add photos too. Look through them now and then so you know what people see.

9. Link your website and tag the link

Add your full website address, including https://. Link to the page that best represents this location. For a single-location business, that's usually your homepage. For multiple locations, link each profile to that location's page.

Don't use a link that redirects to a different site or a social media page. Google's guidelines don't allow it.

Add tracking tags so you can see what the profile sends you

Without tags, visits from your profile can get lumped in with other traffic in your website analytics. Adding UTM tags to the link labels those visits. Google Analytics says to always include three: utm_source, utm_medium and utm_campaign. A common setup looks like this:

https://yourbusiness.com/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=gbp

• Keep every value lowercase. Analytics treats "GBP" and "gbp" as two different campaigns.
• Google offers a free Campaign URL Builder if you'd rather not type it by hand.
• Afterward, look in Google Analytics under Acquisition → Traffic acquisition to see the visits.
• Make sure your page has a canonical tag pointing to the clean address, so the tagged version isn't treated as a separate page. Ask your web person if you're not sure.

The Search Console checkup shows the other half: which searches lead people to your site.

10. Get your review link and use it

Google lets you create a short link or a QR code that opens the review form for your business. Find the option to ask for reviews in your profile, then copy the link.

• Put it in your follow-up texts and emails, on your receipts, and on a small sign at the front desk.
• Ask every customer, not just the happy ones you pick. Google prohibits offering discounts, gifts or anything else in exchange for reviews.
• Reply to reviews, briefly and politely. Never share a customer's private details in a reply.

The Google reviews guide covers asking, replying and handling bad reviews in detail.

11. Post updates regularly

Posts are short announcements that show on your profile. In your profile, select Posts, then Add post. You can choose:

• Update: news, a new service, a seasonal tip, with a photo and a button linking to your site.
• Offer: a deal with dates, and optional coupon code and terms.
• Event: something happening at your business, with start and end times.

Google archives posts older than 6 months unless they have a date range. You can also schedule posts ahead or set them to repeat. One plain, useful post a week is plenty. Link each one to a relevant page on your site. Avoid putting phone numbers in post text, since Google may reject them if it can't confirm the number is yours.

12. Know what changed with Q&A and messaging

Older guides tell you to seed your own Q&A and turn on messaging. Both have changed.

• Messaging: Google's built-in Business Profile chat ended on July 31, 2024. In some regions, you can now add a text message or WhatsApp option instead. Check whether yours offers it, and make sure your phone number is visible.
• Q&A: Google discontinued its Q&A tools for software on November 3, 2025, saying it is updating the feature. Its help pages now describe Q&A as available only for some categories and regions. If you see a Q&A section, answer what's there. If you don't, there's nothing to set up.

Either way, the practical move is the same. Put clear answers to common questions on your website and in your description. Google and other AI tools can draw their answers from those places. The ChatGPT check shows how to see what AI tools say about you.

13. Avoid the mistakes that cause suspensions

A suspended profile disappears from Maps and search. These are the problems Google's guidelines warn about most:

• Keywords in your name. See step 2.
• An ineligible address. P.O. boxes, virtual offices and unstaffed co-working desks.
• More than one profile for the same location. Google allows one per business location. If you find a duplicate, resolve it instead of keeping both.
• Paying or rewarding people for reviews. This breaks Google's fake content policy.
• Showing an address where you don't receive customers. If you're service-area only, hide it.
• Frequent edits to your name, address or category. Changing your name after verification can trigger re-verification. Make changes only when something real changes.

If you are suspended, don't make a new profile. Google says not to. Instead:

1. Fix whatever breaks the guidelines.
2. Gather proof: a business license, registration, tax certificate or utility bill with your exact name and address.
3. Submit an appeal through Google's appeals tool. You can only submit once per decision, so attach everything the first time.