Google Business Profile checklist: 15 steps
Your Google Business Profile is often the first thing a customer sees, before your website. Google's own figures say complete profiles get far more clicks. Work through these 15 steps once, then keep the last six going every month.
By Ranjit Shah, Founder, Flexi LocalEvery outside claim is linked to its source · How we write our guides
Steps 1 to 9: build the profile
- Claim and verify your profile. Verification makes it more likely to show in results. If someone else owns it, request ownership; they have 3 days to respond. Keep ownership yourself and add your agency as a manager.
- Choose one specific primary category and up to 9 additional ones. Each should complete the sentence “This business IS a…”.
- Use your real business name only. No taglines, towns or keywords unless they're genuinely part of your name.
- Add your exact address, or hide it and set a service area if you visit customers. No P.O. boxes or virtual offices. Service areas can include up to 20 places within about two hours' drive.
- Set regular hours, holiday hours and special hours in advance. Mark yourself temporarily closed for closures of a week or more.
- Write a description of up to 750 characters. No links, prices or promotions.
- Add services and products, starting with Google's suggestions. Restaurants should use the menu editor.
- Set every factual attribute that applies, such as wheelchair access or free Wi-Fi. Recheck every quarter.
- Add a logo, a cover photo and at least three real photos of each type: outside, inside, team and work. No stock images.
Steps 10 to 15: keep it working
- Post at least weekly: updates, offers and events with a photo and a button. Posts older than six months are archived unless they have a date range.
- Ask every customer for a review with your direct link or a QR code, and reply to every review. Never offer incentives or ask only happy customers.
- Use bookings, menus, ordering and social links where your category allows them.
- Check your profile for suggested edits at least weekly. Changes Google made appear in blue, and Google gives you 4 days after notifying you to accept or reject a suggested edit before it may publish it.
- Keep your name, address, phone and hours the same everywhere: your website, Apple Maps, Bing, Facebook and directories.
- Review your performance report monthly (calls, direction requests, website clicks, searches) and check your rank across your area.
Google's limits at a glance
| Item | Limit |
|---|---|
| Categories | 1 primary + up to 9 more |
| Description | 750 characters |
| Phone numbers | 1 primary + 2 more |
| Service areas | Up to 20 |
| Photos | JPG or PNG, 10 KB to 5 MB, 720 × 720 px recommended |
| Videos | Up to 30 seconds, 75 MB |
| Posts | Archived after 6 months without a date range |
Myths to skip
- Geotagging photos boosts rankings: tests found no measurable effect.
- Posting more often lifts rankings: weekly posting showed no measurable effect in testing. Post for customers instead.
- Keywords in review replies help: experts rank this near the bottom.
- Asking customers to use keywords in reviews: Google's policy prohibits asking for specific content.
