From Google My Business to Google Business Profile
Google Business Profile is the current name for what used to be called Google My Business. The idea has not changed: it is the listing that appears when someone searches for your business by name, or for a type of business nearby, with your hours, phone number, directions, photos and reviews.
It is also not the same as Google Ads. A profile is free and its visibility is earned; ads are paid placements. The two can be linked so that your address and details appear in ads, but paying for ads does not improve your profile's organic ranking. Our Google Ads agency page explains how paid local campaigns work alongside it.
Who can have a Google Business Profile?
Google's guidelines for representing your business set out who qualifies. In short, a business must make in-person contact with its customers during its stated hours, either at its own location or by visiting customers. Purely online businesses do not qualify.
- Storefront businesses (clinics, offices, shops) show their address.
- Service-area businesses (contractors, mobile services) hide their address and list the areas they serve.
- Hybrid businesses that serve customers at their location and on the road can show both.
Virtual offices, mailboxes and addresses where you are not actually staffed generally do not qualify. Using them risks suspension.
Steps 1 to 3: create the profile and set the basics
- Check whether a profile already exists. Search for your business on Google Maps. If a listing exists, request ownership rather than creating a duplicate.
- Use a company-owned Google account. Not a personal address of an employee or an agency's account. Add others as managers instead, so you never lose control.
- Enter your real business name, address or service area, phone number and website. The name must match what customers see on your signage and website. Adding cities or keywords to it is against the guidelines.
Step 4: verify your profile
Google requires verification before your profile can show fully and before you can manage it properly. Depending on your business type and history, Google may offer different methods, such as a video recording, a phone call or text, an email or a postcard. Which options you see is decided by Google, not by you.
Make sure what you show during verification matches the details on the profile: the same business name, the same location, proof that you operate there or in that area. Mismatches are a common reason verification fails or is delayed.
Steps 5 to 7: optimize your Google Business Profile
Once verified, the work is in the details. These are the fields that matter most for being found and for being chosen.
| Field | What to do | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Primary category | Choose the most specific category that describes your core business | Strongly affects which searches you appear for |
| Secondary categories | Add only categories that genuinely apply | Extends relevance without diluting it |
| Services and products | List your real services with clear descriptions | Helps Google and customers understand what you offer |
| Description | Explain who you serve and what makes you different, without keyword stuffing | Read by customers deciding whether to contact you |
| Hours | Keep regular, holiday and special hours current | Wrong hours frustrate customers and lead to poor reviews |
| Photos | Add real photos of premises, team and work, and keep adding them | Builds trust and shows you are active |
| Attributes | Fill in relevant attributes such as accessibility or languages spoken | Answers practical questions before customers ask |
Step 8: collect and answer reviews
Reviews feed into prominence, one of the three local ranking factors, and they heavily influence whether someone picks you over the business next to you in the list.
- Ask every client at the right moment, with the direct review link from your profile.
- Never pay for reviews, offer discounts in exchange or write them yourself. Google's policies prohibit fake and incentivized reviews.
- Reply to every review, including critical ones, calmly and specifically. A thoughtful reply to a complaint often builds more trust than another five-star review.
- In healthcare, law and other regulated professions, never confirm a client relationship or disclose personal information in a reply. Privacy laws such as PIPEDA, provincial privacy and health information laws and your professional rules apply.
How Google ranks profiles: relevance, distance, prominence
Google's official help page on improving your local ranking names three main factors:
- Relevance: how well your profile matches what someone searches for. Categories, services and a complete profile help here.
- Distance: how far your business is from the searcher or the location they mention. You cannot change this.
- Prominence: how well-known your business is, based on information from across the web, including links, articles, directories, reviews and your position in regular search results.
That last point matters: your website's overall SEO strength contributes to your local visibility. Profile and website work as one system. Our local SEO tips cover the website side.
Why did my Google Business Profile rankings drop?
Common causes include a change to your categories or business name, edits to your profile (sometimes suggested by users or Google itself), a suspension, a new or stronger competitor nearby, fewer recent reviews, or broader changes in how Google ranks local results. Check your profile for notifications and unapproved edits first.
Steps 9 and 10: measure and maintain
A profile is not something you set up once. Treat it as a living asset:
- Review the performance data in your profile: searches, calls, website clicks and direction requests.
- Add UTM parameters to your website link so profile visits are visible in your analytics.
- Check monthly for edits suggested by users or Google, and correct anything wrong.
- Update hours before holidays, including provincial holidays that differ across Canada.
- Add new photos and use posts for news, events or offers when you have something worth saying.
If you serve French-speaking customers, consider how your description and review replies read to them as well.
Your profile and your website work together
The profile wins the first click; the website closes the enquiry. If a profile sends visitors to a slow, unclear website, much of the benefit is lost. Link to the most relevant page (often a location or core service page), make sure contact details match exactly, and make it easy to call or book on a phone.
When you want the whole local picture handled properly, our local SEO services combine profile management, website content and authority building. If your website itself holds you back, our web design work builds local SEO in from the start.