A Google Business Profile is genuinely one of the highest value tools available to a local business, and the good news is that it costs nothing to use properly. The trouble is that most businesses either never quite finish setting it up, or set it up once and never touch it again. Here is how to do it properly, step by step.
Claiming or creating your profile
Your first step is finding out whether a profile already exists for your business, since Google often generates a basic listing automatically before you have ever claimed it. According to Google’s own official guidance, you can add or claim your business by visiting business.google.com/add, entering your business details, and selecting a verification option. If a listing already exists and shows as verified by someone else, you can request ownership rather than starting from scratch. Verification itself matters more than it might seem, since Google confirms it exists specifically to prove you are the rightful owner before allowing anyone to manage the profile.
Getting the core details genuinely accurate
Once verified, the real work begins. Google’s own documentation on improving local ranking is refreshingly direct about this. It states plainly that businesses with complete and accurate information are more likely to show up in local search results at all. That means your business name, address, phone number, website, opening hours, and category all need to be correct and kept updated, rather than set once and forgotten. Small inconsistencies, an old phone number, incorrect hours over a bank holiday, a category that no longer matches what you actually do, all quietly undermine your visibility.
Writing your business description properly
Google’s editing guidance sets out some genuinely useful ground rules for your business description. It should focus primarily on details about your business itself, rather than promotions, prices, or sales, and it should not include URLs or HTML code, with a hard limit of 750 characters. It is worth treating this section as a genuine opportunity to explain who you are and what you offer clearly, rather than a box to fill in quickly and move past.
Adding photos and videos properly
Photos matter more than many business owners assume. Google’s own guidance notes that photos and videos help show customers what you offer and tell the story of your business, and specifically points out that adding an exterior photo helps customers recognise your business when they actually arrive. For best results, Google recommends images in JPG or PNG format, between 10KB and 5MB, ideally around 720 pixels tall and wide, in focus, well lit, and without heavy filters or alterations. A profile with genuine, current photos of your premises, team, and work consistently looks more trustworthy than one relying purely on a logo.
Reviews are doing more work than people realise
According to Google’s own ranking guidance, review volume and review quality genuinely factor into how your business ranks locally, alongside things like how many websites link back to you. Beyond the ranking impact, replying to reviews thoughtfully shows customers that you value their feedback, and Google specifically notes that positive reviews paired with helpful responses can help your business stand out. Encouraging happy customers to leave a review, and taking the time to reply properly rather than ignoring feedback, is a genuinely simple habit with outsized impact.
Keeping it active, not just complete
A profile that is complete but static tends to underperform one that shows genuine, ongoing activity. Regularly adding updates, responding to reviews as they come in, and keeping photos current all signal to Google, and to potential customers browsing your profile, that your business is genuinely active and engaged rather than left on autopilot.
Sources referenced:
- Google Business Profile Help, Tips to Improve Your Local Ranking on Google: https://support.google.com/business/answer/7091?hl=en
- Google Business Profile Help, Edit Your Business Profile: https://support.google.com/business/answer/3039617?hl=en
