Create a free Business Profile at business.google.com/add, enter your details, then verify it with one of the methods Google offers you. Adding or claiming a profile costs nothing, and Google says verification reviews take up to five working days. Take care over your name, address and category as you go: change any of them later and Google may ask you to verify again.
How do I add my business to Google?
Google calls what you’re setting up a Business Profile, though many people call it a Google Business page. You need a Google Account, but there’s no separate Google business account to create: an existing one works, or you can make one with your work email. Use an account the business controls, because verifying makes it the profile’s owner.
Check, too, that your business qualifies. Google’s eligibility guidelines say a business must make in-person contact with customers during its stated hours, at its premises or at theirs. Online-only businesses aren’t eligible, and nor is one whose address is a PO box.
- Look for an existing profile. Search Google Maps for your business name and town.
- Claim it if it’s unverified. Select the business, then Claim this business and Manage now, and pick a verification option. If someone else has verified it, see the ownership section below.
- Add it if it isn’t there. Go to business.google.com/add and select Add your business to Google.
- Describe your business by following the on-screen instructions.
- Verify it with one of the options shown.
Choosing your name, address and category
Google’s guidelines for representing your business set rules for all three, and a profile that breaks them can be suspended.
Your business name
Use the name customers know you by, as it appears on your shopfront, website and stationery. Google doesn’t permit extra information that isn’t part of that name, such as a tagline, a town, a service, a phone number or opening hours, and says adding it could get the profile suspended. If your van says “Smith Plumbing”, the profile should say “Smith Plumbing”, not “Smith Plumbing Leeds 24hr Emergency Plumber”. A legal term such as Ltd can stay only if your signs, cards or invoices consistently show it.
Shopfront or service area
If customers come to premises with your name on a permanent sign, show your address. If you travel to them, as a plumber or cleaner does, you’re a service-area business: Google says to hide your address, including when you work from home, and list the areas you serve instead. A business that does both, such as a garage offering roadside repairs, is what Google calls a hybrid service-area business. It can show its address and a service area if the premises are staffed during its hours.
You can list up to 20 service areas, by town, city, postcode or other area, within about two hours’ drive of your base. You can’t set a radius. An address you rent but don’t work from (a virtual office) isn’t eligible. Keep to one profile for the business, not one for each town.
Your primary category
Pick the most specific category that completes the sentence “This business is a…”. Google’s own example is Nail salon rather than Salon. If nothing fits, choose a more general one. Google’s help page on categories says your categories affect your local ranking. Add more only for real departments or services, use as few as you can, and never use them as keywords.
How to verify your Google Business Profile
Verification proves to Google that you own or manage the business. Until it’s done you can’t edit details such as your name or opening hours.
Which methods you might be offered
You don’t choose. Google’s verification help page says the methods are set automatically and can’t be changed. They depend on your business type, public information, region and opening hours, and some businesses need more than one. The options include:
- Phone or text. You must be able to answer the business number or receive texts. An automated phone menu won’t get the code.
- Email, to the address shown on the verification screen.
- Live video call with Google support, during your opening hours.
- Video recording, filmed and uploaded from your phone. Google recommends this method if you’re offered it.
- Postcard. Most codes arrive within 14 days and expire after 30. While you wait, don’t edit your name, address or category, which stops the code working, or request a new code, which cancels the first.
Never share a code, even with someone who manages your profile. Google says it will never ask you for one.
Video verification
For a live video call you must be at the business during opening hours. Be ready to show where you are (outside signs, a street sign or nearby businesses), the business itself (products, branded equipment or tools) and that you run it (staff-only areas, the till or your keys).
A video recording must be filmed live in one unedited take of at least 30 seconds. A shopfront needs its name on a permanent sign that matches the profile. A service-area business shows street signs or landmarks near its base (if you work from home, ones in your own neighbourhood will do), its tools and proof that you run it, such as opening a branded van.
How long it takes
Once you’ve finished the steps, Google says verification reviews take up to five working days, and on rare occasions longer. Some profiles are verified instantly, for example when you’ve already verified your website in Search Console. If you’re verified and still can’t find the profile, our note on why your business isn’t showing on Google Maps covers the next checks.
If verification fails
If the Get verified button reappears, Google couldn’t completely verify the business. Try again, or use another method if more than one is shown. If a recorded video was rejected, Review issues tells you what was missing for the next one.
Don’t start a second profile to get round it. Google allows one profile per business, and a profile it treats as a duplicate won’t show on Search or Maps. If none of your methods works, Google suggests contacting its support team.
If someone else already owns the profile
If a former employee, past owner or supplier verified the profile, you can ask for it. For a shopfront or hybrid business, Google’s help page on requesting ownership says to go to business.google.com/add, enter the business name and address and choose your business. When Google says someone else may manage it, select Request access and fill in the form.
The current owner has three days to respond. If they approve, you can manage the profile. If they refuse, you can appeal or suggest an edit. If they don’t reply, you may be able to claim it, though Google says that option isn’t always available. Service-area businesses contact Google instead and ask for a transfer of ownership.
Whoever helps you later, keep ownership yourself and add them as managers. Google’s rules for authorised representatives, SEO agencies included, say they must never claim a profile without the owner’s consent and must hand ownership over as soon as the owner asks.
What to fill in once you’re verified
A business with complete and accurate information is more likely to show up in local results, according to Google’s advice on local ranking. A separate help page on editing your profile covers each field. Start with these:
- Opening hours, plus special hours for bank holidays.
- Phone number. One the business controls, local rather than a call centre line where you can, and never a premium-rate number.
- Website, entered in full, starting https://.
- Description, up to 750 characters on what you offer. No links, and Google says not to focus on promotions or prices.
- Photos, including one of the outside, which Google says helps customers recognise you.
- Services and attributes, such as parking or Wi-Fi, where they apply.
Mistakes that lead to suspensions
Google may suspend a profile that doesn’t follow its guidelines. The setup mistakes above are the ones we’d check first: a name padded with towns or services, a virtual office or PO box address, a second profile and a profile claimed without the owner’s consent.
If it happens, Google’s help page on suspended profiles says its appeals tool shows the reason. You can only submit an appeal once, so attach evidence first, such as your business registration or a utility bill in the profile’s name and address. Don’t create a new profile while you wait.
Questions
Does it cost anything to add my business to Google?
No. Google says you can add or claim your business at no charge.
Can I choose how I verify?
No. Google decides which methods you’re offered, based on things like your business type, region and opening hours.
Can I list my business if I work from home?
Yes. If customers don’t come to you, set it up as a service-area business: Google says to hide your address and list the areas you serve instead.
How long does it take to get my business on Google?
Google says verification reviews take up to five working days once you’ve finished the steps, and on rare occasions longer, plus the wait for a postcard code if that’s your method. Some profiles are verified instantly, such as when the business’s website is already verified in Search Console.
When to get help
Adding and verifying a profile is work you can do yourself. Winning a place in the map pack for the searches that bring in work usually takes longer, and that’s what our local SEO service is for. It includes town-by-town map ranking checks, and every account, your Business Profile included, stays in your name. To see where you stand now, ask for a free visibility audit.
