How to set up your Google Business Profile and keep it working for you
Updated November 2, 2026 · 2 min read
A Google Business Profile is free, and it’s what puts your business on Google Maps and in the box beside local search results. You can have one if customers visit your location or you travel to them. Add or claim it at business.google.com, then verify it by phone, text, email, video or postcard; Google says verification reviews take up to 5 business days. After that, fill in your hours, services and photos, and reply to every review.
Can your business have one?
| Situation | Eligible? |
|---|---|
| A shop, clinic, salon or office customers visit | Yes |
| A tradie or mobile service that travels to customers | Yes, as a service-area business with the home address hidden |
| A storefront that also travels to customers | Yes, with both the address and a service area |
| A rented mailing address or virtual office you don’t work from | No |
| A P.O. box | No |
| A co-working desk | Only with signage, staff and customers received during business hours |
Rules from Google’s guidelines for representing your business. Online-only businesses don’t meet the location requirement.
Set it up
- Search for your business on Google Maps first. If it’s already listed, choose Claim this business instead of creating a second profile, as Google’s setup help explains. If someone else has already verified it, you request ownership from them.
- Use your real business name. Google doesn’t allow extra words, such as services, locations or slogans, in the name.
- Choose your main category carefully. It decides which searches you can appear in.
- Choose a verification option. Google decides which ones you’re offered.
Verification options
| Option | What happens |
|---|---|
| Phone or text | You receive a code. An automated phone system can’t receive it, so answer the call yourself. |
| You follow the link in the message. | |
| Live video call | During business hours, a Google representative watches you show your location, your business and proof you manage it. |
| Video recording | You record the same things and upload them. |
| Postcard | A 5-digit code arrives within 14 days and expires after 30. Don’t edit your name, address or category while you wait. |
From Google’s verification help. For a video, show your signage or street, your products or equipment, and something only staff can access, such as the till or a storeroom.
Fill in these first
- Hours, including public holidays, so nobody arrives to a locked door.
- Services or products, in the words customers search with.
- Photos of the outside, the inside, your work and your team.
- Your website and booking link, so people can act straight from the profile.
Reviews
- Ask everyone. Google lets you share a link or QR code that opens the review form; reviewers need a Google account.
- Never pay for reviews. Offering discounts or freebies to post, change or remove a review is “strictly prohibited”, according to Google’s review tips.
- Reply to all of them, briefly and politely, and don’t use replies to advertise. With a bad review, apologise where it’s fair, say what you can do, and never share the customer’s details.
Sources
- Google: Guidelines for representing your business on Google
- Google: Add or claim your Business Profile
- Google: Verify your business on Google
- Google: Tips to get more reviews
Rules were checked in November 2026 and can change.
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