A customer searches for your business name.
They find old hours, the wrong phone number, three photos from years ago, and a pile of reviews nobody has answered.
Your website may be excellent. They might never make it there.
That’s why a Google Business Profile needs more attention than claiming the listing once and moving on.
For eligible businesses, a Business Profile can appear on Google Search and Maps. Customers can use it to check hours, contact information, location details, photos, reviews, products, services, and other information before deciding what to do next. Google currently offers Business Profiles at no charge.
The job isn’t to fill every field because an SEO tool says the profile should look “complete.”
The job is to make the information accurate and useful.
What Is a Google Business Profile?
A Google Business Profile is the business listing an eligible company can manage across Google Search and Maps.
Depending on the business and available features, the profile can include its name, category, address or service area, hours, phone number, website, photos, services, attributes, reviews, posts, and other information.
Businesses can manage profile information through Google Search and Maps.
You may still hear someone call it Google My Business. Google announced the move from Google My Business to Google Business Profile in 2021.
See how Lock In Digital appears on Google by viewing our Google Business Profile.
Who Can Have a Google Business Profile?
Not every company qualifies.
Google’s current eligibility rules generally require a business to make in-person contact with customers during its stated hours. Google lists some exceptions, including certain seasonal businesses and delivery-only food services that meet specific requirements.
Google identifies online-only businesses and lead generation companies among the businesses that aren’t eligible.
A restaurant people visit can qualify.
A plumber who travels to customers can qualify as a service-area business.
A company that operates entirely online without in-person customer contact generally doesn’t qualify under Google’s current rules.
Don’t create a listing just because you’d like another place to put a keyword.
Claim and Verify the Correct Profile
Before you optimize anything, make sure you’ve got the right listing.
If a legitimate profile already exists for the business, claim or request access to that profile rather than creating an unnecessary duplicate.
Verification tells Google that you’re authorized to represent the business. Google’s current local-ranking guidance says a verified business is more likely to appear in search results.
Get access right first. Then work on optimization.
Use the Real Business Name
The Business Profile name isn’t an SEO headline.
Google says the name should match how the business appears in real-world signage, stationery, and other branding.
If the company is called Smith Plumbing, don’t turn it into:
Smith Plumbing Best Emergency Plumber Sacramento Water Heater Repair
Those extra words don’t become part of the business name just because they’re attractive keywords.
Use the real name.
Choose the Right Primary Category
Categories tell Google and customers what the business actually is.
Google recommends selecting a specific category that represents the main business. Its own examples include choosing Pizza restaurant instead of a broader restaurant category and Nail salon instead of simply Salon when those descriptions accurately fit the business.
Additional categories can describe other meaningful parts of the company.
That doesn’t mean selecting every category remotely connected to a service you offer.
Google specifically advises businesses not to use categories solely as keywords.
Address or Service Area: Set Up the Right One
A storefront and a service-area business have different location needs.
If customers visit the business at its location, the profile can display the appropriate business address.
If the business travels to customers and doesn’t serve them at its address, Google says a service-area business should hide that address from customers. Google’s own example uses a plumber operating from a residential address.
Service areas can currently be set using cities, postal codes, or other geographic areas. Google allows up to 20 and recommends keeping them specific and accurate.
Adding every city you can think of isn’t the goal.
List where the business actually works.
Keep Your Hours Accurate
Wrong hours aren’t a minor profile problem if a customer arrives to find the door locked.
Google Business Profile supports regular hours and special hours for holidays, temporary schedule changes, and other situations.
Check them when the business changes its schedule.
Check them before holidays.
Check them when seasonal hours begin or end.
This is basic information, but it’s exactly the kind of information customers expect Google to get right.
Check the Phone Number and Website
The phone number should reach the actual business location or team.
The website link should take customers somewhere useful.
Google’s guidelines say the profile should use the single authoritative phone number and website for the business, and those details should be verifiable by the business owner.
If an agency manages the profile, the business owner shouldn’t be locked out of it.
Google says authorized representatives should encourage business owners to own their profiles and add outside representatives as managers. It also requires representatives to transfer ownership to the business owner when requested.
Complete the Profile With Real Information
Google says businesses with complete and accurate information are more likely to appear in relevant local search results.
That includes basics such as:
- Address when applicable
- Business hours
- Business category
- Relevant profile details and attributes
Don’t fill a field simply because it’s available.
If the information applies to the business, add it. If it doesn’t, leave it alone.
Add Photos That Show the Actual Business
A logo is useful.
Twenty versions of the logo aren’t much of a tour.
Show the exterior when customers visit the location. Show the interior. Show products, completed work, food, staff, equipment, or other real details that help someone understand what they’re considering.
Google says exterior photos can help customers recognize a business when they arrive. Its current guidance recommends images that are in focus, well lit, and free from significant alterations or excessive filters or AI modification.
The photo should still look like the business when the customer gets there.
Reviews Need a Process
Hoping someone remembers to leave a review isn’t much of a system.
Google currently lets businesses create a review link and QR code that can be shared with customers. Its examples include receipts, thank-you emails, chats, and displays inside the business.
Ask real customers for honest feedback.
Don’t trade a discount, free product, or other incentive for a review. Google currently classifies incentivized reviews as prohibited fake engagement.
That applies whether you’re asking for reviews generally or trying to reward only positive ones.
Reply to Reviews Like Someone Actually Read Them
Review replies are public.
Google says verified businesses can reply to reviews, and approved responses appear publicly underneath the customer’s review.
