How do you create a Google Business Profile?

Who qualifies for a Google Business Profile?

A business qualifies when it meets customers in person, either at a location they can visit or by travelling to them as a service-area business. Google's eligibility guidance excludes an online-only operation for that reason. The person creating the profile needs a Google Account and must be the owner or an authorised representative of the real business, not a contractor acting anonymously.

How do I check whether my business already has a profile?

Search the exact business name and city in both Google Search and Google Maps before creating anything. No result points to the add path. An unverified listing points to the claim path. A verified listing under someone else's control points to an ownership request. The free Maps Agent Visibility Score audit reads whatever public profile Google already shows, which answers the same question from the outside.

How do I create a new Google Business Profile?

Use Google's own add flow only once the check above finds nothing. Enter the real business name, the primary category, the location model, contact details and hours, then pick from the verification methods Google offers that profile. Google Business Profile Help states plainly that a business can be added or claimed at no charge, and creating one buys no particular position.

What if an unclaimed profile already exists for my business?

Claim it rather than adding a second one. Google's representation guidelines are explicit: "There should only be one profile per business, as this can cause problems with how your information displays on Google Maps and Search." Open the listing in Google Maps, choose the claim option, confirm that its details describe the same real operation, and continue into verification from there.

How do I request access when someone else owns the profile?

Use Google's ownership-request process, which notifies the current manager and gives them 3 days to respond. Google's guidance says that where no response arrives, the requester may then have the option to claim the profile — may, not will. Creating a replacement listing to route around a slow response produces the duplicate the guidelines forbid, and the duplicate is the harder problem.

Can you create a Google Business Profile without an address?

A service-area business can, and in Google's guidance it should: "If you're a service-area business, you should hide your business address from customers." Google's own example is a plumber working from a residential address. The address is still entered during setup so Google can establish where the business operates; hiding it controls what a customer sees, not what Google knows.

Which primary category should you choose?

Choose the fewest categories that describe the core business, which is Google's own instruction rather than a preference. The primary category says what the business is, not what it sells this month and not which phrase somebody wants to rank for. A category list padded with services misdescribes the business to the systems that decide which searches it belongs in.

How does verification work after the profile is added?

Google decides which methods a given profile is offered — phone or text, email, live video call, or a mailed postcard — from the business type, its public information, the region and the hours. Its guidance says most mailed codes arrive within 14 days and that verification codes expire after 30 days. Review itself can take up to 5 business days.

Common questions

Can two businesses share one address on Google?

Yes, when they are genuinely separate businesses. Google's guidelines require co-located businesses to hold their own profiles, naming a restaurant inside a hotel as the example. What the guidelines forbid is the same business holding two profiles, in one account or across several, which is a different situation entirely.

What business name should you use?

The name the business is recognised by in the real world, on its signage and its branding — Google's guidelines put it exactly that way. The phone number, the address, the categories and the services each have their own field. Adding a city or a service phrase into the name field is the most common cause of a suspension.

What should you prepare before Google asks you to verify?

The real business name, the primary category, the address or service area, regular hours, a phone number the business controls, and the website. Google may also ask for evidence tied to whichever method it offers. Preparation shortens the corrections; it does not decide which method appears or whether Google approves the profile.

How long does Google Business Profile verification take?

Google states that verification review can take up to 5 business days, and that a mailed code usually arrives within 14 days and expires after 30. Those are the only timings Google publishes, there is no paid queue, and no third party can shorten any of them on a business's behalf.

Does creating a profile make a business appear on Google Maps?

It makes the business eligible to appear. Google describes local placement as relevance, distance and prominence, and a new verified profile affects only the first of those. Anyone promising a map position in exchange for a setup fee is selling something Google does not sell.