What is a Google Business Profile?
The Google Business Profile is the free listing that appears beside the search results and as a pin in Google Maps. It carries your name, address, hours, photos and reviews, and for most local businesses it now matters more than their own website.
Google names three factors for local ranking: relevance, distance and prominence. Your profile feeds all three, and it is the only part you can fill in completely in half an hour.
Leave the profile unclaimed and Google guesses. Address, hours and category then get derived from external sources, which are regularly wrong.
How do you pick the right primary category?
Your primary category decides which searches you are eligible for at all, so choose the term your customer would type. Then add two to five secondary categories for your side services, and leave the rest alone.
- 1Search your main service plus your town in Google Maps.
- 2Open the three businesses at the top and check which category they carry.
- 3Take the category closest to your core activity as the primary one.
- 4Add secondary categories for services you genuinely deliver.
Which fields should you always fill in?
Name, address, phone, website, primary category, opening hours, special hours, services and attributes. A complete profile is shown more often than a half-empty one, and it answers the questions that otherwise end up in your reviews.
| Field | Why it counts |
|---|---|
| Primary category | Decides which searches you compete for |
| Opening hours | Excludes you when somebody filters on "open now" |
| Special hours | Wrong bank holidays produce angry reviews |
| Photos | Decide whether somebody taps or scrolls past |
| Services | Adds keywords without polluting your name |
| Attributes | Step-free access, parking, terrace, payment methods |
In the services field use the words your customers say on the phone. "Brake replacement" gets searched more often than "braking system maintenance".
How many photos do you need, and which ones?
Count on at least ten photos and add a few every month. The frontage, the entrance, the space inside, your team and the work itself carry the most weight. Recent photos show that the business is still running.
- The frontage as somebody sees it from the street, so they find you again.
- The entrance, especially when it does not face the street.
- The space inside, well lit and without clutter in the background.
- The work itself: a finished bathroom, a plate, a haircut.
- The team, because faces get tapped more often than interiors.
Avoid stock photography. Customers recognise it, and it raises exactly the doubt you were trying to remove.
What role do reviews play in your profile?
Reviews influence your position and your click-through rate at the same time. Rating, count, freshness and your replies together form the strongest signal in your profile, and the hardest one to imitate.
Fill in the rest of your profile properly once, then put your energy into reviews. That is the only field that can grow every week.
The structured approach is in the guide on getting more Google reviews. For the messages themselves there is the article with templates per channel.
Which mistakes cost you visibility?
Putting keywords in your business name, listing an address where you do not work, and leaving the profile untouched for months. The first two can get you suspended, the third simply lets you sink quietly.
- No keywords in your name: "Plumber Boom 24h" is a violation.
- No home address if customers never come there, set a service area instead.
- No stacking of categories you do not deliver.
- No duplicate profiles for the same location.
Frequently asked questions
- How long does Google Business Profile verification take?
- From a few days to a few weeks, depending on the method. Video verification of your premises and equipment often runs faster in practice than verification by post.
- Can I put keywords in my business name?
- No. The name on your profile has to be the name on your signage and your invoices. Adding keywords breaches the guidelines and can get your profile suspended.
- How often should I update my profile?
- Adjust your hours around bank holidays and closures, add a few photos each month, and reply to reviews as they arrive. More frequency than that adds very little.
- Do I still need a website?
- For many local services the profile is enough to get the phone ringing. A website stays useful for prices, references and pages per town, and it gives you a place where you set the rules.
- What should I do about a duplicate profile?
- Report it as a duplicate inside your profile so Google merges the two. Never simply delete the one with the most reviews, because those reviews do not always move across.