Local SEO
Create and optimize your Google Business Profile
A Google Business Profile is your business's listing that customers see in Google Search and Google Maps: with your address or service area, opening hours, photos and reviews. According to Google, you can create it at no charge; you have to verify it with Google and should keep it up to date after that. Google says that when people search for a business near them, they get local results in Google Maps and Search. In our view, this makes the profile one of the most important listings of all for businesses with customers nearby.
In this guide you will learn how to create or claim the profile, how verification works, what belongs in it, how to get reviews without breaking Google's rules, and what placement in the local results depends on. Everything we say about Google is based on Google's own help pages. Where we recommend something that Google does not say in this way, we tell you so.
Who is a Google Business Profile for?
According to its Guidelines for representing your business on Google, Google allows a profile for businesses that have a location customers can visit, or that travel to their customers. That makes two groups:
- Businesses with a fixed address, such as a café, a medical practice or a shop. What counts for them on Google and in AI answers is on our page SEO & GEO for Local Business.
- Businesses that come to the customer, such as tradespeople, cleaning companies or mobile services. Google calls them "service-area businesses". You can find more on the page SEO & GEO for Service Area Business.
According to Google, a virtual office is not enough for a profile, and neither is a PO box.
Create or claim your Google Business Profile
Your business is often already on Google without you having created it. That is why it pays to look in Google Maps first: search for your business name and your town or city.
If there is no profile yet: According to Google's instructions "Add or claim your Business Profile", you go to business.google.com/add, click "Add your business to Google", enter your details and then select a verification option.
If there is already a profile that nobody manages: Open it in Google Maps and select "Claim this business" and then "Manage now". Verification follows here too.
If someone else already manages the profile: Then, according to Google, you can request ownership from the current owner, as long as you are authorized to represent the business.
Verify your profile
Only once it is verified does the profile belong to you. In its help on verifying your business, Google writes that this is how you gain ownership. You have to verify to edit details such as your name or opening hours and to interact with customers, for example by replying to reviews.
Google names several ways:
- a code by phone call or text message to the business's phone number
- an email with instructions
- a video recording, if your business is eligible
- a live video call with a support person, only during your opening hours
- a postcard with a five-digit code sent to your address, not available for every business
Google decides which method you get, and you cannot change it. Some businesses have to verify in more than one way. According to Google, the check takes up to five business days, and longer in rare cases. A postcard usually arrives within 14 days, and its code is valid for 30 days.
Fill in your profile completely
In its Tips to improve your local ranking on Google, Google recommends making the details in your profile as complete as possible and keeping them up to date. According to Google, these include:
- address, if customers can visit you there
- opening hours, including special hours on public holidays
- category, meaning what type of business you are
- other attributes, such as whether there is parking or Wi-Fi
A strict rule applies to the name: according to Google's guidelines, it should reflect your business's real-world name, as it appears on your storefront, your website and your stationery. Unnecessary additions to the name are not permitted, such as marketing slogans, branch numbers or location details that are not part of the name. According to Google, if you break this rule, you risk having your profile suspended.
If you travel to your customers: If you do not serve customers at your address, Google's help on service areas says you remove it from your profile and enter your service area instead. You can add up to 20 areas, such as cities or postal codes. Overall, the area should not extend farther than about two hours of driving time from where your business is based. You cannot set a radius around your business.
Photos and videos: According to Google's help on photos and videos in your profile, JPG and PNG files between 10 KB and 5 MB are allowed, and 720 × 720 pixels is recommended. Photos should be in focus and well lit, and not heavily edited. Videos can be up to 30 seconds long. Photos and videos only appear once your profile is verified, and according to Google, new images take up to 48 hours to become visible.
Our recommendation (Google does not say this): Show real photos of your business, your team at work or your products instead of stock images. That way customers see in advance what to expect.
Collect and reply to reviews
In our view, reviews are often the first thing customers see of your business. In its ranking tips, Google writes that more reviews and positive ratings can help your local ranking.
How to ask for reviews: According to Google's Tips to get more reviews, you can give customers a link or a QR code that takes them straight to leaving a review. To leave a review, they need a Google Account. Our recommendation: Ask right after a completed job, while the experience is fresh, and make it equally easy for all customers.
What is prohibited: The rules for content on Google Maps include the following:
- no paid reviews, whether paid in money or in goods
- nothing in return, such as discounts, free services or gifts, for writing a review, or for changing or removing one
- no reviews that do not reflect a genuine experience
- no reviews from a conflict of interest, for example from current or former employees, relatives or competitors
- no preventing negative reviews and no discouraging them
- no asking only satisfied customers for reviews
According to these rules, Google removes such reviews.
How to reply: According to Google's help on managing reviews, you can only reply once your profile is verified. Your reply appears publicly below the review, as a response from your business. Google checks replies against its rules, usually within ten minutes, sometimes for up to 30 days. According to Google, helpful and positive replies to reviews can show that you're responsive to your customers. Advertising, according to Google's tips to get more reviews, does not belong in a reply.
Our recommendation for difficult reviews: Stay factual, thank the person for the feedback and offer to sort the matter out directly. Anyone reading the reviews sees from your reply how you deal with criticism.
Optimize your Google Business Profile: how local placement comes about
Many people ask how they can move higher up in Google Maps. Google is explicit about this: there's no way to request or pay for a better local ranking on Google. Google keeps the exact rules confidential. According to the ranking tips, however, local results depend mainly on three things:
- Relevance: How well does your profile match what someone is searching for? Complete and accurate details help Google match your business to the right searches.
- Distance: How far is your business from the person searching? If someone does not enter a location, Google uses what it knows about their location.
- Prominence: How well known is your business? According to Google, this also includes how many websites link to you and how many reviews you have.
You cannot change the distance. You can change relevance and prominence: with complete details, the right category, up-to-date opening hours, photos and lots of genuine reviews that you reply to. These are exactly the points that Google itself names in its tips.
On top of that comes your website. Google itself says that links from other websites contribute to prominence. Our recommendation (Google does not say this, and whether it helps your ranking is not proven): Keep your name, address and opening hours the same on your website and in directories as in your profile, so that customers never find contradictory details.
Your Business Profile and AI answers
Google also mentions the Business Profile in its notes on AI features and your website (as of December 2025): among the recommended basics for the AI features in Google Search is checking that your Business Profile information is up-to-date. Google does not say whether or how much the profile feeds into AI Overviews. For ChatGPT, Perplexity and other assistants, there is no official statement on this.
How to appear in AI answers in general is explained in our guide GEO: how your business appears in ChatGPT, Gemini and others.
Common mistakes
- Never claiming the profile: Then you cannot correct wrong details or reply to reviews.
- Additions to the name: Slogans or location details that are not part of the real name break Google's guidelines and can lead to suspension.
- Address shown although no customers come there: According to Google, if you only travel to customers, you enter a service area instead of the address.
- Outdated opening hours: Google recommends keeping them up to date, including on public holidays.
- Reviews in exchange for something: This is prohibited, and Google removes such reviews.
- Leaving reviews unanswered: Google recommends replying to reviews.
Your next step
Want to know where your business stands on Google and in AI answers? Take the SERP TOWN 3-question check: it shows your business type and your biggest levers. If you like, you can then send us a request: we take a look at your website and send you a short teaser with a few tips.