How to set up your Google Business Profile properly (step by step)

When someone searches “plumber near me” or “hair salon in [town]”, Google shows a map with a handful of businesses, their stars, opening hours and a call button. Those listings come from Google Business Profile (it used to be called Google My Business). It’s free, and for many local businesses it brings more calls than the website itself.

This guide walks you through setting it up properly, and through the rules that trip people up.

First: can your business have a profile?

Google only allows profiles for businesses that meet customers in person during their stated hours. That means one of two things:

• A place customers can visit: a shop, salon, office, clinic or restaurant with its own address and signage.
• A business that travels to customers: plumbers, electricians, cleaners, gardeners and other trades. You can hide your home address and show a service area instead.

Not allowed: online-only businesses, virtual offices, mailbox or PO box addresses, and a separate profile for every town you serve. Creating a profile that breaks these rules is the most common reason profiles get suspended, and getting reinstated is slow.

Step 1: create the profile

1. Go to business.google.com and sign in with the Google account you want to manage the business with. Use a business account you’ll keep, not a staff member’s personal one.
2. Search for your business name. If a profile already exists (Google sometimes creates them automatically), claim it instead of making a new one. Duplicates cause problems.
3. Enter your business name exactly as it appears on your sign, van or invoices. Don’t add keywords, towns or slogans (“Smith Plumbing – Best Emergency Plumber Toowoomba”); that breaks Google’s rules.

Step 2: pick the right category

Your primary category has a big effect on which searches you appear in. Choose the most specific one that describes what you are (“Electrician”, not “Contractor”; “Nail salon”, not “Beauty”). You can add a few secondary categories for other main services, but only ones you genuinely offer.

Step 3: address or service area

• Customers come to you: enter your full street address and make sure the map pin sits on the right building.
• You go to customers: choose not to show your address, then add the towns or areas you cover. Keep it realistic, roughly the area you can reach in a couple of hours.

Step 4: verify the profile

Google needs to confirm the business is real before it shows the profile. Depending on the business, it may ask for a phone call or text, an email, a short video or a postcard by mail. For video verification, Google usually wants to see, in one continuous clip, your location or vehicle, your signage or branded equipment, and proof you manage the business (like opening the shop or showing your tools and paperwork). Prepare before you press record.

Step 5: fill in everything

A complete profile gets more clicks. Add:

• Phone number (one that’s answered) and website link. Make sure the link opens your current site, not an old address.
• Opening hours, including special hours for holidays.
• Services with short descriptions and, if you like, prices.
• Business description (up to 750 characters): what you do, who for, where, and what makes you different. Plain words, no keyword lists.
• Photos: your logo, the outside and inside of your place or your vans, your team and your best work. Real photos, not stock images. Add new ones every month or two.

Step 6: get and answer reviews

Reviews are what people compare first. Ask every happy customer, make it one tap with your direct review link, and reply to every review, good or bad. Never offer rewards for reviews or post fake ones. Our guide How to get more Google reviews covers what to say, and our free review link & QR code tool makes the link for you.

Step 7: keep it alive

• Post updates (offers, news, recent jobs) every week or two. They show on your profile and signal that you’re active.
• Keep hours and details correct. Wrong hours lead to bad reviews fast.
• Check it monthly. Anyone can suggest edits to your profile, and Google sometimes accepts them without asking you.

Mistakes that get profiles suspended

• Extra words in the business name.
• Using a virtual office, coworking desk or mailbox as the address.
• Several profiles for the same business, or one per town.
• A business that doesn’t actually meet customers in person.
• Fake or paid reviews.

Want us to set it up for you?

Our Google Business Profile setup ($79) creates or tidies your profile: the right category, services, description, photos and your review link and QR code, all within Google’s rules. With the monthly content plan we also post updates on it for you every week.