How to set up your Google Business Profile

Your Google Business Profile is the free listing that shows up when people search for your business by name, or for what you do nearby. Setting it up accurately and completely is the groundwork for local search, so it is worth doing properly the first time.

If you want the background first, read What is a Google Business Profile and why it matters. Otherwise, follow the steps below.

Before you start

Have these ready so you can fill everything in one sitting:

• Your business name, exactly as it appears on your signage
• Your address, or the areas you serve
• Your main phone number and website
• Your opening hours
• A logo and a handful of real photos

Step 1: Create or claim your profile

Go to google.com/business and sign in with the Google account you want tied to the business. Use a business email if you have one.

Search for your business name. Two things can happen:

1. It already exists. Google sometimes creates a basic listing from public information. If you see it, choose the option to claim or manage it.
2. It does not exist yet. Follow the prompts to create a new profile.

Claiming an existing listing is better than making a duplicate. Duplicates confuse customers and can get flagged.

Step 2: Enter your business name exactly

Type your real trading name, the one on your shopfront, your invoices and your van.

Do not add extra words to try to rank higher. Names like "Joe's Plumbing Sydney Emergency 24/7" break Google's naming rules and can get your listing suspended. Keep it to your actual name. You have other fields to describe what you do and where.

Step 3: Add your address or service area

Now tell Google where you are. This is part of your NAP, which stands for Name, Address and Phone. Keeping your NAP the same everywhere helps Google trust that your business is real.

• You have a shopfront customers visit (cafe, salon, clinic, retail shop): add the full street address.
• You go to your customers (tradies, mobile mechanics, cleaners): set a service area instead. List the suburbs or regions you cover, and hide the street address so your home does not show publicly.

Whatever you enter should match your website and any other listing, letter for letter. "St" in one place and "Street" in another is the kind of small mismatch worth tidying up.

Step 4: Add your phone and website

Enter your main contact number. A local landline is fine, and often looks more established than a mobile, but use whatever number you actually answer.

Add your website address. If you do not have a website yet, you can add it later. Again, make sure the phone number matches what is on your site and your other listings.

Step 5: Pick the right categories

Your category tells Google what you do, and it strongly affects which searches you show up in.

• Primary category: the single best description of your main service. A coffee shop picks "Coffee shop", not "Restaurant". A brake specialist picks "Auto repair shop", or something more specific if it fits. This one carries the most weight, so choose carefully.
• Secondary categories: add these for the other services you offer. A cafe that also does catering can add a catering category. Only add ones that genuinely apply.

Be specific rather than broad. A precise category matches you to the right searches.

Step 6: Set your opening hours

Add your regular weekly hours. Then set special hours for public holidays and any other one-off closures.

Keep these accurate and update them when they change. Few things annoy a customer more than driving to a shop that is shut when the profile said open. Wrong hours also chip away at the trust Google places in your listing.

Step 7: Write your description

You get up to 750 characters, and the first couple of lines matter most. Write plainly:

• What you do
• Who you help
• Where you work
• What makes you a good choice

Skip the keyword stuffing, promotional pricing and links. Google does not allow those here, and they read as spam to customers anyway. Write it the way you would explain your business to someone at the counter.

Step 8: Add photos and your logo

Profiles with real photos look active and trustworthy. Add:

• Your logo
• A cover photo
• The outside of your premises, so people recognise it from the street
• Inside shots
• Your team
• Your work, products or menu

Use your own photos, clear and well lit. Avoid stock images. Photos of the actual job, meal or space do far more for a customer deciding whether to call you.

Step 9: Set attributes and services

Attributes are the extra facts that help people choose you. Depending on your type of business, you can flag things like wheelchair access, free wi-fi, on-site parking, accepted payment types, or whether you are family or women owned. Tick the ones that are true.

Services let you list what you offer, with a short description and, if you like, a price for each. A mechanic might list logbook servicing, brakes and tyres. A salon might list cuts, colours and treatments. This helps you appear for those specific searches and answers questions before customers even ask.

Step 10: Fill in every field, then verify

Aim to complete the whole profile, not just the required bits. A complete, accurate listing ranks better and gives customers fewer reasons to click away to a competitor. Half-finished profiles look neglected.

Once your details are in, the final step is verification. Verification is how Google confirms you are the real owner, and it is what makes your profile public and fully editable. Google offers different verification methods depending on your business, so follow How to verify your business on Google to finish the job.

What to do once you are live

With a verified profile in place, you manage everything directly from Google Search and Maps. Keep it working for you:

• How to use your Google Business Profile day to day covers posts, questions and keeping details fresh.
• Why customer reviews matter for your business and Google reviews: best practices for small businesses cover the part that matters most for winning new customers: genuine reviews.

A quick word on reviews before you start collecting them. The safe and honest approach is to ask every customer, make it easy, and ask soon after you have done the work. Do not offer a discount, freebie, prize entry or anything else in return for a review, and never ask only your happy customers. Those shortcuts break Google's rules and Australian Consumer Law, and they can get your reviews removed or your listing penalised.

Once your profile is verified and live, RankByReviews makes the asking part simple. Our tap-and-scan review cards, plates and stickers take a customer straight to your Google review page in one step, so you can invite everyone to leave honest feedback without any awkwardness. Set the profile up first, then let the reviews build on top of it.