Insights · Get found · Google Business Profile
Google Business Profile: the complete guide for service businesses
By Stacey G, Senior SEO and Account Manager
Published · 3 minute read
The short answer
A Google Business Profile is the free listing that shows your business in Google Maps and the local results. To get the most from it, verify it, choose the most specific primary category, list every service, keep your details and hours accurate, add real photos regularly, post weekly, collect and reply to reviews, and track the calls and website visits it sends you.
For many local service businesses, the Google Business Profile brings in more calls than the website. It is often the first thing a new client sees, and the decision to call is made right there. It deserves the same care as your homepage.
What is a Google Business Profile?
It is the free listing Google shows in Maps and in the local map pack when people search for a business or a service near them. It shows your name, location or service area, hours, phone number, reviews, photos and a link to your website.
How do you set one up?
- Create or claim itSearch for your business on Google Maps. If a listing exists, claim it; if not, create one at business.google.com.
- Choose address or service areaShow your address if clients visit you. If you travel to clients, hide the address and set the towns you cover.
- Verify itGoogle will ask you to verify, often by video. Verification is required before most changes go live.
- Add the people who manage itKeep yourself as primary owner and add your team or agency as managers, never the other way round.
How do you optimise it?
| Section | What good looks like |
|---|---|
| Business name | Your real name, with no added keywords or towns |
| Primary category | The most specific one that fits, such as "Conveyancing solicitor" |
| Secondary categories | Your other main services, nothing added just to fill space |
| Services | Every service listed, with a short description in the words clients use |
| Description | What you do, for whom and where, in plain English |
| Hours | Accurate, including bank holiday hours |
| Photos | Real photos of your team, premises and work, added monthly |
| Posts | A weekly update, offer, recent job or answer to a common question |
How do reviews fit in?
Review count, rating and recency all affect how prominent your business is, and they are what searchers compare. Ask every happy client within a day of finishing the work, with a direct link, and reply to every review.
How do you know it is working?
- Check the performance section for calls, direction requests and website clicks.
- Add tracking to your website link, so visits from the profile show in your analytics.
- Track calls from the profile alongside your other enquiries.
About the author
Stacey G, Senior SEO and Account Manager. Stacey leads organic growth: SEO, local SEO, AEO and GEO. She gets clients found and chosen on Google, in Google Maps and in AI answers from ChatGPT and Google.
Meet the team →