Google Business Profile optimization comes down to four things: verify the profile, fill in every field accurately, pick the right categories, and keep a steady flow of real reviews that you answer. Google says local results are based mainly on relevance, distance and how well known your business is, and you can't pay for a better spot. You can't change distance, but the rest is in your hands, and the profile itself is free.
Claim and verify your profile
Search for your business on Google Maps. If a profile exists, claim it. If not, create one at google.com/business. Use a Google account the business controls, not a personal account an employee might take with them.
Google picks the verification method for you, and you can't change it. Depending on your business, you may be offered a phone call or text, email, a live video call, or a postcard with a code. If video is offered, Google recommends it. Before the call, be at the business and be ready to show:
- Your signage or a street sign that shows where you are.
- Your equipment, tools or work area.
- Something that proves you run the place, like keys, a register or an employee-only area.
After you finish, review can take up to 5 business days. A mailed code usually arrives within 14 days and expires after 30. If the "Get verified" button shows up again later, verification didn't go through, so try another method.
Once verified, add a second owner or manager so you're never locked out.
Get the basics exactly right
Google's rules here are strict. Breaking them is the fastest way to get suspended.
- Name: Use your real business name as it appears on your sign, website and invoices. No keywords, towns or slogans. "Smith Plumbing" is fine. "Smith Plumbing Best Emergency Plumber Grafton" breaks the rules.
- Address: Use a real, staffed location. P.O. boxes and virtual offices aren't allowed. Co-working spaces only qualify with signage and staff on site during business hours.
- Phone: A number that reaches your business directly, ideally a local number.
- Website: Your own site, not a Facebook page.
- Hours: The hours customers can actually reach you. Add holiday hours ahead of time. A customer who drives over on Thanksgiving because Google said you were open won't be back.
Make sure your name, address and phone match your website and other listings word for word. Google and AI tools compare them, which we cover more in how to get recommended by AI.
Choose your categories carefully
Your primary category matters more than any other setting. Pick the most specific one that describes your main business. Google's test is simple: it should finish the sentence "This business IS a," not "This business HAS a." A bakery with a coffee counter is a bakery.
You can add up to 9 more categories, but Google asks you to use as few as possible. Add only categories that describe real parts of your business. A roofer who also does siding and gutters can list those. A roofer who once fixed a deck shouldn't add "Deck builder."
Look up your top local competitors in Maps. Their primary category shows under the name. If the ones ranking above you use a more specific category, that's worth a look.
Services, service areas and your description
If customers come to you, show your address. If you go to them, like most contractors, cleaners and mobile services, you're a service-area business. Hide your address and set a service area instead.
- You can add up to 20 service areas, by city, ZIP code or similar area.
- You can't draw a radius. Google says the whole area shouldn't be more than about 2 hours' drive from your base.
- A business with a storefront that also travels can show both.
- Service-area businesses get one profile for the whole area, not one per town.
List your services in the words customers use. "Water heater replacement" beats "plumbing solutions."
Your business description can be up to 750 characters, and it can't include prices, promotions or web addresses. Say what you do, who you do it for, where, and what makes you different, in plain language.
Fill in every attribute that applies, like parking, wheelchair access or online appointments. Complete details help you show up.
Photos and posts
Photos help customers decide whether to call. Add real ones, not stock images:
- Your storefront from the street, so people recognize it.
- Inside your shop or office.
- Your team, your trucks, your work.
- Before and after shots, if you do that kind of work.
Add a few new photos every month or two. Photos from 2019 suggest a business that stopped paying attention.
Posts let you share updates, offers and events. Offers and events need dates, and posts older than 6 months are archived unless you set a date range. Posts with a phone number in the text may get rejected, so put contact details in the profile instead. A short post every couple of weeks about a project, a seasonal reminder or a new service is plenty.
Getting and answering reviews
More reviews and better ratings can help your local ranking, Google says. Reviews also do most of the selling.
To make asking easy, open your profile, choose "Read reviews," then "Get more reviews." You'll get a short link and a QR code. You need a computer to make the QR code. Put the link in follow-up emails and the QR code on a counter card.
Ask every customer, soon after the job. Stay inside Google's rules:
- Don't offer discounts, gifts or entries in a drawing for reviews.
- Don't ask only your happy customers. Google bans "review gating," where you screen people first and send only the good ones to Google.
- Don't have employees, family or friends review you, and don't pressure anyone to review while they're standing in your shop.
Answer every review, good and bad. For a bad one, stay calm, own what you can, and offer a phone number to sort it out. Future customers read your reply more than the complaint. You can edit or delete a reply later. You can't delete a customer's review, but you can flag one that breaks Google's policies, like a review from someone who was never a customer.
Common mistakes that hurt your profile
- Adding keywords or a city to the business name.
- Listing a home address customers can't visit, instead of hiding it.
- Creating a second profile for the same business, or one for each nearby town.
- Letting a marketing company own the profile instead of you.
- Buying reviews or trading reviews with other business owners.
- Setting it up once and never logging in again.
Common questions
What happened to the questions and answers section? Google has phased out the old Q&A section on Business Profiles, and owners can no longer add or answer questions there. In the Maps app, customers can now ask about a place and get AI answers drawn from sources like your profile details and reviews. Google hasn't said much about how this works, so expect it to keep changing. Complete profile details and a clear FAQ on your website help those answers come out right. Our guide on answer engine optimization explains how AI tools pick up that information.
Can I pay Google for a higher ranking? No. Google says there's no way to request or pay for a better local ranking. Google Ads can put you in a sponsored spot, but that's an ad, not your organic ranking.
Should I also set up Bing and Apple? Yes. Bing Places can import your Google profile, and Apple Business Connect covers Apple Maps. Both are quick once Google is right.
If you're not sure how your profile compares to competitors, our free website and Google checkup is a good place to start.
The short version
- Verify your profile under an account the business owns, and add a second manager.
- Use your real name, a real address or a hidden address with service areas, and current hours.
- Pick the most specific primary category and only the extra categories that are true.
- Add real photos and fill in services, description and attributes.
- Ask every customer for a review, never pay for one, and answer them all.