Google Business Profile: a setup and upkeep guide for local businesses

A Google Business Profile (formerly Google My Business) is the listing that shows your business on Google Search and Maps, with your hours, phone number, photos and reviews, and Google charges nothing for it. To set one up, search Maps for your business, claim the listing or add a new one, verify it with the method Google offers, and fill in every field accurately. To keep it current, answer reviews and suggested edits every few days and read the Performance report once a month. Until November 2021 it was called Google My Business.

We checked each rule below against Google's help pages in October 2026. More guides like this are on our SEO topic page.

Why the profile matters, especially in India#

Almost every search visit in India comes from Google. StatCounter puts Google's share of search engine referrals there at 97.31% for 2025, a wider lead than in the UK, the US or worldwide. Google said in 2024 that over 35 million Indian businesses were online across Search and Maps. For a business here, this is the listing to get right first.

Google says there is no way to request or pay for a better local ranking. Results are mainly based on relevance (how well a profile matches the search), distance from the searcher and prominence, which Google also calls popularity: how well known the business is, including how many websites link to it and how many reviews it has. You can't change distance, but complete details, the right category, reviews and links all count.

Three decisions to make before you start#

Who will own the profile#

Create or claim the profile from a Google Account that belongs to the business, not to an employee or an agency. A profile has only one primary owner. Everyone else who helps gets manager access on their own Google Account, so nobody shares a password. Managers can do nearly everything except add or remove users and remove the profile. New owners and managers wait 7 days before they can transfer ownership or delete the profile, and Google may revoke ownership if you haven't signed in recently. Our guide to planning a business website gives the same advice for domains.

Storefront, service area or both#

Only businesses that make in-person contact with customers during their stated hours qualify, so online-only businesses can't have a profile. If customers come to an address with permanent signage, you are a storefront. A virtual office isn't eligible, and a co-working desk needs signage, visiting customers and your own staff during business hours. If you go to customers instead, you are a service-area business: hide the address and list up to 20 areas by city or PIN code, with no radius, within about 2 hours' drive of your base. Do both and you are hybrid.

Say you run a bakery with a counter in Salt Lake, Kolkata. People walk in, so you show the address. If you repair air conditioners in customers' homes and work from your own home in Barrackpore, you hide the address and list the towns you cover.

The name and phone number you will use#

Use the name on your signboard, website and stationery, and nothing more: no taglines, product or place words, or legal terms such as Pvt Ltd unless your signage and invoices carry them. Google's example is that "Midas" is acceptable and "Midas Auto Service Experts" is not. Nor may you repeat the name in two scripts, even if your board shows it in English and Bengali. Extra words can get a profile suspended, and if a competitor stuffs keywords into their name, you can suggest an edit.

For the phone, the guidelines ask for a local number under the business's direct control, and someone should answer it, because an IVR system can't receive a verification code. You can add up to 2 more numbers, and in India Google double-checks the number to make sure it is correct.

How to create or claim a Google Business Profile#

1. Search Google Maps for your business name and town. A listing may exist already, because anyone can add a missing place.
2. If it is unverified, select Claim this business and follow Google's claiming steps.
3. If someone else verified it, such as a former employee or agency, request ownership. The current owner has 3 days to respond. For a service-area business with no shop or office, Google asks you to contact its support instead.
4. If there is no listing, add one at business.google.com/add.
5. Keep to one profile per business. Google doesn't show duplicates on Search or Maps.

How to verify a Google Business Profile#

Google decides which methods you see, based on your business type, region and hours, and you can't change them.

For a video, plan the shots against Google's requirements. A storefront shows street signs or neighbouring shops, the name on a permanent sign that matches the profile, and something only staff can open, such as the cash register. A service-area business films landmarks near its base, its tools or branded vehicle, and an invoice or utility bill in the business name.

Google's review then takes up to 5 business days, or can be instant if your website is verified in Search Console (our technical SEO checklist covers setting it up). Never share the code, even with people who manage the profile; Google will never ask for it.

Fill in the profile#

Categories#

Choose the most specific primary category for the whole business: Google's example is Nail salon, not Salon. Add others only for distinct departments or services, up to 9 more, using the test in Google's guidelines: a category completes "This business IS a", not "This business HAS a". Categories affect your local ranking, and changing one can send you back through verification.

Address and map pin#

Enter the official address with building and floor numbers, and add landmarks only where the address alone doesn't pinpoint you. Check that the map pin sits on your door, and move it if it doesn't. Google's India blog says dropping a pin on Maps and sharing it with friends and family is "a very common practice in India". Changes usually show within about 10 minutes but can take up to 30 days.

Hours, holidays and festival closures#

Set your regular hours, then use special hours for changes or closures of up to 6 days in a row, such as Durga Puja, and mark the business temporarily closed for 7 days or more. Special hours show only when the profile is set to "Open with main hours".

Description, services and products#

Use the description's 750 characters for what you offer, what sets you apart and how long you have been in business, with no links and no focus on prices or offers. Some service categories get a services editor for listing services with prices. Google's guidelines limit in-store products to retailers in the US, Canada, the UK and Ireland, but the product editor page names no country, so check whether Edit products appears.

Photos and videos#

Add a logo, a cover photo and real photos of the shopfront, the inside and your work. Google's photo guidelines ask for JPG or PNG files of 10 KB to 5 MB, ideally 720 by 720 pixels, in focus and without heavy filters, and videos of up to 30 seconds. Uploads appear only after verification and can take 24 to 48 hours. Keep the logo and name consistent with your signboard; a brand style guide helps.

