Most guides to this are written by agencies who would like to manage it for you. This one is written so you do not need anybody, including me. It takes about twenty minutes and it is free.
For a lot of small local businesses this single thing is worth more than a website. I audited 121 independent businesses near the University of Alabama. 27 had a website that answered and 23 had opening hours recorded anywhere a machine could read them. The rest are invisible to the question "are they open right now".
What it is
A Google Business Profile is the panel that appears beside search results with your name, hours, phone, photos, reviews and a map. It is also what puts you in the map section at the top of a "near me" search.
Your business may already have one that Google generated without you. That is why the first step is claiming rather than creating.
Step by step
1. Search your business name first
If a panel appears, look for "Own this business?" or "Claim this business." Start there. Creating a second profile for a business that already has one is the most common way people end up with a duplicate, and duplicates get suppressed.
2. Go to business.google.com
Use an email address you will still control in five years. Not an employee's personal account, not an address at a domain you might drop. This login is the key to the listing and getting it back after losing it is genuinely painful.
3. Category is the field that matters most
Your primary category does more to determine which searches you appear in than anything else on the form. Be specific. "Barber shop" beats "hair salon" if you are a barber. You can add secondary categories afterwards, and you should, but the primary one is the load-bearing choice.
4. Address, and how to hide it
If customers come to you, enter the address and show it.
If you work from home or go to the customer, choose the option that says you deliver goods and services to customers, set a service area, and hide the address. Google supports this explicitly. Otherwise your home address is on a public map, which is a decision you should make deliberately rather than by filling in a form.
5. Hours, including the ones you forget
Regular hours, then special hours for holidays. Wrong hours are worse than no hours: somebody drives over, finds a locked door, and does not come back. Put a reminder in your calendar for the week before every holiday.
6. Verification
Google will verify by postcard, phone, email or video depending on your business type, and the method available to you is decided by Google rather than chosen by you. Video is increasingly common and it means recording a short walkthrough showing your signage, your equipment and your address. Have those visible before you start recording.
A postcard takes about two weeks. Do not create a second listing while you wait.
7. Photos, more than you think
The exterior including your sign, so people recognise the building. The interior. The work itself. Ten real photos taken on a phone beat two professional ones, because the panel rotates them and freshness counts.
8. The description
Say what you do, where, and for whom, in plain sentences. No keyword stuffing: Google does not rank on it and a human reading a keyword-stuffed paragraph concludes something about you that you do not want them concluding.
Then the part that actually moves it: reviews
A listing with no reviews is a weak signal. A listing with recent ones is a strong one, and recency matters as much as the rating.
Ask. Out loud, at the moment somebody says the work was good. That is it.
Reply to reviews. All of them, briefly. A complaint with no reply reads as agreement, and a reply that is not defensive reads better than the complaint does.
Once a month, five minutes
- Are the hours still right, including next month's holiday?
- Any reviews to reply to?
- Add one photo.
- Check the "suggested edits" section. Anybody can suggest a change to your listing, including a competitor, and Google sometimes applies them.
That last one surprises people. Your listing is not entirely yours. Checking it occasionally is how you find out someone marked you permanently closed.
When to get help
Honestly: mostly you do not. This is a form and a verification and a habit.
The cases where a second pair of hands earns its keep are a duplicate listing you cannot merge, a suspension you do not understand, or multiple locations. If you are near the University of Alabama and stuck on one of those, ask me and I will tell you what I would do: elijah@purcell-ventures.com. That is not a sales call, it is an answer.
The rest of the self-check is here.
Common questions
How do I claim my Google Business Profile?
Search your business name first. If a panel appears, look for the option to claim or own the business and start there. Otherwise go to business.google.com. Use an email address you will still control in five years, because that login is the key to the listing and recovering it later is genuinely painful.
How long does Google Business Profile verification take?
It depends on the method. Postcard verification takes roughly two weeks. Phone, email and video verification are faster. Video means recording a short walkthrough showing your signage, your equipment and your address, so have those visible before you start. Do not create a second listing while you are waiting for a postcard.
Can I hide my home address on a Google Business Profile?
Yes, and you should if you work from home. Choose the option saying you deliver goods and services to your customers, set a service area, and hide the address. Google supports this explicitly. Otherwise your home address appears on a public map attached to your business name.
What gets a Google Business Profile suspended?
Three things account for most suspensions: paying for reviews or offering a discount in exchange for one, writing reviews yourself or having staff and family write them, and keyword stuffing the business name field with extra search terms. All three are detectable and the penalty is losing the listing.
Which Google Business Profile category should I choose?
The primary category does more to determine which searches you appear in than any other field on the form, so be specific. Barber shop beats hair salon if you are a barber. Add secondary categories afterwards, but treat the primary one as the load-bearing choice.