Google Business Profile: what it is and how to start

A free Google tool that controls how your business appears in Google Search and Maps — your hours, photos, service areas, reviews and contact details.

Who it is for

Any business customers might look for locally, including trades and mobile services with no shop or office. If people in a specific area could search for what you do and hope to find someone nearby, this applies to you, and it is almost certainly the highest-return free marketing work available.

What it costs

Completely free. Creating and listing your business on Google costs nothing, and there is no paid tier of the profile itself. Google Ads is a separate paid product and is not required to have or rank a profile. Be aware that businesses with listings are frequently cold-called by agencies implying payment is needed to stay listed; it is not.

Quick facts

Category: Marketing & Growth — Local Search & SEO
Pricing model: free
Runs on: Web (managed through Google Search and Maps)
Difficulty for a beginner: beginner
Official site: https://business.google.com/us/business-profile/

How to get started with Google Business Profile

Check whether a listing already exists: Search your business name and town first. Google generates listings automatically, so there may already be one with wrong hours or an old address. Claiming an existing listing is better than creating a duplicate, and duplicates actively hurt you.
Claim it and complete verification: Verification proves the business is yours, usually by video, phone or postcard. Nothing you change takes full effect until this is done, and an unverified profile is the most common reason a business does not appear.
Get the primary category exactly right: The primary category has an outsized effect on which searches you appear in. Pick the most specific one that describes your main service rather than a broad one, then add secondary categories for the rest. Check what the competitors ranking above you have chosen.
Set service areas if you travel to customers: If you work at customers' locations you can define the areas you cover instead of showing a street address, which is the correct setup for trades and mobile services. Listing a home address you do not receive customers at is the wrong option.
Fill in every remaining field: Hours including holidays, phone, website, services with descriptions, and attributes. Completeness is itself a ranking factor, and each field is a chance to match a search someone is actually typing.
Add real photos, and keep adding them: Genuine photos of your work, vehicles, team and premises outperform stock images by a wide margin, because customers are checking whether you look real. Adding new ones periodically is a signal the business is active.
Build a review habit: Ask every satisfied customer as the work finishes, using the short review link Google provides so it takes one tap. Reply to all reviews, especially critical ones — future customers read the replies more carefully than the complaints.
Read the performance data monthly: The profile reports the search terms people used to find you, plus calls, direction requests and website clicks. Those queries are real customer language and the best possible source of words for your website and services.

Should you use this instead of something else?

Many businesses build a website first and treat the listing as an afterthought. For local services that is backwards: the listing is usually what produces the call, and the website confirms the decision it started. A paid directory listing or an SEO retainer is rarely worth considering before this free profile is fully completed, which most businesses have not done.

Common beginner mistakes

Leaving the profile unverified, which is the most common reason a business does not appear in map results at all.
Adding keywords to the business name to try to rank better. It violates Google policy and risks suspension of the listing, which costs far more than the ranking was worth.
Letting the name, address and phone number differ between the profile, the website and other directories. Inconsistency undermines confidence in which details are correct.
Choosing a broad primary category instead of the specific one, which puts you in competition for searches you cannot win while missing the ones you could.
Ignoring reviews, or replying defensively to critical ones. A calm, specific reply to a bad review reassures future customers more than the review itself worries them.
Paying someone who cold-calls claiming your listing needs renewing or will be removed. The profile is free and Google does not charge to keep it live.

Last verified: 2026-08-07. Source: https://business.google.com/us/business-profile/

Read the full Marketing & Growth guide for how this fits into the wider process.