What is a Google Business Profile?

What it is

When you search for a nearby plumber, bakery or dentist, Google shows a short list with a map. Each entry in that list is a Business Profile. Google describes it as a tool that helps businesses appear in Search and Maps when people look for places nearby.

Many owners first see it as the panel on the right of the screen, or the card at the top on a phone, when they search for their own name. Everything in it is something a customer reads before deciding to visit or phone.

It is separate from your website. You can have a profile without a website, and a website without a profile. The best case is both, with matching details.

Matching details matter because customers compare. If your website says you close at 5 and your listing says 6, some will trust neither, and some will turn up at the wrong time.

What you can put on it

• Your address or the area you serve
• Opening hours, including holidays
• Your phone number and website link
• Your main category, such as Plumber or Bakery
• Photos of the shop, the work and the team
• Details such as parking or whether you take bookings
• Replies to your customers' reviews

Why it matters

Google says local results depend mainly on three things: how well your profile matches the search, how far you are from the person, and how well known you are, which includes how many reviews you have and how many websites link to yours. You cannot change how far away you are. The other two are within your reach.

A complete, correct profile matches more searches. Steady reviews help with how well known you are, and so do links from other websites. And wrong hours cost you real customers, because someone who drives over to a locked door will not blame Google.

Who owns yours

Google may already have a profile for your business, made from public information, or a past employee may have set one up. Google says you need to verify the business to prove it is yours before you can manage it.

Search for your business name. If a profile appears, look for the option that says you own it. If you cannot get in, the previous owner of the login is usually a former designer or a relative. It can take some patience to claim it, but it is worth doing.

Keeping it right

• Check your hours after every holiday.
• Add new photos every month or two.
• Reply to reviews, good and bad.
• Make sure your name, address and phone number match your website.
• Pick the most accurate main category.

If you want a hand

We set up and tidy profiles as part of showing up on Google, and we can look at yours in a website check-up. To start, get in touch.