Google Business Profile: how to set it up and get it right

Setting it up

1. Search for your business on Google firstA profile may already exist. If so, claim it; do not create a second one.
2. Create or claim itSign in with a Google account the business controls, not a personal one that might leave with an employee.
3. Enter the name exactly as it isAs on your signage and stationery.
4. Choose your categoryThe most specific one that is accurate.
5. Add your address, or your service areaIf customers come to you, the address. If you go to them and do not serve people at your premises, hide the address and set the areas you cover.
6. VerifyGoogle will ask you to prove the business is real, commonly by a short video, sometimes by phone, email or post. Which methods you are offered is Google’s decision.

What to fill in

• Primary category, and any secondary categories that genuinely apply.
• Opening hours, and special hours for bank holidays.
• Phone number, a local one where possible.
• Website link, pointing to the most relevant page.
• Services, each named as a customer would name it.
• Products, if you sell them.
• A description that says plainly what you do, for whom and where.
• Attributes: accessibility, payment methods and anything else that applies.
• Photographs of the premises, the team and the work.
• Booking or ordering links, if you take them online.

Keeping it current

A profile is not a form you complete once. Put a reminder in the diary to look at it each month.

• Add new photographs.
• Reply to every new review.
• Check the hours before each bank holiday.
• Post updates about offers, events or news.
• Check that nobody has suggested an edit that changed your details. Google accepts suggestions from the public, and not all of them are right.

Mistakes that cause trouble

Google publishes guidelines for representing your business. The commonest ways businesses fall foul of them:

• Keywords in the business name. “Smith Plumbing” is a name. “Smith Plumbing: Emergency Plumber York” is a breach.
• An address that is not really yours. Virtual offices and mailboxes are not eligible. A shared or co-working space only counts if it has your signage and your own staff there during opening hours.
• More than one profile for the same business.
• A profile for a town where you have no premises.
• Offering rewards for reviews.

Any of these can lead to a suspension, and getting reinstated is slow.