Website, chat and social links#

Link your own website and check that Googlebot isn't blocked on it. Tag the link so Google Analytics can separate profile visits. Google says to always use utm_source, utm_medium and utm_campaign; a medium of organic keeps the visits in the Organic Search channel, and the campaign name tells them apart.

https://www.example.in/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=gbp-listing

People who tap it on a phone need a page that loads fast; our Core Web Vitals guide explains how Google measures that. No website yet? See our website design and development service.

Where your profile offers them, add a WhatsApp or text chat option (pick one, since Google shows only the text option if you add both) and one social link per platform, from accounts the business owns, even when an agency handles your social media management.

Reviews: asking, replying and the rules#

Asking for reviews#

Google's tips suggest asking customers for reviews with a link or QR code. Get both in a computer browser, the only place Google makes the QR code: open Read reviews, then Get more reviews. Put them on receipts, in thank-you emails and WhatsApp chats and on a counter card, for every customer, not only the happy ones. Ask steadily rather than in bursts. In BrightLocal's 2026 survey, 74% of US adults look for reviews from the last three months, and Google's systems watch for a sudden spike in 1 or 5-star reviews.

What Google does not allow#

Google's Maps content policy rules out:

• discounts, freebies or payment for a review, or for changing or removing a negative one
• asking only the customers you expect to be happy, or discouraging negative reviews
• pressuring customers to review while they are on the premises, or telling them what to write
• review targets for staff, or asking for reviews that name a staff member
• reviews from current or former employees, competitors, family or anyone else with a conflict of interest

By its own count, Google blocked or removed over 115 million policy-violating reviews in 2022, over 170 million in 2023, more than 240 million in 2024 and over 292 million in 2025, and it credits new machine-learning models for catching more of them.

The 2025 figure is about two and a half times 2022's. By April 2025 Google was also showing alerts in the US, UK and India when, in some cases, it had recently removed suspicious five-star reviews from a place.

Replying to reviews#

Reply to every review, and soon. BrightLocal's 2026 survey asked US adults how quickly they expect a business to answer:

Four in five expect a reply within a week, so checking at least every few days, as the routine below suggests, keeps you inside that window. In the same survey, the same-day share rose from 6% to 19% in a year, and half said generic or templated replies put them off. Google's reply tips say much the same. Keep replies short and polite, answer the specific point rather than sending everyone the same thank-you, don't push offers, and apologise where it is fair. Google checks replies before they appear, usually within 10 minutes, and they show as the business, not under your name.

Reporting a review#

Report a review only if it breaks the policy, not because you disagree with it. Checks typically take several days, and if Google finds no violation, you get a one-time appeal covering up to 10 reviews. If someone posts fake one-star reviews and then demands payment to remove them, don't pay. Google's reporting page links to separate steps for extortion.

Upkeep: what to check, and how often#

The Performance report's figures include Google Ads as well as unpaid results, and its views figure counts a person once a day however often they look.

Working with agencies, and fake Google calls#

What to ask a provider#

If you hire help, Google's third-party policies set the rules, and they apply to us too, since we manage profiles as part of our SEO services. Ask any provider, including us:

1. Will I stay the owner? The business must keep ownership or co-ownership at all times, and it chooses what access the agency gets.
2. Will you confirm in writing that the profile is free? A provider that charges a management fee must tell new clients in writing, before it starts, that Business Profile costs nothing extra, and must show its fee on invoices. Google also advises owners to get an agreement that lists the services and their costs.
3. Will you ask before replying to reviews? Google requires explicit approval, and verbal consent isn't enough.
4. Can I leave easily? Within 7 business days of your notice, the provider must hand back exclusive control.

Walk away from anyone who guarantees top placement, claims to be Google, threatens that you will lose your profile or holds a profile hostage for money. Google's policies prohibit all four.

Calls that claim to be from Google#

Google does use automated calls, texts and WhatsApp messages to confirm business details, but it never asks for payment, card details or passwords, and a caller asking for money to keep you on Google is not Google. Its official WhatsApp account shows a blue tick and the name Google Maps, sometimes followed by the country name. If someone pretends to be Google, hang up without pressing any buttons. In India, report fraud calls and messages within 30 days on Chakshu, the Department of Telecommunications' reporting service, and if you have lost money, call 1930 or use cybercrime.gov.in.

Why profiles get suspended, and how to appeal#

Google can suspend profiles that don't follow its guidelines, and a restriction on your Google Account suspends every profile it manages. These breaches of the guidelines put a profile at risk:

To appeal, use Google's appeals tool and attach the kinds of evidence Google lists: business registration, a business licence, tax certificates or utility bills, with the name and address matching the profile. In India that might be a GST registration certificate, a trade licence or an electricity bill in the business name (Google names electricity bills; the other two are our examples). Submit the evidence form within 60 minutes of opening it, and don't create a new profile while the appeal is under review.

Where to start this week#

1. Search Maps for your business and check whether a listing exists and whether someone has already claimed it.
2. Decide on the primary owner and the business type.
3. Claim or create the profile with your signboard name, the most specific category and a local number.
4. Verify, and leave the name, address and category alone until it finishes.
5. Fill in hours, description, services, photos and a tagged website link, then print a review QR code for the counter.

Step 1 takes one search, so start there today. If you find a listing you can't get into, or two listings for one business, send us the Maps link and ask what we would do. We set up and manage profiles for businesses across India.