How to set up and verify a Google Business Profile

Before you start: check you're eligible and not duplicating

As a rule, Google only lists businesses that meet people face to face, with a few named exceptions such as ATMs and express mail drop boxes. Its eligibility guidelines say a business must make in-person contact with customers during its stated hours, either at a place customers can visit or by travelling to customers where they are. A plumber who drives to jobs qualifies. So does a physio with a clinic. A business that only sells online doesn't, and neither does a lead generation company that passes enquiries on to other trades.

Adding or claiming a profile costs nothing, so there's no fee to weigh up. What matters is the first setup. The answers you give in the opening screens decide what Google shows publicly, they feed into which verification options you're offered, and some later edits send you back through verification. Getting it right once is quicker than unpicking it.

Run through this list before you open Business Profile Manager. Each item is something you'll be asked for, or something that causes trouble if you skip it.

• Search Google Maps for your business name and suburb. If a profile already exists, claim it or request access instead of creating a second one. Google allows only one Business Profile for each business, and duplicates are hidden from Search and Maps.
• Confirm you're eligible. Google lists online-only businesses, lead generation agents, rental or for-sale properties, and an ongoing class or service held at a venue you don't control as ineligible.
• Write down the name exactly as it appears on your signage, vehicles, invoices and website. Google's guidelines say the name should reflect your real-world name, and unnecessary extra information in the name isn't permitted.
• Pick the phone number customers will call. It must be under the business's direct control, and Google prefers a local number over a central call centre line.
• Choose the web page the profile will link to. Google asks for a website that represents your individual business location, and says not to use links that redirect people to a different landing page.
• Decide which Google Account will own the profile. Use one the business controls, not a staff member's personal login or your agency's account.
• Have your tools, branded vehicle and a document showing the business name close by, in case Google offers video verification.

Storefront, service area or hybrid: the decision that shapes the rest

Google's help describes three set-ups, and the one you choose controls what customers see, what your verification evidence has to prove and how the profile appears on the map. A storefront serves customers at its address. A service-area business visits or delivers to customers but doesn't serve them at its address. A hybrid does both: customers come to the premises, and the business also goes out to them.

For a service-area business, the guidelines are direct. If you don't serve customers at your address, you should hide it. Hiding it doesn't mean you have no base, though. Google's video checklist for service-area businesses still asks you to film street signs or landmarks at your business address, so you need a real place you operate from even when customers never see it.

Keep the service area honest. Google lets you set up to 20 service areas by city, postcode or other area, and says the overall boundary shouldn't stretch beyond about two hours' driving from where the business is based. Listing suburbs you don't want work in only brings calls you'll turn down. And listing an area isn't the same as showing up there, because Google says local results are mainly based on relevance, distance and popularity.

Take a hypothetical Buderim electrician who works from home and never has customers at the house. That's a service-area profile: home address hidden, service areas set to the suburbs and postcodes the business really drives to. If the same electrician later opened a small trade counter where customers collect parts, the profile would become hybrid, and the counter's address would show on the map alongside the service areas.

Which address can you use? The traps to avoid

The address is where shortcuts tempt people, because a shown address puts a pin on the map. A rented mailing address or a hot desk can look like a cheap way to get one. Google's guidelines close most of those doors, and the table below sets out the rule for each common situation as the guidelines read at the time of writing (October 2026).

If a genuine address won't map, which happens on new estates and rural roads, Google's address help says to re-enter the highlighted parts, and if it still can't be found, adjust the pin on the map yourself. Keep the address line to official details only. Directions such as 'opposite the shopping centre' don't belong in it.

A wrong address is also one of the more painful things to fix later. Changing it while a postcard is on its way stops the mailed code from working, and Google's verification help says requests for more information usually follow recent changes to business details. If you're unsure whether the business is service-area or hybrid, settle that before you submit, not after.

Choosing the primary category and the business name

Your primary category tells Google what the business is. Google's category help asks you to select the primary category that describes your business, then add a few additional categories for distinct departments or services. You can't create your own category, and you shouldn't add one for every service you offer. The services list on the profile is the place for the rest.

Get this right before verification if you can. Google's category help says adding or editing a category may mean you're asked to verify the business again, so trying out different primary categories after launch has a cost. Choose once, carefully, and change it when the business itself changes.

The business name needs the same discipline. Use the name on your signage and paperwork. Adding a suburb or a service to the name so it matches searches breaks Google's naming rule, and the guidelines warn that unnecessary information in the name isn't permitted. If the name you trade under is different from your registered entity name, use the one customers see on your vans and invoices, and keep it identical everywhere it appears.

