When someone searches "hairdresser Novi Sad" or "carpet cleaning Kragujevac", Google shows a map with a few businesses above the regular results. To be one of them you need a Google Business Profile, formerly known as Google My Business. It is free, and you can do most of the work yourself in an afternoon. This guide follows Google's official instructions, step by step.
Before you start: check whether a profile already exists
Open Google Maps and type your business name. One of three things will happen:
- No profile exists. You create a new one, as described below.
- A profile exists, but nobody manages it. Click "Claim this business" and follow the verification steps.
- Someone else already claimed it, for example a former employee or an agency. Through business.google.com/add you can request ownership, and the current owner gets the request and approves it.
Don't create a second profile for the same business. Google allows one profile per business, and duplicates cause problems on Maps.
How to add your business, step by step
1. Open business.google.com/add and sign in with the Google account you will keep using for the business.
2. Business name. Enter the name exactly as the business is known in real life: on the sign, the website, the invoices. Don't add keywords or the city to the name, for example "Carpet cleaning Kragujevac cheapest". Google's rules don't allow it.
3. Category. Pick one main category, as specific as possible. Google recommends as few categories as possible and offers a good test: the category should complete the sentence "This business IS a…", not "This business HAS a…". A hair salon is a hair salon, not "parking" or "wi-fi".
4. Address or service area. If customers come to you, enter the address. If you go to them (tradespeople, repairs, cleaning, delivery), Google asks you not to show the address and to set a service area instead: cities or postal codes, at most 20, no further than about two hours' drive from where the business is based.
5. Phone and website. Enter the same phone number as on your website and add a link to the site. A profile without a link leads nobody beyond the map.
6. Verification. Google chooses the verification method itself, and it can't be changed. The options are a call or text, email, a short video, or a postcard with a code. The postcard code is valid for 30 days. If you submit a video, the review takes up to 5 business days.
Once the profile is live: what to fill in
A profile with only a name and an address works, but poorly. Fill in this too:
- Opening hours, including holidays, so nobody arrives at a closed door.
- Services, each one separately, with a price where you can.
- Photos: the place, the work, the team, before and after. Real photos, not pictures from the internet.
- Description in a couple of sentences: what you do, where and for whom.
- The same details everywhere. Name, address and phone should match on the profile, the website and social media. When they differ, Google doesn't know which one to trust.
Reviews: how to ask for them without breaking the rules
Reviews are one of the signals Google uses to decide whom to show. You may, and should, ask for reviews, but by the rules:
- Allowed: asking every customer for an honest review, for example with a link in a message after the job or a QR code on the receipt.
- Not allowed: giving a discount, gift or any reward for a review.
- Not allowed: asking only happy customers and skipping unhappy ones.
- Not allowed: writing reviews for yourself or buying them.
Google removes such reviews and, for serious violations, can restrict or shut down the profile. Reply to reviews, both good and bad. Short, human and without arguing.
How Google decides whom to show on the map
Google names three main factors:
- Relevance: how well the profile matches what someone searches for. That is why the right category, services and description matter.
- Distance: how far you are from the person searching. You can't influence this.
- Prominence: how well known the business is, for example from the number of reviews and links to your website.
Google also says a better position in local results can't be bought. Ads exist, but they are separate and labelled as ads.
Profile and website work together
The profile brings people to you: the map, the phone, the opening hours. The website answers the rest: what it costs, what the result looks like, why you. It works best when the profile links to the site, and the site has a page for every service and the same details as the profile. Setting up the Google profile is part of every site we make, from the Essentials level up.
Sources
- Google: Add or claim your Business Profile
- Google: Verify your business
- Google: Guidelines for representing your business
- Google: Service areas for service-area businesses
- Google: Tips to improve your local ranking
- Google: Fake engagement and incentivized reviews policy
FAQ
Yes. The profile, the verification and any changes are free.
It depends on the method Google chooses. Calls, texts and email are usually quick. A video is reviewed within 5 business days, and a postcard code is valid for 30 days after it is sent.
No, if customers don't come to you. Then you hide the address and set a service area by cities or postal codes.
Through business.google.com/add you select your profile and send an ownership request. The current owner gets the request and can approve it.
No. Google says a better position in local results can't be bought. Ads are a separate thing and are shown labelled as ads.
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