Key takeaways
- Primary category, accurate details and regular reviews have the biggest effect on local results.
- Use your real business name. Adding keywords to it breaks Google’s guidelines.
- Track calls, directions and website clicks in the profile’s performance report, and review them monthly.
Google Business Profile (formerly Google My Business) controls how your business appears in Google Search and Maps. A complete, accurate profile helps you appear for local searches and helps people choose you once they see you. Here are twelve settings to review, with the most important first.
1. Claim and verify your profile
If you have not claimed your listing, search for your business on Google Maps and follow the prompts. Verify it by the method Google offers. An unverified profile has limited features and is easy for others to hijack.
2. Use your real business name
Use the name your customers see on your sign, invoices and website. Adding keywords or locations to the name, such as “Best Dentist Hyderabad”, violates Google’s guidelines and can lead to suspension.
3. Choose the right primary category
The primary category is one of the strongest signals for what you appear for. Pick the most specific one that describes your main service, then add secondary categories for the others. Look at what your top-ranking competitors use.
4. Set your address or service area
Show your address if customers visit you. If you travel to customers, you can hide your address and list the areas you serve. Do not use a virtual office or a false address, which Google treats as spam.
5. Add your phone number and website
Use a local number that your team answers and match it to your website. Link to the most relevant page, which may be a location page and not your homepage. Add a tracking tag to the link, such as utm_source=google and utm_medium=gbp, so GA4 shows what the profile brings.
6. Keep hours accurate, including holidays
Set regular hours and update special hours before holidays and festivals. Wrong hours send customers to a closed door and reviews follow.
7. List your services and products
Add every service you offer with a short, plain description. Add products if you sell them. These feed into what you appear for.
8. Write a clear business description
You have up to 750 characters. Say what you do, who you serve and what makes you different, in plain language. Do not include links or promotional offers in the description.
9. Fill in the attributes
Attributes such as wheelchair access, online appointments, Wi-Fi, outdoor seating or women-led can help the right customers pick you. Only select ones that are true.
10. Add photos and keep adding them
Upload your logo, a cover image, photos of the outside, inside, team and your work. Real photos beat stock images. Add new ones regularly, because customers and Google both notice fresh activity.
11. Ask for reviews and reply to every one
Reviews influence both rankings and decisions. Make it easy: send a direct review link or QR code after a good experience. Reply to every review, thanking positive reviewers and answering negative ones calmly and specifically. Never buy, fake or trade reviews.
12. Post updates and use messaging or booking links
Share offers, events and news through profile updates. Add a booking or enquiry link if you take appointments, and turn on messaging only if someone will answer quickly.
Mistakes that can cost you
- Keyword stuffing in the business name.
- Duplicate listings for the same location, which split reviews and confuse customers.
- Using a virtual office or shared address that does not match where you work.
- Buying reviews, or asking staff and family to post them.
- Letting reviews go unanswered for months.
How to measure it
Open the performance section of your profile to see searches, calls, direction requests, messages and website clicks. Write the numbers down monthly. After changes, compare them with the month before. For a fuller picture, add the tagged link from step 5 so GA4 shows the enquiries that followed.
If you would rather have us manage it, see our Local SEO service. For why consistency matters beyond Google, read What is AI SEO?