How to Optimise Your Google Business Profile

Google Business Profile optimisation means filling in every relevant field of your free Google listing accurately and completely, so Google can match you to more local searches and people choose you once they see you. The fields that matter most are your name, categories, address or service area, hours, services, description, photos, posts and reviews.

This guide goes through each field in the order you meet them: what to put in it, what Google’s rules allow, and the mistakes I see most often.

If you want the wider picture of local SEO, including citations, your website and links, start with my local SEO checklist and come back here for the detail.

Why optimising your profile matters

Google says local results are based mainly on relevance, distance and prominence. A complete profile helps with relevance, because Google has more information to match against a search. Reviews and replies help with prominence.

There is a second reason. Your profile is often the first thing a customer sees, and they make a decision from it: call, get directions, visit the website or move on to the next business. A half-finished profile loses those people even when it ranks. If you are still deciding whether local search is worth your time, my piece on the benefits of local SEO covers that.

Before you start: claim, verify and check eligibility

Claim your profile at business.google.com and verify it. Google decides which verification method you are offered (video, phone or text, email, or postcard), and you cannot simply pick one. Some features, such as replying to reviews, only work once you are verified.

Check you are eligible too. Google’s guidelines for representing your business say a business needs either a location customers can visit or must travel to customers. Virtual offices are not eligible, and you should have only one profile per business location.

Business name

Use your real-world name, exactly as it appears on your signage, website and stationery. The guidelines rule out marketing taglines, service descriptions, locations, phone numbers and words in capitals that are not part of the name.

Adding keywords to the name is the most common shortcut people take, and the guidelines warn that it can get a profile suspended. If your real name has no keywords in it, that is fine. Categories, services and your description are where relevance comes from.

Categories

You choose one primary category and can add secondary ones. The primary category matters most, because it tells Google what your business is, so make it the most specific one that describes your main business.

Google’s guidelines suggest a simple test: “this business IS a…”, not “this business HAS a…”. A dental practice that offers teeth whitening is a dentist; it is not a teeth whitening service. Google also adds broader categories automatically, so you do not need to add “Contractor” if you have chosen “Roofing contractor”.

• Pick the primary category that matches what most of your revenue comes from.
• Add secondary categories only for things you genuinely are, not things you sometimes do.
• Check what categories the top local competitors use; you can see their primary category on their profile.
• Revisit your categories whenever your main services change.

Address or service area

If customers come to you, show your full address with any unit number on the second line. If you travel to customers and do not serve them at your premises, the guidelines say to hide your address and set a service area instead. A hybrid business, such as a garage that also offers roadside recovery, can show its address and set a service area.

Keep the service area realistic. Google’s guidelines for representing your business say it should generally not extend beyond about 2 hours of driving time from where you are based. Adding every town in the country does not make you rank in all of them.

Phone number and website

Use a local phone number you control directly, rather than a central call centre number, where you can. You can add extra numbers to the profile if you need them. Answer the number you list: missed calls from your profile are missed jobs.

For the website field, link to the page that best matches the listing. A single-location business can use its homepage. A business with branches should link each profile to that branch’s own page. Add UTM tracking parameters to the link so you can see profile visits separately in your analytics. Then make sure that page does its job, using the basics in my on-page SEO checklist.

Opening hours

Enter the hours customers can actually reach you. Then use special hours for bank holidays, closures and one-off changes, so people do not turn up to a locked door.

Some businesses can also add “more hours” for specific services, such as delivery or takeaway. Use them if they apply. They help customers and cost nothing.

Business description

The description field allows up to 750 characters, according to Google’s help page on editing your Business Profile. Use it to say what you do, who you do it for, where you work and what makes you different. Mention how long you have been trading if it helps.

Google’s rules say no links or HTML, and the focus should be the business, not offers or prices. Write it for a person reading on a phone. A natural mention of your main services and area is fine; a list of keywords is not.