For the category itself, Google's guidelines add two tests: use as few categories as possible, and choose the most specific option that still represents the main business. Those pull in slightly different directions, so work through it in this order:

1. Name the work most of your jobs come from. For a tradie that's usually the trade itself: electrician, plumber, roofer, landscaper.
2. Type it into the category field and read every option the list offers. Pick the most specific one that's true of the business as a whole.
3. If nothing specific fits, Google says to choose a general category that describes the business. Don't settle on a near miss because it sounds more specialised.
4. Add additional categories only for real parts of the business that people look for separately, such as an electrician that also installs air conditioning as a distinct line of work.
5. Stop there. Describe the rest of your work in the services list and the business description.

Who should own the profile, and how to give your agency access

Set ownership up properly on day one and most later access problems never start. Google's roles are simple. A profile can have several owners but only one primary owner. Owners have full control, including adding and removing people and removing the profile. Managers, once called site managers, can do nearly everything else: edit hours and contact details, post updates, add photos, reply to reviews and download performance data. They can't add or remove users or remove the profile. The table at the end of this section sums up who should hold each role.

That's why the business, not the agency, should hold primary ownership. Google's eligibility rules treat anyone who manages a profile they don't own, including SEO and marketing firms, as an authorised representative. Representatives must have the owner's consent before claiming a profile, must work with the owner to complete verification, and must transfer ownership immediately if the business asks. Google's help on working with third parties adds that only profile owners control who has access, and that third parties can't promise or directly influence your ranking on Search or Maps.

If someone else already controls a verified profile for your business, such as a former agency or an ex-employee, request access through business.google.com/add. Google gives the current owner 3 days to respond. If there's no reply you may be able to claim the profile, though Google says the claim option isn't always available. For a service-area business with no shopfront, Google's help says to contact support and ask to transfer ownership of the listing instead.

To set access up the right way, work through these steps once the profile is verified:

1. Create or claim the profile while signed in to the business's own Google Account.
2. In Business Profile Manager, select More, then Business Profile settings, then People and access.
3. Select Add, enter the email address of the person or agency, choose Manager under Access and send the invite. Google Groups can't be added, so invite individual accounts.
4. Keep a second owner on the profile, such as a partner's account the business controls, so access never hangs on one login.
5. Allow for Google's waiting period: new owners and managers must wait 7 days before they can remove other users or transfer primary ownership.

Creating the profile and passing verification

With the decisions made, the build itself is short. Google's help keeps the official steps brief: go to business.google.com/add, select Add your business to Google, follow the on-screen instructions to add your business details, then select a verification option. The detail screens are where your earlier decisions go in: the name, the primary category, whether customers visit, the service areas, the phone number and the website. Google adjusts these screens from time to time, so treat any screenshot walkthrough as a rough map rather than a script.

Then comes verification. Google says verification methods are automatically determined and can't be changed. The options you see depend on things like your business type, public information, region and business hours, and you may need to complete more than one. The table at the end of this section describes each method as Google's help does at the time of writing (October 2026).

After you finish, Google says verification reviews take up to 5 business days, and occasionally longer. You'll get an email once the business is verified, and that's when to invite your agency or staff as managers. Keep expectations straight, too. Google says verification makes a business more likely to show in search results, and also that there's no way to request or pay for a better local ranking.

One method needs preparing for in advance. Video recording asks you to film at least 30 seconds of proof in one continuous take and upload it from a mobile device, and Google recommends it when you're eligible. It's also the method that catches service-area businesses out, because there's no shopfront to film. The recording can't be edited or paused, so walk the route once before you press record: street sign, van, tools, then the invoice. A rehearsal is cheaper than a rejected attempt. Here's what the take needs to show:

• Where you are: street signs, nearby landmarks or other identifiers at your business address. Avoid filming empty land or places with no clear markers.
• That the business exists: the professional tools, equipment or products you use for work.
• That you manage it: you doing the work, or opening a vehicle that carries your business branding. A business permit, invoice or utility bill that matches the profile name also helps.
• What to leave out: bank, tax or ID numbers, private information about you or anyone else, and other people's faces.

When verification fails, stalls or comes back

Verification doesn't always pass first time. The fix depends on what you're seeing, so match the symptom in the table below before doing anything else. Two panicked moves make things slower: requesting a new postcard code cancels the one already in the mail, and creating a second profile gives you a duplicate that Google hides.

If the fix in the table doesn't work, Google's help points to its support contact form and the Business Profile Help Community. Before you get in touch, gather the same evidence you'd show on video: proof of the address, the branded vehicle and a document carrying the business name. Once the profile is through, the setup job ends and the maintenance job starts. Our Google Business Profile audit checklist covers what to check on a live profile, and our guides on getting and replying to Google reviews pick up from there.