Google Business Profile setup: step by step
In short: sign in at Google Business Profile with a Google account you control, enter your exact business name, pick the most specific category, add either your address or your service area, add your phone and website, then verify. Once verified, fill in hours, description, photos and services, and start collecting reviews. It is free, and it is usually how a new business first appears on Google Maps.
Before you start
Have these ready: the business name exactly as you use it on your sign, invoices and website; your phone number; your website address (if you don't have a site yet, you can add it later — but a profile linked to a real website is stronger); your opening hours; and a decision on one question — do customers come to you, or do you go to them?
Use a Google account that belongs to the business owner and that you will keep. If someone else creates the profile for you, make sure you are added as the owner, not just a manager.
Step 1 — Start the profile
Go to Google Business Profile (search "Google Business Profile" or go to business.google.com) and choose to add your business. Type the business name. If Google suggests an existing listing with your name and address, it may already exist (Google sometimes creates listings automatically) — claim that one instead of creating a duplicate.
Step 2 — Name and category
Name: use your real business name only. Adding keywords or towns ("Smith Roofing — Best Roofer Hartford") breaks Google's guidelines and is a common reason profiles get suspended.
Primary category: choose the most specific one that describes your main business — "Bathroom remodeler" rather than "Contractor", "Barber shop" rather than "Beauty salon" if that's what you are. You can add secondary categories later for other services. The primary category affects which searches you appear in more than almost anything else you control.
Step 3 — Address or service area
This is the step new businesses most often get wrong.
- Customers visit you (a shop, a salon, a restaurant, an office): add the address. It must be a real place where you are present during your hours — not a PO box.
- You go to customers (contractors, cleaners, mobile services): say you don't have a location customers visit, and add your service area instead — the towns, counties or ZIP codes you serve. Your home address stays hidden.
- Both: add the address and a service area.
Never use a virtual office or a mailbox service as your address if customers can't actually be served there. It is against Google's guidelines and a frequent cause of suspension.
Step 4 — Contact details
Add a phone number customers can reach and your website. Use the same phone number and the same website address that appear on your site and in your other listings — consistency helps Google trust that it's all one business.
Step 5 — Verify
Google needs to confirm the business is real before the profile goes fully live. Depending on your business, it may offer a video recording (showing your location, signage or tools and proof of management), a phone or text code, an email, or a postcard. Video verification is common now: plan a short, continuous clip that shows where you are, something that proves the business (signage, equipment, a branded vehicle) and that you have access (unlocking the door, opening the work area).
Verification can be instant or take a while to review. Don't edit the name, address or category while it's pending — changes can restart the review.
Step 6 — Complete the profile
- Hours, including special hours for holidays. Wrong hours are the fastest way to lose a customer's trust.
- Description — up to 750 characters: what you do, for whom, where, what makes you different. Write for people, not for keywords.
- Photos — your logo, a cover photo, and real photos of your work, your premises or your team. Add new ones regularly.
- Services or products, with short descriptions and prices if you're comfortable showing them.
- Attributes that apply (for example accessibility details or online appointments).
- Booking or ordering link if you take appointments or orders online.
Step 7 — Reviews and updates
From your profile you can get a short link to your review form. Send it to every satisfied customer, in person or by text, soon after the job. Reply to every review — thank the good ones, answer the bad ones calmly and briefly, and take the rest offline. Never offer rewards for reviews and never post reviews yourself; both break the rules.
Posting an occasional update (a new service, a seasonal offer, a finished project) keeps the profile looking active and gives searchers a reason to click.
Problems you might hit
- A duplicate listing already exists: claim it or ask Google support to merge them, rather than keeping two.
- Suspended profile: usually caused by a keyword-stuffed name, an address customers can't visit, or edits during verification. Fix the cause, then request reinstatement.
- Someone else owns the listing (a former employee or agency): request ownership through Google's process using your business details.
Where we fit
Rather not spend the afternoon on it? We set it up with your website — included in the $390.
FAQ
- Is a Google Business Profile free?
Yes. Creating and maintaining the profile costs nothing. Google charges only for ads, which are separate and optional.
- Can I have a profile without a shop or office?
Yes. Service-area businesses hide their address and list the areas they serve instead.
- Do I need a website for my Google profile?
It isn't required, but a profile that links to a real website on your own domain gives customers — and Google — more reasons to trust you.
See your draft first — pay only if you want it live
Tell us what your business does. Within 48 hours you get a working draft of your website; you pay only when you want it live — $390 one-time. We reply the same day.