77 Media · Guides · Google Business Profile setup
How to set up a Google Business Profile that shows up on the map.
The listing that appears on Google Maps and in the map at the top of a local search. Here are the steps in the order we do them for clients.
Claim your business on Google
Go to business.google.com and sign in with a Google account the business will keep, not a staff member's personal one. Search for your business name. If a listing already exists, claim it; if not, add it.
Choose whether customers come to you or you go to them. If you work from home or travel to jobs, hide the address and list the towns you serve instead.
Verify that the business is yours
Google picks the method: a video recording, a phone call or text, an email, or a live video call. Until you pass, your listing and your edits may not show. Video is the most common for new listings, so it has its own section below.
Choose the right category
The primary category matters more than any other setting in the profile. Whitespark's 2026 Local Search Ranking Factors survey of 47 experts ranks it among the top factors for the map. Pick the most specific one that is true, "Plumber" rather than "Contractor", then add secondary categories for the other things you do.
Add your services and hours
Add each service you sell with a one-line description and, where you can, a price. Set your opening hours and holiday hours. Wrong hours are the fastest way to lose a customer who drove over.
Add real photos
Your logo, a cover photo, the outside of your place so people can find the door, the inside, your team and your work. Use real photos, not stock, and add new ones every month.
Ask for reviews and answer every one
Copy the review link from your profile, put it on a QR code at the counter, and send it after each job. Reply to every review, good or bad, within a few days.
Never pay for reviews or offer anything in return: Google's rules forbid it, and the FTC rule on fake reviews (in force since October 2024) can fine a business for buying them.
Post every week
Profile posts show news, offers and events on your listing. A short post with a real photo once a week tells Google and your customers that the business is open and active.
What verification by video looks like
- Show where you are
One continuous recording, no cuts. Start with the street sign or the outside of the building.
- Show your signs and gear
Your signs or branded items, such as the van, uniforms or the counter.
- Show you run it
Something only the owner or manager can do: unlock the door, open the till or the tool store. Then upload it from the profile. If it is turned down, record again and show more of the place and the signs.
When to get help
Get help when verification keeps failing, the listing is suspended, Google shows two listings for your business, or you have no time to keep it up. Our local SEO plan starts at $349 a month and rebuilds the listing for you.
Read how we rebuilt Lamour Clinic's Google listing so nearby families find the clinic, how a family dental clinic reached the top three on the map in four months, or start with the free marketing audit.
Book a free 30-minute call
Thirty minutes. No slide deck, no pressure. Tell us what is not working and we will tell you what we would do about it, whether you hire us or not. Ready to skip it? Name the plan in the message and we will send the first questions and a start date.
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