Google Business Profile (formerly Google My Business) is the dashboard behind the information that appears when someone searches your business name on Google or looks for your category of business on Google Maps. When fully optimized, it drives local search rankings, surfaces your reviews, highlights your photos, and enables direct customer communication. It is free, relatively straightforward to manage, and dramatically underutilized by most small businesses.
Claiming and Verifying Your Profile
The first step is claiming ownership of your profile. Search for your business on Google and look for a “Claim this business” link, or go directly to business.google.com. If a profile already exists for your business, you will verify your connection to it, typically through a postcard mailed to your business address with a verification code. In some cases, phone or email verification is available.
If no profile exists, you will create one from scratch. Enter your exact business name as customers know it, your business category, and your address or service area. The category selection is important because it affects which searches your profile appears in: choose the most specific category that accurately describes your primary business activity.
Essential Profile Elements
Business name, address, and phone number must be exact and consistent with how your information appears everywhere else online. Inconsistency between your Google Business Profile and your website, Yelp page, or other local listings confuses both Google and customers, and can negatively affect your local search rankings.
Business description: you have 750 characters to describe your business. Use them to explain what you do, who you serve, and what makes you different from competitors. Incorporate your primary keywords naturally but write for customers first. Include your key services, your founding story or experience level, and any relevant certifications or specializations.
Business hours must be accurate and kept current. Google prominently displays your hours in search results, and outdated hours that lead customers to arrive when you are closed create negative experiences that often turn into negative reviews.
Photos Make a Significant Difference
Profiles with more than 100 photos receive significantly more direction requests and calls than those with minimal photo content, according to Google’s own data. Upload photos in every category Google provides: exterior shots so customers can find you, interior shots so they know what to expect, product shots, team photos, and photos that show your work in action.
Cover and logo images should be high-quality professional representations of your brand. Profile visitors often encounter these images before making contact, and they form impressions accordingly.
Posts, Q&A, and Attributes
Google Business Profile posts allow you to share news, offers, events, and updates directly to your profile. These posts appear in your knowledge panel and provide fresh, indexed content associated with your business. Posting weekly, even briefly, signals to Google that your business is active and engaged.
The Questions and Answers section of your profile can be proactively populated: Google allows business owners to post and answer their own questions. Proactively adding answers to the questions customers most commonly ask creates useful content and reduces the friction between a potential customer’s question and their decision to contact you.
Business attributes, the additional descriptors visible on your profile like “women-owned,” “veteran-owned,” “outdoor seating,” or “accepts credit cards,” help customers evaluate fit quickly and can improve your profile’s visibility in filtered searches.
