How to get your business on Google Maps.

Before you start

Word to the wiseGoogle Maps listings come from Google Business Profiles. It’s free. Search for your business on Google Maps first: if a listing already exists, claim it rather than creating a new one. One business, one profile.

Have these ready:

• Your business name, exactly as it appears on your signs, vans and paperwork.
• Your address, or the areas you serve if customers don’t come to you.
• Your phone number and website address.
• Your opening hours.
• A few good photos, including your logo.

Step by step

1. Create or claim your profile. Go to business.google.com/add to create one. To claim an existing listing, find it on Google Maps and choose “Claim this business”, then “Manage now”. Source: Google.
2. Enter your business name, exactly. Use your real-world name only. Don’t add keywords, locations, taglines, phone numbers or opening hours to it. Google can suspend profiles that do. “Smith Electrical” is right. “Smith Electrical | Best Electrician Widnes” isn’t. Source: Google.
3. Choose your primary category. Pick the most specific one that describes what your business is, not everything it does. Add a small number of extra categories only if they’re genuinely separate parts of your business. Source: Google.
4. Add your address or service areas. If customers visit you, add your address. If you go to them, remove the address and set service areas instead. You can add up to 20, and Google suggests keeping the overall area within about two hours’ drive of your base. Source: Google.
5. Add your phone number and website. Use a number that’s answered, and link to the most relevant page of your website.
6. Verify. Google will ask you to prove the business is real and that you manage it. More on this below.

Verification

Google offers several methods: phone or SMS, email, a live video call, a video recording, or a postcard, which normally arrives within 14 days. Google decides which methods you’re offered, you can’t change them, and you may need to complete more than one. When video is available, Google recommends it. Source: Google.

If you’re asked for a video recording, it must be at least 30 seconds long and unedited. It needs to show where you are, that the business exists, and that you manage it. A service-area business can show things like tools, work vehicles or business paperwork such as an invoice or utility bill. Source: Google.

Complete your profile

A complete profile gives Google, and the people searching, more reasons to choose you.

• Opening hours. Keep regular hours, holiday hours and any “more hours” (like delivery or appointment times) up to date. Wrong hours lose customers fast. Source: Google.
• Photos. Add your logo, a cover photo and real photos of your premises, team and work. JPG or PNG, between 10 KB and 5 MB, ideally 720 × 720 pixels or more, in focus and well lit, without heavy filters. Source: Google.
• Description and services. Say plainly what you do and who for, and list your main services.
• Website link. Make sure the page you link to loads fast on a phone and makes it easy to get in touch.

Reviews: what you can and can’t do

Reviews are the closest thing to word of mouth on Google. Google’s rules are clear:

• You can ask customers for honest reviews.
• You can’t offer anything in return, like payment, discounts or freebies.
• You can’t only ask customers you think are happy, or discourage negative reviews. This is known as review gating.
• You can’t pressure customers to leave a review while they’re on your premises.
• You can’t review your own business, or have staff or relatives do it for you.

Source: Google Maps user contributed content policy.

Reply to reviews, good and bad. Your profile must be verified first. Replies appear under your business name, the reviewer is notified, and replies are checked before they appear, which usually takes a few minutes but can take longer. Source: Google.

Posts

You can publish updates, offers and events on your profile. Posts older than six months are archived unless they have a date range, so little and often works best. Source: Google.

Keep your details consistent everywhere

Your business name, address and phone number should be written exactly the same way on your website, your Google Business Profile, social media and directories. When they don’t match, customers get confused and Google has less confidence in which details are right. If you’ve moved or changed number, update everything, including old directory listings.

Mistakes that hold profiles back

• Stuffing keywords or town names into the business name.
• Choosing a vague primary category, or ticking every category going.
• Creating a second profile instead of claiming the one that exists.
• Showing an address where you don’t actually serve customers.
• Out-of-date opening hours, especially over bank holidays.
• Offering discounts or prizes for reviews.
• Ignoring reviews, especially negative ones.

Getting help

Setting up and looking after Google Business Profiles is part of our local SEO work. If yours needs sorting, or you’re not sure why you’re not showing up, get in touch and we’ll take a look.