Your business on Google Maps: creating and verifying a Google Business Profile
If someone searches for "florist Amersfoort", Google often shows a map with businesses first. That information comes from their Google Business Profile: a free listing with name, address, phone number, opening hours, photos and reviews, in Google Maps and alongside the search results. Here you can read who's allowed to have a profile, how to create or take one over, how verification works and how to keep it up to date.
Is your business allowed to have a profile?
According to Google's guidelines, a profile is meant for businesses with a physical location where customers visit during opening hours, or that visit customers, such as a painter or mechanic. Also:
- One profile per business, or per branch. A second profile to cover more keywords is not allowed.
- A virtual office, a PO box or an address where you don't actually work doesn't count.
- If you work only online, a Business Profile isn't meant for you.
Location, service area or both
| Type | Example | Address visible? |
|---|---|---|
| Location | Shop, hair salon, practice | Yes |
| Service area | Painter, window cleaner, mobile mechanic | No: you need to hide your address and specify your service area |
| Hybrid | Florist who also delivers, garage with roadside assistance | Yes, plus a service area, if the business is staffed during opening hours |
Google states as a guideline that a service area shouldn't extend further than roughly two hours' driving from your location.
Creating or claiming a profile
- Search first in Google Maps for your business name and location. Often your business is already listed, even if you never added it yourself. Open it and check whether there's a button to manage or claim it. If it's not there, create a profile via business.google.com.
- Use a business account, for example
info@example.com, not an employee's personal account. Add a second manager later, so the profile isn't lost if someone leaves. - Fill in the basics: business name, category, address or service area, phone number and website. Write the name and address exactly as they appear on your storefront and your website.
- Verify the profile (see below).
Is the profile listed under someone else's name? For example after a takeover, or because a previous web builder created it. First ask the previous manager to add you. If that doesn't work, you can request access via Google. Google emails the current manager and gives them a few days to respond. If there's no response, you can sometimes claim the profile yourself, but not always. Don't create a second profile.
Verification: proving it's your business
A profile is only yours once it's verified. Possible methods:
- a video recording of your location and proof that you manage the business, such as your key or your sign;
- a live video call with a Google employee, only during your opening hours;
- a phone call or text message with a code (a phone menu can't receive that code);
- an email;
- a postcard with a code.
You don't choose the method yourself: Google decides which one you get, based on factors such as the type of business and your region. A review usually takes up to five business days, according to Google. A postcard usually arrives within fourteen days and the code expires after thirty days. If you've already verified your website in Google Search Console, verification can sometimes succeed immediately. See Submitting your website to search engines (Google and Bing).
Not working? Often the name or address differs from your storefront and your website, or the video is missing proof. If your business is listed twice, report the duplicate profile to Google.
Filling it in correctly
- Name: as shown on your storefront, without location, service or slogan. According to Google, extra information in the name can lead to suspension.
- Category: what you are, not what you sell; as few and as specific as possible.
- Opening hours: the actual hours, with holidays and closures listed under special hours.
- Phone and website: a dedicated number for this location (not a premium-rate number) and your homepage or the location's page.
- Description: what you do and for whom, without links.
- Photos: your own photos of your storefront, your business and your work.
- Products and services: this is where the words that aren't allowed in your name belong.
Keeping your profile and website consistent
Use the same name, address and phone number on your website as in your profile. If you build your site with the AI Builder, enter that information under SEO, under Business Details, and the AI Builder also adds it to your site as structured data. Read Your business details for Google: structured data (LocalBusiness). Also add your business to Apple Maps and Bing: Your business in Apple Maps and Bing.
Keep the profile up to date: anyone can suggest changes and Google sometimes makes adjustments itself. Check every month whether anything has changed, respond to new reviews (see Asking for and responding to reviews: what's allowed and what isn't) and check once a year who still has manager access.