Setting up
your Google
profile.

Check whether you already have a profile

Search your business name on Google Maps. Many businesses already have a profile created from public information, and the right move then is to claim it, not to make a new one. Google’s guidelines state that “there should only be one profile per business.”

If someone else already manages it, such as a former employee or an old marketing company, go to business.google.com/add, enter the name and address, and choose your business. When Google says someone else may manage the profile, choose Request Access and send the form. The current owner has three days to respond. If they don’t, the confirmation email may give you a way to verify it yourself, though Google notes that option “isn’t always available.” Don’t create a second profile to get around a locked one.

Enter the name, and only the name

Type the business name as it appears on your sign. Google does not permit “unnecessary information” in the name: taglines, store codes, special characters, or the services you offer. Its own example of a name that breaks the rule is “TD Bank, America’s Most Convenient Bank”; the acceptable version is “TD Bank”.

Adding your town or main service to the name is the most common way a profile gets suspended later, even if it seems to help at first.

Pick the narrowest accurate primary category

Google asks you to “select a primary category that best describes your business” and to be specific: “Nail salon” rather than “Salon”. The categories come from a fixed list; you can’t write your own.

Add a few extra categories only for real departments or services, not one for everything you have ever done. Categories affect which searches you appear in, so this choice matters more than anything you write in the description.

Say whether customers come to you

Google asks if you have a location customers can visit. Answer yes only if it is a storefront staffed during your business hours, then enter the address or place the pin on the map.

If you go to customers instead, answer no and list your service area by city, postal code or region, up to 20 areas. Google’s guidelines say service-area businesses “should hide your business address from customers”, and that the area shouldn’t reach much more than about two hours’ drive from your base. The rules on addresses are covered in Your business profile.

Add the phone number and website, then finish

Use the number that actually rings at this location and the page on your site for it. Then select Next and finish the setup. You can verify straight away or come back to it later.

Verify the way Google offers

Google chooses the method based on your type of business, what is already public about it, your region and your hours. The options it lists are a code by phone call or text, an email, a live video call with a support representative, a postcard to your address, and a video recording. Some profiles are verified instantly.

If you are offered a video recording, the rules are specific. It must be at least 30 seconds, one continuous recording with no edits or breaks, made live in your Business Profile and uploaded from a mobile device. In it, show:

Where you are: street signs, building numbers, nearby businesses or landmarks. If you serve customers at their location, film identifiers at your business address and avoid empty land.

That the business exists: your storefront, showroom or signage. If you serve customers at their location, show your tools, equipment, branded apparel or work.

That you run it: something only staff can do, such as opening the cash register. If you serve customers at their location, show yourself doing the work or unlocking business-only equipment. A permit, invoice or utility bill in the business name can help too.

Keep bank, tax and ID numbers, other private information and other people’s faces out of the shot. Google says reviews can take up to five business days. If the video is rejected, Review issues on your profile lists what was missing, and the next video has to show everything from the first plus the missing parts.

Fill in the rest while you wait

Add your hours and any holiday hours, real photos of your work and premises, your services, and a plain description. Whether you are open at the time of a search affects whether you are shown, so holiday hours matter more than they seem.

Set up a review link, and ask everyone

In Google Search, the profile has an option to ask for reviews; in Google Maps it is under Customers, then Reviews, then Get more reviews. Both give you a link to share, and Google also offers a QR code. Put it on receipts and thank-you emails.

Google calls incentives for reviews “strictly prohibited”: no discounts, freebies or anything else in exchange. US federal guidance adds that asking only the customers you expect to be happy can be misleading. Ask everyone, once, after the work is done. More detail in Reviews, and the rules.