Services, products and attributes

Services let you list exactly what you offer, with a short description for each. Add every service you want to be found for, using the words customers use rather than internal jargon.

Products work in a similar way for businesses that sell physical items. Attributes describe features like wheelchair access, free Wi-Fi or outdoor seating. Fill in the factual ones you are offered. Google notes that some features, including services and in-store products, are only available to some businesses or countries, so you may not see every option.

Photos and videos

Add a logo, a cover photo, the outside of your premises (so people recognise it when they arrive), the inside, your team and examples of your work. Photos of real jobs and real people build more trust than stock images, and Google’s media rules ask for photos that are in focus, well lit and not heavily filtered.

Those figures come from Google’s help page on adding photos and videos to your Business Profile, which also says uploads can take 24 to 48 hours to appear. Add new photos as your work, premises or team change.

Posts

Posts let you share updates, offers and events directly on your profile. Use them for things a customer would care about: a new service, seasonal hours, a recent project, an offer with clear terms. Google’s help page on Business Profile posts says posts older than 6 months are archived unless they have a date range, and that posts with an unverifiable phone number in the text may be rejected.

There is no rule on how often to post. A regular rhythm keeps the profile looking active, but one useful post a month beats four empty ones.

Questions and answers

Where it is available, Q&A lets people ask questions on your profile and see the answers publicly. Google’s editing help page says Q&A is only available for select categories and regions, so you may not see it at all.

If you do have it, check it regularly and answer questions yourself, quickly and accurately, so the public answer is the right one. If customers ask you the same questions by phone, make sure the answers are also on your website and in your description.

Reviews

Reviews feed prominence, and they are often what decides between you and the next business in the list. Google lets you create a review link and QR code from your profile to share with customers.

• Ask every customer, at the point they are happiest, using the review link.
• Never offer discounts or gifts for reviews. Google’s policies treat incentivised reviews as fake engagement.
• Reply to every review with something specific, not the same line each time.
• Handle negative reviews calmly, acknowledge the problem and offer to talk offline.

Keep the profile accurate over time

Your profile is not a one-off job. Customers can suggest edits, and Google can update your details from other sources, so check your profile and notifications regularly and reject any change that is wrong.

Review it properly every few months: hours, services, photos, categories and the website link. Any time something changes in the business (a new number, a move, a new service), update the profile first and then the rest of your listings.

Common mistakes to avoid

• Keywords or a town name added to the business name.
• A broad primary category when a specific one exists.
• A home address shown publicly when customers never visit it.
• A service area covering half the country.
• No special hours, so the profile says “open” on bank holidays.
• Stock photos, or no photos at all.
• Reviews left unanswered for months.

FAQs

Is a Google Business Profile free?

Yes. Google states that creating a Business Profile and listing your business on Google is free, and there is no way to pay for a better local ranking. You pay only if you choose to run Google Ads alongside it, which is a separate product. Be careful of anyone who calls claiming you must pay to keep your listing live.

How often should I post on my Google Business Profile?

Google does not set a required frequency. Post when you have something useful to share, such as a new service, an offer, an event or a recent project. Quality matters more than frequency, so skip the filler posts. A short post with a real photo of recent work tells a customer far more than a generic weekly update.

Why is my business not showing on Google Maps?

The common reasons are that the profile is not verified yet, it is suspended, the details break Google’s guidelines, or you are simply outranked for that search from that location. Check the profile status first. Then compare your primary category, reviews and completeness with the businesses that do appear when you search from the area.

Does keyword stuffing the business name still work?

It can appear to work for a while, which is why people keep doing it. It breaks Google’s guidelines, competitors can suggest an edit to remove it, and Google’s guidelines say it can lead to your profile being suspended. The safer route is the right primary category, complete services and genuine reviews.

Want your profile reviewed by someone who does this daily?

A well-optimised profile is one of the cheapest wins in local search, but the details trip people up. If you would like your profile checked and fixed alongside your listings and website, take a look at my Google Business Profile services.