How to Get a Google Business Profile: 7-Step Setup Guide

Here’s how to get a Google Business Profile: go to business.google.com/add, sign in with a Google account and click Add your business to Google. Enter your real business name, the most specific category that fits, your address or service area, phone and website. Then verify. It’s required. Google picks your options, like a phone or text code, email, video or a mailed postcard, and its review can take up to 5 business days.

That’s the whole path. The rest of this guide covers where people get stuck: the rules that get a profile rejected or suspended, and what Google actually asks for during verification.

What is a Google Business Profile, and does it cost anything?

It’s the free listing that puts your business on Google Search and Google Maps, with your hours, phone number, photos and reviews. It’s separate from Google Ads, which you pay for. And nobody can sell you a better spot on the map. Google says outright that you can’t request or pay for a better local ranking.

So what decides who shows up? Google ranks local results mainly on relevance, distance and prominence. Your review count and rating feed into prominence, according to Google’s local ranking page. You can’t move your shop closer to the searcher. You can make your profile complete and well reviewed.

Customers care about those reviews. In BrightLocal’s 2026 survey, the share using Google for reviews dropped from 83% in 2025 to 71%. That’s still a clear majority of review readers.

What should you check before you start?

Search Google Maps for your business first. A profile might already be sitting there. If it’s unverified, click Claim this business, then Manage now. If someone else already verified it, request ownership from the current owner instead of making a new one. Google allows only one profile per location, so a duplicate just leaves you a mess to clean up later.

Then check Google’s rules for names, addresses and phones. Some of these mistakes can get a profile suspended. Five minutes up front is cheap.

The before-you-click checklist

Every line should be a yes before you start.

• You searched Google Maps for an existing or duplicate profile of your business (Google: add or claim).
• Your business name matches your sign. No keywords, city name or phone number tacked on, because extra information in the name isn’t permitted and can lead to suspension (Google: guidelines).
• Your address is a real place where you work. Not a P.O. box, remote mailbox or virtual office (Google: guidelines).
• If customers don’t come to you, the address is hidden, you’ve listed 20 or fewer service areas, and the whole area sits within about 2 hours’ drive of your base (Google: service areas).
• The phone number is under the business’s direct control and doesn’t redirect anywhere else (Google: guidelines). It also isn’t an automated phone menu, which can’t receive a verification code (Google: verification).
• You’ve picked the most specific primary category that fits (Google: categories).
• You’re ready for video verification: your phone, your sign or street, your tools or products, and something showing you manage the business, for a live, unedited clip of at least 30 seconds (Google: video verification).
• A description under 750 characters is drafted, with the key information in the first ~250, no links and no prices (BrightLocal, Google: guidelines).
• Your listed hours are the real hours customers can reach you. Live video call verification only happens during those hours (Google: verification).

How do you set up a Google Business Profile, step by step?

Step 1: Sign in with an account the business owns

Go to business.google.com/add and click Add your business to Google. Use a Google account that belongs to the business, not an employee’s personal Gmail. People move on. Your profile shouldn’t leave with them.

Step 2: Enter your real business name

Type it exactly as it appears on your sign, your truck or your invoices. Google requires the name to match the real-world name, and adding unnecessary information can lead to suspension. Stuffing “Missoula” or “best plumber” into the name is tempting. Skip it.

Step 3: Choose the most specific category

Google’s own example is Nail salon rather than Salon. You can’t invent a category, and Google says to keep extra categories to a few. Pick the one that describes your main business. Stop there.

Step 4: Pick a storefront address or a service area

If customers come to you, enter your address. If you go to them, like a plumber or a mobile dog groomer, remove the address and list service areas instead. Google allows up to 20 service areas, and the whole area should stay within about 2 hours’ driving time of your base. Montana is big, so name the towns you actually reach. Listing the whole state isn’t the move.

Step 5: Add your phone number and website

Use a number the business controls. Google prohibits numbers or URLs that redirect people elsewhere. If your main line runs through an automated menu, it can’t receive the verification code. Use a direct line or a mobile number.

Step 6: Verify

It’s required, and it’s where most of the confusion lives. Next section.

Step 7: Finish the profile

Add your hours, description, photos and services. Fill in every field you can. Run a rafting outfit or a ski shop that shuts down part of the year? Mark the profile temporarily closed for the off-season instead of leaving wrong hours up.

Which verification method will you get, and how long does it take?

Google chooses, not you. The possible methods are phone or text, email, live video call, video recording and mail, and you’ll only see the ones Google offers your listing. Don’t count on the postcard. It’s one of five.

Video recording has strict rules. The clip must be captured live, unedited, with no breaks, at least 30 seconds long, and recorded and uploaded from a phone. It works for storefront, service-area and hybrid businesses. Plan the shot before you hit record. Start with your sign or the street outside, move to your tools, inventory or work area, then show something that proves you run the place.

A live video call is the real-time version. It’s only available during your listed business hours, and you’ll need to show the location, your equipment and proof that you manage the business.

The postcard is the slow one. Most codes arrive within 14 days and expire after 30. While you wait, don’t request a new code, because that kills the old one. Don’t edit your name, address or category either. That also breaks the code.

If your website is already verified in Google Search Console, verification through it can be instant.

How do you write a Google Business Profile description?

You get 750 characters, and only about the first 250 show before the text is cut off. Lead with what matters.

Google wants the description to cover your products, services, mission and history. Don’t focus on promotions, prices or sales, and no links of any type are allowed. Gimmicky characters don’t help either.

Build it in four parts:

1. What you do and where you do it.
2. Who you serve.
3. What sets you apart. Only true facts a customer could check.
4. A plain call to action, like “Call to book.”

Here’s a sample for a made-up heating company. It’s a hypothetical, not a Mayfly client, and the brackets are yours to fill in:

[Business Name] repairs and installs furnaces, boilers and heat pumps for homes in Missoula, Lolo and Frenchtown. We work with homeowners and landlords who need their heat back fast once the cold sets in. Our technicians are licensed in Montana, and we’ve been family-owned since [year]. Call to book a service visit or to ask about replacing an older furnace.

That’s well under 750 characters, and the first sentence alone tells a searcher what and where. Save a copy somewhere outside Google so you’re never retyping it from memory.

What should you do in the first 30 days after verifying?

Get reviews moving, and answer them. BrightLocal’s 2026 survey found 74% of consumers look for reviews from the last three months, and 80% are more likely to use a business that responds to all its reviews. A pile of five-star reviews from 2022 won’t carry you. Ask happy customers every week. Write replies in your own words instead of pasting the same line every time.

Check your hours again. Add real photos of your storefront, your work or your crew. Then look at where the profile sends people. Your website should load fast and show the same name, phone and hours as your listing. If it doesn’t, that’s your next fix, and it’s what our website design service is for. Our post on showing up in Montana near-me searches covers how the profile and site work together.

We wrote about how Montana businesses can show up in AI search if you want the next layer.

Should you do it yourself or have someone set it up?

Most owners can do this themselves with the checklist above. Doing it yourself costs $0 in fees. The hard part is patience, not skill.

Pay someone if you’d rather spend the time on your business, or if your listing is tangled up in a duplicate or an ownership request. Here’s how the options compare:

If your website needs work too, our website plans start at $59/month or $599/year. Everything is on the pricing page.

Want us to handle the setup? Get in touch and we’ll talk through your listing.