Why the Business Profile matters for local search
A Google Business Profile is the free listing that shows your business on Google Maps and in the map results on Google Search. For a service business, it is often the first thing a customer sees, before your website, and it is where they read your reviews, check your hours and tap to call.
This guide covers setup the way Google's own rules allow, with a link to the Google help page behind each step. Google changes its interface often, so we describe what to do rather than which button to press; the help pages show the current screens. Everything here you can do yourself, for free.
Who is eligible for a Business Profile
Google's guidelines say a business is eligible if it "has a physical location that customers can visit, or travels to customers where they are" (Google, guidelines for representing your business, read 27 October 2026). Plumbers, roofers, cleaners and other trades that work at the customer's home qualify as service-area businesses.
The same page sets limits worth knowing before you start:
- "P.O. boxes or mailboxes located at remote locations aren't acceptable" as your address.
- Virtual offices aren't eligible.
- One profile per location. A service-area business should have one profile for its central office or base, with a service area.
Breaking these rules can get a profile suspended, which takes it off Maps entirely. Getting it right the first time is far easier than getting reinstated.
Setting up and verifying the profile
- Search for your business first. A profile may already exist, created by Google or a past employee. Google explains how to add or claim your Business Profile.
- Use a Google account the business controls, not a former web designer's or an employee's personal account. Add others as managers instead of sharing the login.
- Verify. Google offers several verification methods and chooses which are available to you; see verify your business on Google. Google says verification tells it "you're authorized to represent the business, so it's more likely to show up in search results" (Google, tips to improve your local ranking).
- Fill in every field that applies: phone, website, hours, services, description, opening date, attributes. Google says businesses "with complete and accurate info are more likely to show up in local search results" (same ranking page). Editing is covered in edit your Business Profile.
Phone tip from Google's guidelines: use a number that connects to your business location, that you control, and prefer a local number over a central helpline.
Your business name: the rule most profiles break
Google's rule is: "Your name should reflect your business's real-world name." Extra details such as taglines, service keywords, town names, phone numbers or URLs aren't allowed in the name, and "Including unnecessary information in your business name isn't permitted" (Google guidelines).
So "Smith Roofing" is right; "Smith Roofing | Best Roof Repair [City]" is not, unless that is genuinely the name on your truck, your signage and your state registration. Keyword-stuffed names can lead to suspension, and competitors can report them.
Choosing Business Profile categories
Categories tell Google what searches your profile is relevant to. Google's guidelines say to "Use as few categories as possible to describe your overall core business", to choose the most specific category that represents your main business, and not to use categories as keywords.
| Step | What to do | Example for a remodeler |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Primary category | The most specific category for the work that earns most of your revenue | Kitchen remodeler, if kitchens are the core job |
| 2. Secondary categories | Only for other work you genuinely do as a core service | Bathroom remodeler |
| 3. Check the list | Type candidates into the category field; Google only accepts its own category names | Confirm the exact wording Google shows |
| 4. Services | List individual services under each category instead of adding more categories | Cabinet installation, countertop installation |
A useful check: search your main service and town on Google Maps and look at the categories the top profiles use. Don't copy categories you don't earn your money from.
Service areas and hiding your address
If customers don't come to your address, Google says you should hide it: "you should hide your business address from customers" (Google guidelines). You still enter the address for verification; it just isn't shown.
Google's service-area help page sets the rules (Google, manage your service areas, read 27 October 2026):
- "You can have up to 20 service areas," defined by cities, postal codes or other areas.
- "You can't set your service area as a radius distance around your business."
- The outer edge of your area should generally stay within about 2 hours of driving time from where your business is based.
- A hybrid business, one that serves customers at its address and also travels to them, can show its address and also set a service area. A location without permanent signage isn't eligible as a storefront.
List the towns and counties you actually want work from. Twenty well-chosen areas beat a vague "the whole state".
Photos, videos and posts
Google says adding photos and videos helps show what you offer (Google ranking tips). For a trade, that means real jobs: before and after, the crew, the trucks, finished work. Google's photo instructions are on manage your Business Profile photos and videos, and its content rules are in the photos, videos and posts content policy.
Posts are short updates on your profile, separate from your social media pages. Google offers three kinds: updates, offers and events. Two details from Google's posts page matter (Google, create and manage posts, read 27 October 2026):
- "Posts older than 6 months are archived unless a date range is set."
- Posts that include a phone number in the description might get rejected if Google can't verify the number belongs to the business.
A realistic rhythm for a busy owner: one post a week or every two weeks, each with a real job photo, a sentence on the work and a link to the matching service page on your site.
Getting and answering reviews
Google lets you ask customers to review you through a link or a QR code it creates for your profile (Google, tips to get more reviews). Send the link by text right after a job, while the customer is happy and the work is fresh.
What not to do, in Google's words: offering incentives, "like free or discounted goods or services, in exchange for customers to post reviews" is prohibited, and the page says this "is strictly prohibited". The same goes for paying to change or remove negative reviews. The U.S. Federal Trade Commission also banned fake reviews and testimonials in 2024 (FTC, August 2024).
On replies, Google advises keeping them professional, polite and short; personalizing them; not using them to push deals; and never sharing a reviewer's private information. Its page notes that "Negative reviews aren't necessarily a sign of poor business practices". A calm, factual reply to a bad review often does more for the next reader than the review itself. Managing reviews is covered on manage customer reviews.
How Google ranks local results
Google says local results are based mainly on three things (Google, tips to improve your local ranking):
- Relevance: "how well a Business Profile matches what someone is searching for".
- Distance: "how far each business is from the customer who's searching".
- Prominence: "how well-known a business is", drawing on signals such as links to your website and your review count.
And one sentence every owner should know: "There's no way to request or pay for a better local ranking on Google." Anyone who says otherwise is selling ads, which are labeled as ads, or something worse.
You can't change distance. You can improve relevance (the right categories, services and a website that describes them) and prominence (reviews, real mentions and links from local organizations).
Bing Places and Apple Business Connect
Google is the biggest local channel, but not the only one. Microsoft's Bing Places for Business controls how you appear in Bing search and maps, and Apple's Apple Business Connect controls how you appear in Apple Maps, which is the default map app on iPhones. Both are free.
Set them up once your Google profile is right, and copy the same facts exactly: name, phone, website, hours, categories and service area. Matching details across all three are easier for customers to trust and for search engines to connect. Put a reminder in your calendar to check all three whenever you change your hours or phone number, because nothing updates the others automatically.
Business Profile checklist
Work through this list once at setup, then review it every quarter.
- Profile claimed, verified and owned by a business Google account.
- Name exactly as on your signage and registration, no extra words.
- The most specific primary category; secondary categories only for core work.
- Address hidden if customers don't visit; up to 20 named service areas within about two hours' drive.
- Local phone number you control; website link to your home page or the right location page.
- Hours, including holiday hours, kept current.
- Services listed with short descriptions.
- Real photos added regularly; no stock images.
- A post every week or two, linked to the matching page on your site.
- Review link sent after every job; no incentives; every review answered.
- Same name, phone and area on your website, Bing Places, Apple Business Connect and directories.
- Managers added by invitation, with no shared passwords.
Your website and profile work together. A profile that links to a fast, clear website with a page for each service gives Google more reasons to show you. Our free Site X-ray checks the website half.