How to create a Google profile for your business (Google Business Profile)

The Google Business Profile is the listing that appears when someone looks up your business on Google or Maps: name, hours, phone, website, photos and reviews. You create it with a Google Account, then you verify it to prove the business is yours. Only after verification can you really manage it and reply to reviews.

Before you start

Get ready:

• a Google Account (Google suggests using, if you have one, an email address on your business domain);
• the exact name of the business, as customers know it;
• the address of your premises, if customers come to you; or else the list of areas where you work;
• a phone number that you answer yourself;
• your website address, if you have one.

Read the rules first: Google's guidelines say what is allowed. The main ones:

• Name: the real one, used with customers and on your sign. No keywords, slogans, phone numbers or web addresses.
• Address: the real premises where customers can come. P.O. boxes are not allowed.
• If you work at customers' locations (plumber, technician, cleaning…): you must hide your address and set the area you serve.
• Phone: a number run directly by the business.
• Categories: as specific as possible, and few of them. They describe what the business is, not what it has.

Create the profile

On a computer:

1. Sign in to your Google Account (or create one).
2. Go to the page to create a profile for your business (from Google's help or from business.google.com).
3. Type the business name. If it shows up in the list of suggestions, the listing may already exist: see further down.
4. Search for and choose the business category.
5. Click Next.
6. When asked whether you have a location customers can visit, answer Yes or No. If you answer Yes, enter the address or place the marker on the map.
7. If you also work away from your premises, set the service area: Google accepts up to 20.
8. Enter the phone number and the website address.
9. Click Finish.
10. Choose Verify now or Verify later.

Verify the business

Verification proves to Google that the business is yours. You don't fully choose the method: Google offers the ones available based on the type of business, the area and public information. You always start from the Get verified button.

• Phone or text: you receive a code and enter it in the profile. You must be able to answer that number yourself: automated phone systems don't work.
• Email: follow the instructions in the message you receive.
• Live video call: you must be at the premises, during opening hours, with a phone or tablet with a camera. You will be asked to show, for example, the outside sign, nearby businesses, your equipment and staff-only areas.
• Postcard: Google mails a code to the business address. According to the help page, it usually arrives within 14 days and the code is valid for 30 days.

After you submit, Google can take up to 5 business days to review the verification. If the verification button appears again, verification didn't succeed: try another of the methods offered.

If the listing already exists

Sometimes the listing for your business already exists, created by a customer or by a former collaborator.

1. Go to business.google.com/add.
2. Enter the business name and address and select it from the list.
3. If you see the message "Someone else may manage this Business Profile", click Request access.
4. Fill out the form and click Submit.

The current owner receives the request. If they don't reply within the time Google indicates, you get an email to go ahead: click View request and then Verify.

Keep it up to date

After verification you can edit hours, phone, website, photos, products and services.

On a computer:

1. Go to business.google.com.
2. Select Edit profile.
3. Make your changes and select Save.

On a phone, with the Google Maps app:

1. Open Google Maps.
2. Tap Business, at the bottom right.
3. Tap Edit profile, make your changes and tap Save.

Google reviews changes before publishing them: they don't always show up right away.

Reply to reviews

Replying calmly and politely, even to negative reviews, shows customers that you listen to them.

1. Open your profile on business.google.com.
2. Select Read reviews.
3. Next to the review, select Reply.
4. Write your reply and select Reply to post it.

The reply appears under the business name, and whoever wrote the review is notified. Before it appears, the reply may be checked by Google.

If you don't have an address of your own for your website yet, start with how to register a domain. To receive email at an address on your domain, see how to set up your domain email on iPhone and Outlook.

If it still doesn't work

• It doesn't offer the verification method you want: that's normal, the methods depend on the business and the area. Use one of those offered.
• The postcard doesn't arrive: check that the address is written correctly and in full, with any apartment or unit number on the second line.
• Verification is rejected: reread the guidelines. A name with extra words, a home address shown for a business without premises, or a number that isn't yours are frequent causes.
• A change doesn't appear: Google is reviewing it. From the help page you can check the status of the change.
• No method works: from Google's help you can contact Business Profile support.
• You'd rather have help setting up the listing, the categories and the link to your website: a technician can guide you step by step, but the listing must stay under your own Google Account.