How to Set Up Your Google Business Profile and Get It Verified

If a customer searches for the work you do and you do not show up on Google Maps, they call whoever does. Your Google Business Profile is that listing: the name, the map pin, the reviews, the photos, and the phone number in the local results.

Setting it up is a form. Getting it verified is the step that stalls most people, because Google decides how you prove the business is real, and the options are not the same for every business. Do it in this order.

1. Sign in with a Google account the business controls.
2. Claim a listing Google already has, or create a new one.
3. Set the name, category, address, and service area.
4. Finish whichever verification method Google offers.
5. Add the description, services, and photos once you are verified.

Use a Google account you can keep

Sign in at business.google.com with a Google account your business controls. An owner login or a shared inbox is safer than a former employee's personal Gmail. If that person leaves and the profile is tied to their account, getting it back takes weeks.

Search your business name before you create anything. Google may already have a listing from a directory, a customer, or an old website. Claim that listing. A second profile for the same business is a duplicate, and duplicates get suspended.

Create the profile

From the Google Business Profile manager, add the business. Google walks you through the name, the category, whether customers can visit you, and how to reach you. The desktop site is easier for the form. You will need a phone later if Google asks for a video.

Business name

Use the name on your sign, your license, and your website. Leave city names and words like "best" out of the name unless they are actually part of the business name. Extra keywords in the name are one of the fastest ways to get the profile suspended.

Category

The primary category tells Google which searches you should show up for. Pick the most specific category that matches the jobs you want. A basement remodeler should choose a remodeling category when one fits, rather than a generic contractor category that covers everybody. You can add secondary categories later for the other services you sell. The primary category does the most work, so choose it for the work you want more of.

Address and service area

If customers come to a shop or showroom, add that address and show it. If you drive to them, set the business up as a service-area business. You still enter a real address so Google can check that you exist. Then hide the address and list the cities or counties you actually serve. A home address can stay hidden.

A PO box, a virtual office, or a coworking space you do not really work from is a common reason a profile gets rejected. List service areas you can honestly cover. A profile that claims an entire state from one truck does not help you show up for the towns where you want the phone to ring.

Phone, website, and hours

Use a number you answer, and use that same number on your website. Point the website field at your real site. When the site and the profile disagree on the name, address, or phone, verification and rankings both get harder.

Set the hours you will pick up the phone. If you do not have a public office, those hours are still what customers see when they decide whether to call.

Get it verified

You cannot fully manage the profile until Google verifies that you represent the business. The listing may exist before that, but you will not control the details, the photos, or the posts. An unverified profile is a weak one.

Google chooses the method. You will not see every option. What shows up depends on the category, the address, how new the business is, and whether Google already has data on you.

Postcard

Google mails a postcard to the address on the profile. It usually arrives within a couple of weeks. The code is printed on the card. Enter it in the profile manager before it expires. If nothing shows up, check that the address is one the mail can actually reach, then request another code. Requesting a new code over and over, or changing the address while you wait, slows it down.

Phone or text

Some profiles get a code by text or an automated call. It arrives right away. Enter it once. If the code fails, wait before you request another. Rapid retries look like abuse.

Email

Less common. Google sends a code to an email address it already associates with the business, often an address on your domain. Check spam. The code expires.

Video

Google asks for this often, especially on newer profiles and service-area businesses. You record one continuous video on your phone, with location turned on. Do not edit it, and do not film it from a desk across town.

Show that you are at the business and that you run it:

• The street, the building, and a sign, mailbox, or neighboring business so the location is obvious
• Signage, a wrapped truck, or equipment with the business name
• The workspace, tools, or materials you use to do the work
• Paperwork that matches the profile, such as a business license, an insurance certificate, or a utility bill at that address

For a contractor who works from home and hides the address, the video still has to be filmed at the address you gave Google. Show the truck, the tools, and the paperwork. A slideshow of finished jobs will not pass.

Google reviews the video. That can take a few days. If they reject it, read the reason, film again, and show the item they said was missing.

Instant verification through Search Console

If the same Google account has already verified your website in Google Search Console, Google sometimes verifies the profile immediately. It is not offered to everyone. If you have a site, verifying the domain in Search Console first takes about ten minutes. It occasionally skips the postcard.

After you are verified

Verification unlocks the profile. Finish these before you worry about anything fancier:

• A description that says what you do and where you do it, in normal language
• Services that match the jobs you want to be hired for
• Real photos of the truck, the crew, and finished work
• Answers to a few questions customers already ask you
• A habit of asking recent customers for a review, from the link in the profile

The name, category, address, and phone you verified with should stay stable. Changing them right after verification can trigger another check.

What gets profiles suspended

These are the patterns that cause the trouble we get called in to clean up:

• A second profile for a business that already has one
• Keywords, cities, or slogans stuffed into the business name
• An address where the business does not actually operate, including virtual offices and mail drops
• A storefront address for a business that never has customers visit
• A video or postcard address that does not match the license or the website
• Someone verifying the profile while pretending to be at your location

If the profile is suspended, do not make another one. Appeal the suspension from the profile manager and fix the detail Google flagged. A new listing on top of a suspended one makes the next appeal harder.