How to set up your Google Business Profile properly

To get your shop on Google Maps, create or claim a free Google Business Profile and verify it. Then fill it in honestly: your real name, the right category, true hours, real photos, and the same address and phone everywhere.

Picture a new café in Hindustan Park (an example, not a real client). Someone two streets away searches "café near me" at 5 pm. If the café has no profile, or one showing last year's hours, they walk somewhere else.

Create or claim your Google Business Profile

Start by searching for your shop on Google Maps. It may already be there, added by Google or a customer, with nobody managing it.

• If it's already there: open it, tap About, then "Claim this business" and "Manage now" (Google).
• If it isn't: go to business.google.com/add, enter your details and choose a way to verify.
• If someone else already manages it, such as an old agency or a former partner, ask for access through Google. Don't make a second profile.

Google says you can add or claim your business at no charge. Sign in with a Google account the business owns, not a staff member's personal one or an agency's.

Verify it, or you can't really manage it

A profile can show on Maps before anyone verifies it. But Google says you need to verify before you can edit your business info, such as the name or hours (Google, as of November 2026).

Until then, the profile half works. You can't reply to reviews (Google), and your photos and videos don't show (Google). Posts stay pending and don't appear on Search or Maps (Google).

Google offers phone or text, email, a live video call, a postcard or a video recording, depending on your business. Where video is offered, Google recommends it. Plan the shot before you press record.

1. Record live, in one take. Google wants at least 30 seconds, unedited and with no breaks (Google). Pre-recorded clips aren't allowed.
2. Start outside. Show the street sign, building number and the shops next door.
3. Show your signboard, with the business name on a permanent fixture, not a paper banner.
4. Prove you run it. Open the shutter, go behind the counter or into the storeroom, places only staff can reach.

Working from home with no shop, like a home tutor or an AC repair service? Record the landmarks near your address and the tools you work with.

Review takes up to 5 business days. If you verify by postcard instead, don't change your name, address or category until the code arrives, or the code won't work.

Pick the right category and set true hours

Your primary category says what you are, not what you have. Google's own example is "Nail salon" rather than "Salon" (Google). Add a few extra categories only for real parts of the business, never as keywords.

Set your regular, customer-facing hours, day by day. Then add special hours for Durga Puja, Diwali or a family wedding. Google suggests confirming hours for official holidays even when they don't change (Google).

Add photos of the real place

Photos tell people what to expect before they come. Google suggests at least three of each type that fits your business (Google).

Use JPG or PNG files between 10 KB and 5 MB. Google recommends 720 × 720 pixels and photos in focus, with no heavy filters. Add a few new ones every season, so the profile looks alive.

Shop address or service area

This choice depends on where you meet customers. Get it wrong and the profile breaks Google's rules.

A service-area business can set up to 20 areas, by city, PIN code or neighbourhood (Google). Google says the whole area shouldn't stretch beyond about 2 hours' drive from your base (Google). An AC repair service in Behala might list Behala, Thakurpukur and Tollygunge, not all of West Bengal.

Keep your name, address and phone identical

Google asks that your name match the real-world name used consistently on your storefront, website and stationery. The phone should be a number the business controls, local where possible.

Write your name, address and phone once, exactly. Then copy the same lines onto your website, Justdial, Zomato or Practo, Facebook, your signboard and your visiting card. One version everywhere means nobody calls an old number or walks to an old address.

Complete, accurate details help too. Google says local results depend mainly on relevance, distance and prominence (how well known you are), and that there's no way to pay for a better local ranking (Google).

So be wary of anyone promising you the top spot. Reviews count towards prominence, which our guide to getting more Google reviews covers.

What gets a profile suspended

Google can suspend a profile that breaks its guidelines on how a business is represented (Google). These are the traps to avoid.

• Extra words in the name. "Sharma Sweets Best Mishti Shop Gariahat" isn't a name. Google says adding unnecessary information to your name could get the profile suspended.
• A virtual office or a rented mailing address you don't work from. That location isn't eligible. Nor are PO boxes.
• A co-working desk without clear signage of your own.
• Two profiles for one business, for example a second one made after losing the old login.
• A home address on show for a service-area business, which should hide it.
• A premium-rate or call-centre number instead of the shop's own.

If it happens, fix the problem first, then appeal once through Google's appeals tool. Attach documents, such as a trade licence, GST certificate or electricity bill, whose name and address match the profile (Google). Don't create a new profile while you wait.

Once you're verified, you can answer every review, good or bad. Our guide on how to reply to Google reviews has templates.

If you'd like help

We can set up or fix your profile for you, in your own Google account, as part of our Google Maps listing work. Ask for a free audit and we'll check your profile against your website, or WhatsApp us on +91 62918 31815.