Google Business Profile Setup: A Step-by-Step Guide

To set up a Google Business Profile, create or claim the listing under your real business name, choose the category that says what the business is, add an accurate address or service area and your opening hours, and then verify that the business is yours. Verification is the step that unlocks the rest, including replying to reviews. This guide walks through each choice and explains what it means for the reviews that will appear on the profile.

What is a Google Business Profile, and who can have one?

It is the listing that appears for your business in Google Search and on Google Maps: name, address, hours, phone number, photos and reviews. Every Google review a customer leaves for you is attached to it, so the profile is the foundation for everything else you do to collect reviews.

Not every business qualifies. Google's guidelines for representing your business say an eligible business either has a physical location that customers can visit, or travels to customers where they are. A shop, a clinic and a mobile dog groomer all fit.

Before you create anything, search for your business name on Google. A listing may already exist. If it does, claim that one. Google's guidelines say there should be only one profile per business, because more than one causes problems with how your information is shown on Maps and Search.

What should you put in the business name?

Your real name, exactly as customers know it. Google's guidelines say the name should reflect the business's real-world name, as used consistently on your storefront, your website and your stationery.

That means leaving things out. Do not add a tagline, a list of services, a phone number, your hours or extra keywords. "Rivera Plumbing" is a name. "Rivera Plumbing Best Emergency Plumber Open 24 Hours" is a name with advertising attached, and it does not follow the guidelines.

Use the same name everywhere: on the profile, on your website, on your sign, on your invoices. Consistency helps customers confirm they have found the right place before they leave a review.

How do you choose the right category?

Choose the category that completes the sentence "this business is a" and not "this business has" or "this business sells". Google's guidance is to use as few categories as possible to describe the overall core business.

A restaurant that also has a bar is a restaurant. A dental practice that also whitens teeth is a dentist. Pick the most specific category that is true of the whole business, and add another only when it describes a real, separate part of what you do.

The category matters because of how local results work. Google's page on improving your local ranking lists relevance as one of three factors, and describes it as how well a profile matches what someone is searching for. An accurate category helps Google see that match.

What address or service area should you use?

Use the precise address where customers can find you. Under the guidelines, P.O. boxes and mailboxes at remote locations are not acceptable.

If you travel to your customers instead, you are what Google calls a service-area business. The guidelines say such a business should have one profile for its central office or location, with a designated service area. Two details apply:

• If you work from home and do not serve customers there, hide the address and show only the area you cover.
• Keep the service area realistic. The guidelines give about two hours of driving time from your base as the outer limit.

Getting this right affects who sees you. Distance, meaning how far a business is from the person searching, is the second of Google's three ranking factors.

How should you set your hours?

Enter your regular customer-facing hours: the hours when a customer can actually reach you. If the workshop opens at seven but the counter opens at nine, the answer is nine.

Wrong hours invite a particular kind of bad review, the one from a customer who drove over and found the door locked. Update the hours when they change, and check them before holidays.

How do you verify the profile?

Verification proves to Google that the business is yours. Google's page on verifying your business lists the methods: phone, text message, email, a live video call, a video recording, or a postcard sent to your address.

You do not get to pick. Google determines which methods are offered for your business, and that cannot be changed. Other points from the same page:

• After you submit, Google reviews the information. It says verification reviews take up to five business days.
• If a postcard is used, most codes arrive within 14 days.
• While you wait for a code, do not edit the business name, address or category. If you do, the code will not work.
• Do not request a new code while one is on its way.
• When verification succeeds, you get a confirmation email.

The easy way to slow things down is impatience: changing details or requesting new codes while the first one is still on its way. Submit once, then leave the profile alone until the code arrives.

What can you do once the profile is verified?

Two things that matter for reviews.

First, you can reply. Google's page on managing customer reviews states that a business must be verified before it can reply to reviews. Replies appear publicly under the review in the name of the business, and the reviewer is notified. Our guide on how to respond to Google reviews covers what to write.

Second, you can start asking. Customers can review a business they find on Maps without any help from you, but you will collect far more if you hand them a direct link.

How do you get your review link from the profile?

Google explains how to create a review link or QR code. In short:

1. Go to your Business Profile.
2. Choose to read reviews, then choose the option to get more reviews.
3. Copy the review link, or save the QR code as an image.

That link is what you put on receipts, in follow-up emails and on a card at the counter. Google's own suggestions include receipts, thank-you emails, the end of a chat, and a printed QR code in your store.

If you already have your Place ID, our Google review link generator makes a link and a printable QR code from it. Either way, open the link yourself before you print anything, and check that it leads to your business and not to a similarly named one.

How does the profile affect where you show up?

Google names three factors for local results: relevance, distance and prominence. You set the first two with your category and your address. The third, prominence, is how well known the business is. Google says it depends on things like how many websites link to the business and how many reviews it has, and that more reviews and positive ratings can help local ranking.

The same page makes a plainer point that is easy to act on: businesses with complete and accurate information are more likely to show up in local search results. Fill in every field that applies to you.

You cannot change your distance from a customer, and relevance is largely fixed by what you do. Reviews are the part you can build week by week. See how to get more Google reviews for a method.

How do you keep the profile in good order?

• Keep the facts current. Hours, phone number, address. Check them every few months.
• Watch for duplicates. If a second listing appears for the same business, deal with it. Reviews split across two listings help neither.
• Reply to reviews. A profile where the owner answers looks cared for.
• Retest your links after a move. Google's documentation says a Place ID may change over time and may become obsolete if a business closes or moves. If you relocate, check that your review link, your QR codes and any NFC cards still open the right listing.
• Know who has access. Keep track of who can edit the profile, and remove people who no longer work with you.

Which mistakes cause trouble?

• Keywords in the name. They do not belong there under the guidelines.
• More than one profile for one business.
• A P.O. box as the address.
• Editing the name, address or category while waiting for a verification code.
• Leaving the profile unverified. You cannot reply to reviews until it is verified.
• Setting it up and never returning.

What should you do next?

Once the profile is verified and complete, get your review link, decide where customers will find it, and start asking everyone. A card on the counter is a simple place to begin, and NFC review cards explained covers the options. If you want a branded rating page behind the card, setting up Smart Review Stand takes about ten minutes once you have your profile link. The how it works page shows the sequence.