Step 01
Start with eligibility, ownership and one source of truth.
Optimisation is wasted if the profile represents the wrong entity, uses an ineligible address or can be controlled only by a former employee.
Confirm eligibility
A Business Profile is for an eligible business that meets customers in person at a stated location or travels to them. Online-only brands and lead-generation listings are not eligible.
Use a business-owned account
Keep the business as primary owner, add named managers with the access they need and record recovery details somewhere the company controls.
Avoid duplicate profiles
Search the business name, phone number and address before creating anything. Request access to the established profile instead of making another listing.
Handle a home address honestly
A genuine service-area business can hide its address when customers are not served there. A virtual office or borrowed address should not be used to manufacture a location.
Working checklist
- The legal owner and day-to-day manager can both access the profile.
- The displayed name matches real signage, branding and customer-facing material.
- There is only one profile for this business at this location unless Google's practitioner or department rules genuinely apply.
- The location or service area reflects how the business actually serves customers.
Step 02
Complete the fields that remove uncertainty for a customer.
Completeness helps Google understand the business, but its more immediate value is answering the questions that otherwise stop a call, visit or enquiry.
| Field | What good looks like | Common mistake |
|---|---|---|
| Primary category | The most specific category that completes ‘this business is a…’ | Choosing a broad category or adding unrelated categories for reach |
| Name | The name customers see in the real world | Adding suburbs, services or claims that are not part of the business name |
| Address / service area | An accurate customer-facing location or realistic service area | Showing a home address where customers are not received |
| Hours | Regular hours plus accurate holiday and special hours | Leaving temporary changes until customers find a locked door |
| Phone and website | Direct, monitored routes to the business | Sending visitors to a generic homepage or an unmonitored number |
| Description | A plain-language summary of customers, services and differentiators | Promotional clutter, links or a list of repeated place names |
Do not rename the business for SEO
Google's guidelines require the profile name to reflect the business's real-world name. Put service, location and offer detail in the fields designed for it.
Step 03
Add proof and make the next action obvious.
A customer may discover the business on Maps, but they still need enough confidence to call, book, request a quote or visit.
Services and products
Describe the real services people can buy, using language a customer understands. Keep prices and availability current when they are shown.
Representative photos
Use recent, well-lit images of the team, work, products, premises or service process. Stock imagery does not help someone recognise the real business.
A matching landing page
Link to the most useful service or location page, not automatically to the homepage. The page should repeat the promise, proof and contact path accurately.
Trackable actions
Use campaign parameters on the website link and record calls, forms, bookings or purchases in analytics or a CRM. Tracking should respect consent and privacy obligations.
Step 04
Build a review process that is genuine and repeatable.
Reviews can help a prospective customer understand the experience, and Google says review count and positive ratings can contribute to prominence. The goal is representative feedback, not a perfect-looking score.
Working checklist
- Create and test the official review link on both phone and desktop.
- Ask real customers at a natural point after delivery, without rewards or pressure.
- Do not ask only happy customers while diverting unhappy customers elsewhere.
- Reply to useful positive and critical reviews in a calm, specific and privacy-safe way.
- Escalate suspicious reviews through Google's reporting process rather than arguing publicly.
- Review recurring feedback with the operating team; the profile can reveal service problems as well as marketing opportunities.
Step 05
Make the website confirm what the profile claims.
The profile is a discovery surface. The website is where the business can explain scope, locations, evidence, limitations and the next step in enough detail to earn an enquiry.
Service clarity
Create useful pages for genuinely different services or customer decisions. Do not create thin suburb pages that change only a place name.
Consistent business facts
Keep the name, phone, hours, service area and offer consistent across the site, profile and important directories.
Local evidence
Show real project context, service coverage, delivery constraints, team knowledge or customer guidance that could only come from this business.
Visible structured information
Use structured data only when it accurately describes content people can also see. Markup cannot replace a clear page or guarantee a search result feature.
A profile and a website do different jobs
The profile helps someone find and compare you quickly. The website should answer the detailed questions that make a qualified customer comfortable taking the next step.
Step 06
Use a small maintenance rhythm instead of sporadic ‘optimisation’.
Local visibility is affected by real-world changes, competition and customer location. A monthly operating habit is more defensible than chasing a single map-grid screenshot.
| Weekly | Monthly | Quarterly |
|---|---|---|
| Check messages, edits and urgent hour changes | Review enquiries, calls, direction requests and website conversions | Reconfirm categories, services, ownership and access |
| Respond to new reviews | Add a small set of recent, representative photos | Compare service pages with what customers are actually asking |
| Fix rejected or inaccurate changes | Record which leads became qualified opportunities | Review privacy, tracking and consent setup |