Google Business Profile: setting it up properly

In short

The Google Business Profile — formerly Google My Business — is the panel that appears in Google Maps and beside the search results when someone looks for your business or a service near them. It is free, and for many local small businesses it gets more views than the website itself.

A complete profile doesn’t guarantee first place, but an incomplete or inconsistent one is an easy handicap to avoid. Here are the settings that matter, in order.

Create or claim the profile

1. Go to google.com/business with a Google account that belongs to the business (not the personal account of an employee who might leave).
2. Search for your business name: a profile may already exist, created automatically or by a customer. If so, claim it rather than creating a second one.
3. Complete the verification requested. Google chooses which methods to offer each business: call or text, email, video, postcard… Verification can take a few days.
4. Add a second person as owner or manager, so you never lose access.

Choose the right categories

The primary category is one of the most important settings: it tells Google which searches your profile is relevant for. Choose the most specific one that describes your main activity (“Roofing contractor” rather than “Contractor”). You can then add up to nine additional categories for your other real services, without adding any for services you don’t offer.

Name, address, phone: consistency first

• Name: your real name, as it appears on your sign and documents. Adding keywords (“Tremblay Plumbing – Emergency Plumber Laval”) breaks Google’s rules and can get the profile suspended.
• Address: if customers visit you, enter the exact address. If you go to them and don’t receive anyone (contractor, home service), hide the address and set a service area by cities or postal codes instead (up to 20).
• Phone and website: a local number that gets answered, and a link to your site.

Name, address and phone must be identical everywhere: Google profile, website, directories, social media. Your site can confirm this to Google with LocalBusiness structured data — our site check tells you whether it is present.

Hours, description, services

• Hours: up to date, with special hours for holidays. Wrong hours frustrate customers and lead to bad reviews.
• Description: up to 750 characters. Describe what you do, for whom and where, in natural language. No links, no promotions, no shouting capitals.
• Services or products: list them with a short description. They help Google match the profile to the right searches.
• Attributes: accessibility, languages spoken, payment options, depending on what Google offers for your category.

Photos

Add your logo, a cover photo, then real photos: the storefront (so people can find you), the team, your work, the interior if customers visit. Avoid stock images: they tell customers nothing. Add new ones regularly, for example after each finished project.

Reviews: ask and respond

• Ask: most satisfied customers don’t think of leaving a review. Send the review link (available in your profile) after a finished job.
• Stay within the rules: Google prohibits offering a reward in exchange for a review and soliciting only customers who will be positive. Never post fake reviews.
• Respond to every review, positive and negative, politely and without disclosing personal information. A calm reply to criticism reassures future customers more than a perfect score.

Keep the profile alive

• Check the profile every month: Google may accept edits suggested by the public (hours, address, phone) without clearly telling you.
• Post updates from time to time: new service, finished project, temporary closure.
• Point the profile’s link to the most useful page on your site, and make sure that page loads fast on phones.

Google states that local ranking is based on three factors: relevance (does the profile match the search?), distance and prominence (reviews, links, online presence). You mostly control the first and the third. Need help? Get in touch.