What is a Google Business Profile?

Where should I start with a Google Business Profile?

Start by searching the business name and city on Google Search and Google Maps. If an existing profile appears, claim it instead of creating a duplicate. If another owner has verified it, use Google's ownership-request path. If no profile appears, create one only when the business meets customers face-to-face at a location or by travelling to them.

After the right profile is identified, check the business name, category, address or service area, hours, phone, website, and customer-facing links. Choose the category Google offers that best describes the business. Google's category guidance says businesses cannot create their own categories, and changing a category can trigger another verification request. The Google Business Profile hub covers the profile's fields and access, while the setup guide gives the longer creation and verification sequence.

Finish by using the verification method Google offers. Google's Business Profile Help guidance says Google uses sources such as user reports and licensed content to update a Business Profile. After verification, the account can make changes on Maps and Search and manage business information.

What is a Google Business Profile made of?

A Google Business Profile combines identity, contact, location, and customer-action fields. The core record includes the name, primary and secondary categories, address or service area, hours, phone, external website, description, services, products, photos, posts, and customer reviews. Some businesses also receive category-dependent links or booking controls.

Google's current Edit your Business Profile guidance says the website field points customers to the business's own website. Some categories may also show links for online orders, reservations, or appointments. Those links are not available in the same way to every business.

Do you have a profile if you never made one?

Possibly. Google's Business Profile Help guidance says Google uses sources such as user reports and licensed content to update a Business Profile. If a profile already appears for the business, claim that profile; create a new one only when no profile exists and the business is eligible.

What does claiming actually do?

Claiming identifies the profile you want to manage; verification is what gives the Google Account management control. Google's Business Profile Help guidance says that after verification, you can make changes on Maps and Search and manage the business information. Until verification is complete, do not treat the account as having verified management access.

Who is eligible to have one?

A Business Profile is for a business that interacts with customers face-to-face during operating hours. That can mean a storefront customers visit or a service-area business that travels to customers. Google's current About Google Business Profile & brand profile guidance separates that record from a brand profile, which is for businesses that sell products online. A business with both a physical store and an e-commerce store can be eligible for both, but only select e-commerce retailers can claim and manage brand profiles. The person who sets up a Business Profile must be the owner or an authorised representative and needs a Google Account of their own.

Is it the same thing as Google My Business?

Same object, older name. Google's current Business Profile Help guidance describes managing the profile on Search and Maps.

What is the profile not?

It is not a replacement for the business's own website. Google lets a business add an external website link to the profile. A January 8, 2024 Google Business Profile Help Community Product Expert response said websites made with Google Business Profiles would redirect to the profile from March 1, 2024 and be unavailable after June 10, 2024. That is a dated community record, not a current official Help rule. The business should keep its own website and link to it from the profile.

Why does the profile matter more than it looks?

Google's Business Profile Help guidance says a verified profile helps customers find a business on Maps and Search. It also lists maintaining business information, publishing photos and videos, collecting and responding to reviews, and directing customers to a website or booking link as profile uses. That makes accurate profile information useful to customers without turning the profile into a promise of a particular ranking or recommendation.

What breaks a profile?

Inaccurate representation can cause problems. Google's Guidelines for representing your business on Google say a profile should reflect the business accurately and help avoid common problems, including changes to information and, in some cases, removal of business information. Google's Business Profile Help guidance also says it uses sources such as user reports and licensed content to update a profile.

What features are still available on a Google Business Profile?

Google's current category, booking, website, and messaging guidance describes a profile as a set of features whose availability depends on the business category, country, account, and provider relationship.

Google's Set up bookings through a provider guidance also says restaurant waitlists are a separate limited feature that requires a third-party Reserve with Google provider. The available controls can therefore differ even between businesses that both use Business Profiles.