Photos, videos and your description

Picture two hair salons on the same street in Brisbane, with the same star rating. One profile shows a dark, blurry photo of the shopfront from years ago. The other shows the team, the chairs, and real colour work from last week.

Which one would you book?

In this lesson, you’ll plan the photos your profile needs, learn Google’s rules for photos and videos, and write a description of up to 750 characters that follows them.

Google’s own tips for local ranking include adding photos and videos, to “tell the story of your business”.

Start with two. Your logo, so people recognise you. And a cover photo that best represents your business. Google doesn’t promise to show the cover photo first, so every photo needs to be good.

Then Google suggests at least three photos of each type that fits you. The outside, so customers recognise you when they arrive. The inside, so they know what it’s like. Your team. And your work: a haircut, a finished kitchen, a dish you’re proud of. Shops add products; restaurants add food and drink.

Video works the same way. A short clip, like a walk from your front door to the counter, or a job from start to finish, shows what a photo can’t.

Google’s quality bar is simple: in focus, well lit, and no heavy filters or AI. The photo should “represent reality”. So skip stock photos. They aren’t your business.

And before you post a photo of a customer or a member of staff, ask them. Google’s own policy counts someone’s face as personal information when it’s posted without their consent. Write down who said yes, and when. Page W5 of the workbook has a column for exactly that.

Now the technical bit, so your uploads don’t fail. Photos: JPG or PNG files, between 10 kilobytes and 5 megabytes. Google recommends 720 by 720 pixels. Videos: up to 30 seconds, and up to 75 megabytes.

New photos can take a day or two to appear, and they only show once your profile is verified. Customers can add photos too. You can’t delete theirs, but you can report any that break Google’s rules. Report each one once: repeat requests can slow the review down.

Now your description. It appears in the “From the business” section of your profile, and Google checks changes before they go live.

Google’s rules: up to 750 characters. No web addresses, no links of any kind, and no HTML code. Keep it about the business, not promotions, prices or sales. Google’s content policy goes further: no time-limited offers, prices or direct calls to action in the listing. So “20 percent off this month” or “Call now!” doesn’t belong here. Offers go in posts, which is the next lesson.

What does belong? Google suggests what you offer, what makes you special, and how long you’ve been in business. Describe the business as a whole; your services list covers the details.

Lead with what you do, who for, and where, in plain words. For example: “Family-run electricians serving Phoenix and the East Valley since 2011, for homes and small businesses.” Then add what makes you different. Write it the way you’d explain your business to a new customer on the phone.

Two myths to skip. You may be told to “geotag” your photos, adding location data before you upload them. In Whitespark’s 2026 expert survey, geotagged photos came last: 187th of 187 map factors. And stuffing keywords into your description? Keywords in the description ranked 171st. Write for customers, not for a trick.

Let’s do it. On your profile, choose “Photos”. You’ll see “Add a cover photo” and “Add a logo”. Then use “Add photos” for the rest.

Now the description. Before you paste anything into Google, run it through our free post and description checker. Choose “Business description”, and paste in your draft. It counts the characters, and it flags web addresses, HTML and offer words, like “sale” or “20 percent off”. It runs in your browser, and nothing is sent to us.

Say a dentist’s draft ends with a whitening offer and the practice’s web address. The checker flags both. Take out those two sentences, and it’s clean.

Then, in your profile, choose “Edit profile”, find the description, paste yours in, and save. Keep a copy of your text on page W3, so you never have to write it from scratch again.

Rules check. Photos should represent reality: no stock images, and no heavy filters or AI. Ask before you post a photo of a person. And your description: up to 750 characters, no links, no prices, no promotions and no calls to action. If Google rejects it, check it against these rules, fix it, and save it again.

A tip for trades: a clean van with your name on it, your team at work, and a before-and-after of a real job, with the customer’s permission, tell people more than any stock photo could.

To recap. One: a logo, a cover photo, and at least three real photos of each type that fits you. Two: no stock, no heavy filters, and consent before you show anyone. Three: a description of up to 750 characters, about the business, with no links, prices or offers.

Your task: open page W5 of the workbook, the photo shot list and consent log. Tick the shots you need, and fill in the consent column as you take them. Upload five real photos this week. Then write your description on page W3, check it with the free checker, and add it to your profile.

Next, in Lesson 2.6, we’ll keep it all right: suggested edits, posts, and a five-minute weekly check.