Google Business Profile

What is Google Business Profile?

Google Business Profile (GBP) is Google’s free tool for businesses to manage how they appear in Google Search and Google Maps. A profile shows your name, address or service area, phone number, hours, website, categories, photos, products or services, and customer reviews. It was called Google My Business until Google renamed it in November 2021.

A profile is what appears in the local pack, in Google Maps results and in the knowledge panel when someone searches your business name. Customers can call, get directions, visit your website, book or message you from it, depending on your business type and settings. For many local searches, the profile is the first thing people see, before your website.

Anyone can suggest a place on Maps, so your business may already have a profile. To manage it, you claim it and verify that you are the owner. Google decides which verification methods to offer, which can include a postcard, phone, email or a video recording that shows your location, signage and proof of management. Some changes trigger re-verification.

Profiles have to follow Google’s guidelines for representing your business. The main rules: use your real-world business name with no added keywords or locations, list a real address only where you meet customers in person (otherwise set a service area), pick categories that describe what you are, and do not create profiles for businesses that do not have a real presence. Breaking these can lead to edits, suspension or removal.

Why Google Business Profile matters for SEO

For local businesses, the profile is often worth more than the website for search visibility. Google uses profile information to decide which businesses to show for local queries, and the local ranking factors Google names (relevance, distance and prominence) depend heavily on what your profile says and the reviews it collects.

It also drives actions directly. Calls, direction requests and website clicks happen from the profile, often without the person ever seeing a normal search result. Google’s profile performance report shows these interactions.

A neglected profile hurts. Wrong hours, an old phone number or unanswered negative reviews cost customers, and anyone can suggest edits to your profile, which Google may apply if you do not keep it current.

How to optimise your Google Business Profile

1. Claim and verify the profile at business.google.com. Remove duplicates by asking Google to merge or remove them.
2. Use your exact real-world business name. Adding keywords such as “Best Plumber London” breaks Google’s guidelines and risks suspension.
3. Choose the most specific primary category that describes your business, then add only the secondary categories that genuinely apply. See GBP categories.
4. Enter your address if customers visit you, or a service area if you travel to them. Make your NAP match your website and citations.
5. Set accurate regular hours and special hours for holidays.
6. Add services or products with clear descriptions, and a business description that explains what you do in plain language.
7. Upload real photos of your premises, team and work, and keep adding new ones.
8. Ask every customer for a review, reply to reviews, good and bad, and never offer incentives for reviews.
9. Link to the most relevant page of your site, such as the location page for that branch, and add UTM parameters so you can track profile visits in analytics.
10. Check the profile every month for suggested edits from users and Google, and correct anything wrong.