How to Build a Google Business Profile So Local Customers Find You

A Google Business Profile is the free listing that lets a local business appear in Google Search and Google Maps with its name, address, phone number, hours, photos and customer reviews. When someone searches for a place or service nearby, these listings often appear near the front of the results, sometimes before any website. That makes the profile a highly visible piece of marketing that you control, and it costs nothing to set up.

Google has described local ranking as a balance of three things: relevance, distance and prominence. Relevance is how well your profile matches what the person is looking for. Distance is how far you are from the searcher or from the place they named. Prominence is how well known and trusted a business appears to be, which draws on things like reviews and how often the business is mentioned across the web. You cannot change where a customer is standing, but you can influence the other two.

Before you fill anything in, search for your services the way a customer would and look at which businesses appear and how their profiles are set up. That shows you what customers will be comparing you against, and it shows you the words they respond to.

Search for your business and claim the listing if it already exists, or create it if it does not. Google will ask you to verify that you manage the business, and the verification options vary. The profile is meant for businesses that serve customers at a location and for service businesses that travel to customers; service-area businesses can choose to hide their street address. Then complete every section you can:

• Business name: use the name customers know you by, exactly as it appears on your sign and your website. Adding keywords or slogans to the name breaks Google's guidelines and can get a listing suspended.
• Categories: choose the primary category that most accurately describes what you do, then add secondary ones where they genuinely fit.
• Hours: include regular hours, and update them for holidays and special events.
• Description, services and products: explain what you offer in plain words.
• Website link: point to the page that fits what the visitor wants, which is not always the home page.
• Photos: show real images of your location, your work and your products.

Inconsistent details confuse customers and search engines alike. Choose one format for your business name, one address and one main phone number, and use them on your profile, your website, your social channels and every directory where you appear. Small differences add up: an abbreviated street name in one place and a spelled-out one in another, or an old number on a forgotten listing. If you have several physical locations, each one needs its own profile and its own page on your website, with its own details. Combining several locations in one profile leaves customers, and Google, unsure which one is meant.

Reviews are part of how prominence is judged, and they are also what many people read before choosing a business. After a good experience, ask customers to share it on Google, and make it easy by giving them the link to your profile's review form. Ask everyone, not only the people you expect to be happy, and never offer a reward in exchange for a review, because Google's policies prohibit it. Reply to reviews, positive and negative, politely and promptly. Our post on using customer reviews covers how to handle both.

Your profile sends people to your website, so the website should confirm what the profile says. Put your name, address and phone number where visitors expect them, usually on the contact page and in the footer, in the same form used on the profile. Embed a map and give clear directions or a description of the area you serve. Mention the city, neighborhood or region you work in, in natural sentences on the pages that describe each service, so it is plain to anyone, including search engines, where you do business. For an Atlanta-area company, that means naming the places you actually serve rather than a generic list. Use the plain words your customers use; our SEO and keywords explainer shows how to find them.

A profile is often seen on a phone, in a hurry. Someone wants directions, a phone number or a quick check on opening hours. That connects it to the way people use voice search and to what Google calls micro-moments: the quick, specific needs that send people looking for a place nearby. Accurate hours, a working phone number and a clear description turn a quick look into a visit or a call.

A profile is not a one-time job. Check it regularly for outdated hours, a changed phone number, new services, and edits suggested by other people. Add fresh photos when something changes in the business, and respond to new reviews as they arrive. A current profile shows customers that the business is open and paying attention, and it avoids sending anyone to a closed door.

Most profile problems come from a short list of avoidable mistakes:

• Duplicate listings. Search for your business before creating a profile, and resolve any duplicates, because two listings can split reviews and confuse customers.
• The wrong primary category. A category that does not match what you mainly do can keep you out of the searches that matter most to you.
• Stale information. Old hours, a retired phone number or a closed location misdirect customers.
• Old photos. Pictures that no longer look like your business make a visit feel like a surprise, and not always a pleasant one.
• Unanswered reviews. Customers notice when a business replies and when it does not.

Local search rewards businesses that are clear about where they are and who they serve. Kirk Donovan Enterprises was founded in 1984, is based in Covington, Georgia, and serves Atlanta businesses. The guidance above applies whether a business has one location or several. A profile is one piece of a wider local plan that can also include radio, television, outdoor and online advertising, and the agency's local advertising page is a good starting point. Browse the rest of the digital marketing posts for related how-to guides on search, listings and websites.