Google Business Profile: how to set it up and keep it in shape.

A Google Business Profile is your business's card in Google Search and Maps. It shows things like your name, category, opening hours, phone number, photos and customer reviews.

The profile is free. Google's help page says you can add or claim your business at no charge, and Google answers the same question on its Business Profile page. If someone offers to set up a profile for a fee, you are paying for their work, not for the profile itself.

Your business may already be on Maps even if you never added it yourself. That is why Google's guide talks about both adding a business and claiming one. Start by searching for your business name on Google Maps.

You need a Google account. Choose one that stays with the business, even when someone else looks after your website or marketing. Google's guide has four steps:

If your business already has a profile, do not create a new one. If the profile has not been verified, claim it on Google Maps. If someone else has already verified it, request ownership from the current owner of the profile.

Verifying the profile tells Google that you are authorised to represent the business. Google's ranking guide says a verified business is more likely to show up in search results. A lot waits on verification: your photos show up on Google only after it, and you can reply to reviews only once the business is verified.

You cannot choose the verification method yourself. According to Google, the options available to you depend on your business type, public information, region and opening hours. The methods listed are a video recording, a phone call or text message, email, a live video call and a postcard. In some cases a business has to verify with more than one method.

Google has strict rules on what goes into a profile. The most important one is about the name: it must be your business's real-world name, as you use it on your sign, your website and your stationery. Adding extra information to the name is not allowed, and it can get the profile suspended.

In practice, you do not add a service or a town after the name, however tempting the search term. If your business name is two words, the profile has the same two words.

The category is picked from Google's list. The guidelines say to use as few categories as possible to describe your core business. Choose as your primary category the one that describes your work most precisely, and add others only if they describe your business rather than a single service.

Many small businesses work at the customer's place. Builders, cleaners and gardeners go to the job, and the customer never comes to their address. In Google's terms, that is a service-area business.

In that case Google's guidelines say to hide your address from customers and give your service area instead. Google's own example is a plumber who runs the business from their home address: the address is cleared from the profile. If you welcome customers at your own premises and there is a sign for the business, the address is shown as normal.

Fill in the profile properly. Google says businesses with complete and accurate information are more likely to show up in local search results.

Add photos of real jobs and real premises. Google points out that an exterior photo helps customers recognise your business when they visit. If your work shows best in finished jobs, photograph those.

Businesses in some categories, such as service businesses, can add their services with descriptions and prices. You can also post updates on the profile, for example about news, offers and events.

Keep your opening hours right on bank holidays and during your own holidays too. When your hours change for a while, you can set special hours, and your regular hours stay as they are. If you are closed for seven days or more in a row, for example over a summer break, Google's guidance is to mark the business as temporarily closed.

According to Google, more reviews and positive ratings can help your business's local ranking. They also tell a new customer what it is like to work with you.

Google suggests reminding customers to leave a review: you can ask them to use a Google link or scan a QR code. The easiest way is to send the link right after the job, in the same message where you thank the customer.

A message as simple as this will do: "Thank you for choosing me. If you would like to tell others about your experience, you can leave a review at this link." Every customer gets the same message, and it does not ask for five stars.

The rules are strict. Under Google's content policy, a business must not offer incentives for reviews, such as discounts or free services, and must not ask only selected customers for positive reviews. So ask everyone in the same way.

Reply to every critical review and to those where you have something to add. Google suggests focusing on reviews where you can share a helpful update or answer a question, so you do not need to thank every reviewer in public. Replying shows that you value the feedback, and a short, factual reply is enough.

A critical review feels personal, and it is easy to reply too quickly. Wait a while, and write your reply only once you have found out what happened.

The reviewer is not the only one who reads your reply. Everyone thinking about using your business reads it too, and a calm, factual reply tells them how you handle things when something goes wrong.

The profile tells people where you are and what customers say about you. Your website tells them the rest: what you do, how the work goes and how to get in touch. When a customer taps the website link on your profile, they should find the same business and the same details.

Add your website address to the profile. The profile works without a website too, but then the customer has nowhere to read more before they call.

Google's guidance on AI search also says to keep your Business Profile information up to date. I wrote more about that in the post on AI search and local businesses.

If your website does not yet say clearly what you do and where, I will build you a free demo of your front page. You see it before you decide anything, and it does not commit you to anything.