You don’t need a paragraph under every five-star rating.
Thank the customer when appropriate. Answer a question if one was raised. Address a problem without turning the review section into an argument.
Google’s own guidance recommends avoiding the exact same generic “thank you” response everywhere and using replies where you can add something useful.
Reviews Can Affect Local Visibility
Reviews aren’t just decoration around a star rating.
Google’s current local-ranking guidance says local results are mainly based on relevance, distance, and popularity. In the detailed section titled Prominence, Google explains that how well known a business is can be influenced by information such as links and reviews. More reviews and positive ratings can help local ranking.
That doesn’t mean another five-star review guarantees a jump in position.
Google doesn’t publish a formula for that. It also says there’s no way to request or pay for a better local ranking.
What Affects Local Ranking?
Google’s current local-ranking guidance breaks the subject into three areas.
Relevance
Relevance is how well the Business Profile matches what someone is searching for.
Google recommends providing complete and detailed information to help it understand the business and connect it with relevant searches.
Distance
Distance concerns how far the business is from the person searching.
When the searcher doesn’t specify a location, Google says it uses what it knows about that person’s location.
No amount of profile editing can physically move a Rocklin business closer to someone searching from Elk Grove.
Prominence
Google’s detailed guidance uses Prominence for how well known a business is.
Links, reviews, review volume, and positive ratings can contribute to that part of local ranking.
A Google Business Profile is therefore one part of a larger local-search system.
Learn how Maps, reviews, website SEO, local rankings, and nearby searches work together in our Local SEO + Google Visibility guide.
Your Profile Doesn’t Replace Your Website
A Business Profile handles quick information well.
Your website has a different job.
It can explain services in detail, show projects, answer customer questions, publish useful content, support forms or bookings, and give important topics their own pages.
A customer might discover the business on Maps, read reviews, look through photos, and then visit the website before making contact.
Make sure that path works.
Use Posts When There’s Something to Say
Google Business Profile currently supports Update, Offer, and Event posts. Posts can include text, photos, videos, links, and other elements depending on the post type. They can appear through Search and Maps.
Useful posts might include:
- An upcoming event
- A seasonal update
- A current offer
- A new service
- A project highlight
- Information customers need before visiting
You don’t need another generic “Happy Monday” graphic just because the calendar changed.
Google currently says posts older than six months are archived unless a date range is set.
Google Can Update Profile Information Too
Business owners aren’t the only source of profile information.
Google says it uses information from sources including official websites, licensed third-party data, user contributions, and Google’s own interactions with local places and businesses.
That means something on the profile can change without someone on your team deliberately editing it.
Check the name, category, hours, phone number, website, address, and other important details regularly.
Measure Customer Actions, Not Just Profile Views
Google Business Profile performance reporting is available for verified profiles.
Depending on the business and available features, current metrics can include:
- Views
- Search terms
- Direction requests
- Calls
- Website clicks
- Messages
- Bookings
- Product activity
- Menu activity
- Offer activity
Not every metric appears for every business.
Look at the numbers in context.
Direction requests can matter a lot to a restaurant. They may mean much less to a service-area contractor.
Website clicks can show interest, but they still don’t tell you whether the visitor became a customer.
Google also states that Business Profile performance data can include activity from both organic search results and Google Ads. Don’t automatically label every metric in the report as organic SEO performance.
Common Google Business Profile Mistakes
Stuffing Keywords Into the Business Name
Use the real business name.
Picking Categories Because They Sound Valuable
Choose categories that accurately describe the business.
Showing an Address Customers Shouldn’t Visit
Service-area businesses that don’t serve customers at their address should hide it under Google’s current guidelines. Google
Forgetting Special Hours
Holiday hours shouldn’t still say “open” if the doors are locked.
Paying or Rewarding People for Reviews
Google prohibits incentivized reviews.
Verifying the Profile and Never Looking at It Again
Business information changes. Google can also receive information from outside sources. Check the profile.
How Often Should You Update a Google Business Profile?
There’s no universal posting or editing schedule every business needs.
Update information when the business changes.
If hours change, update them.
If the phone number changes, fix it.
If the business moves, handle the address change properly.
If services change, check whether both the Business Profile and website need an update.
Review activity deserves ongoing attention because customers can leave feedback at any time.
Google Business Profile Checklist
Before calling the profile optimized, check:
- Is the business eligible?
- Has the correct profile been claimed and verified?
- Does the profile use the real business name?
- Does the primary category accurately describe the main business?
- Are additional categories relevant?
- Is the address or service area configured correctly?
- Is a service-area business hiding an address customers shouldn’t visit?
- Are regular and special hours current?
- Does the phone number work?
- Does the website link go to the correct website?
- Are attributes accurate?
- Do the photos show the real business?
- Can customers easily leave genuine reviews?
- Are reviews being requested without incentives?
- Are review replies being monitored?
- Are posts being used when there’s something useful to share?
- Have Google-suggested changes been reviewed?
- Are relevant performance metrics being checked?
- Does the profile information agree with the current website?
Frequently Asked Questions About Google Business Profile
It can support local search visibility.
Google says verified businesses and businesses with complete, accurate information are more likely to appear in relevant local results. That still doesn’t guarantee a particular ranking.
No.
Google explicitly says there’s no way to request or pay for a better local ranking.
Search for the business the way a customer would.
Check the name, category, hours, address or service area, phone number, website, photos, and recent reviews. Then open the management view and look for anything that needs correcting.