How to Create and Verify Your Google Business Profile

A Google Business Profile is the free listing that puts your business on Google Maps. It's also what gets you into the map results when someone nearby searches for what you do. If you've been searching for how to add your business to Google, this is it. You create a profile at business.google.com, then Google checks the business is real before it counts.

That check is called verification, and it's the bit people get stuck on. This guide covers what a profile is, how to set one up step by step, and how to get verified without getting suspended. We've been through it with our clients, including one profile Google held up for weeks.

What a Google Business Profile is, and why it matters

A Google Business Profile (GBP) is your business's listing on Google. It used to be called Google My Business, and plenty of people still say GMB. It's free. Google doesn't charge you to be listed, to show on Maps or to collect reviews.

Your one profile shows up in three places:

• The map pack. Search for a service and a town, like "landscaper Nottingham", and Google shows a map with three businesses under it, above the normal website results. Those three are Business Profiles.
• The business panel. Search for a business by name and its profile fills the right of the page on a computer, or the top of the screen on a phone.
• Google Maps. Your pin and listing in the Maps app, where people read reviews and tap for directions.

Here's a real one. It's the profile of NLS Landscaping, a Nottingham landscaper we work with, from a Google search in 2026:

Everything a customer needs is on it. The name, the stars and the number of reviews. The category, "Landscape Gardener", just under the name on the left. The areas served, opening hours, phone number, photos, and Call and Website buttons. Someone can decide whether to ring NLS without ever leaving Google.

Google shows every profile owner what their profile sends them, and that's how we know it's worth the effort. From May to September 2026, Coppermill Landscapes' profile sent the Chesterfield landscaper 22 phone calls and 143 clicks to its website. It also sent 248 requests for directions. Over the same five months of 2025, it was 2 calls, 22 website clicks and 36 direction requests. The Coppermill case study has the rest.

A profile doesn't replace your website. The two work as a pair: the profile gets you found, and the website is where people check you out before they ring. NLS has had 800+ leads through its website and profile together in its first 21 months with us, from February 2025. The numbers are in the NLS case study.

Video walkthrough

How to add your business to Google, step by step

Have these ready before you start: your business name exactly as you trade, your phone number, your website address if you have one, the towns you cover, and some photos of your work.

Head to business.google.com and sign in to the Google account you want to own the profile. Use an account you'll keep, not a staff member's personal one.

In the top right of the screen there's a blue "Start Now" button. Press it to begin.

You'll be taken to a page to create your profile. Enter the name of your business. Use your real business name exactly, with nothing added. (More on why in the suspension section below.)

Pick from Online Retail, Local Store or Service Business. If you go to your customers rather than them coming to you, pick Service Business.

This step matters a lot, because your category decides which searches you show up for. The easiest way to choose is to search Google for what you do in your town and look at the top three profiles. Their primary category shows just under the name, like "Landscape Gardener" under NLS above. You can also click "Suggest an edit" on a profile to see it. If the same category is accurate for you, pick it.

Select the towns and areas you serve. Be specific. The more accurate you are, the better Google can match you to local searches.

Enter your business phone number. This is the number customers will see and call. Add your website address too, if you have one.

Google asks for your address so it can verify the business. If you're a service business, it isn't shown on your profile. Then Google asks you to prove the business is real, by phone, email, post or video. The method varies from person to person, and the video is the one that trips people up, so it has its own section below.

Add the services your business offers. Use the ones Google suggests, as most of what you do will already be there. We'd add 5 to 15 rather than going overboard, and you can always change them later.

Enter your opening hours or, for a service business, the hours you'd usually answer the phone. Make sure they match your Facebook page and any directories you're listed on.

Write a description of your business using the words your customers search for. For most businesses that means your main service and your town. A landscaper might include "landscaper in Nottingham" somewhere in it.

If you're stuck, ChatGPT can write a first draft. Copy and paste this prompt and fill in the blanks:

"Can you write me a 750 character description for a Google Business Profile using the best SEO keywords for my niche. I am a [what you do] based in [area you serve] with [number] years experience and my business name is [Business Name]"

It won't beat a good copywriter, but it gets you started. Read it through and take out anything that isn't true.

Finally, add as many photos of real jobs as you can, and keep adding them after setup. NLS's profile above has 239+. Photos of your actual work tell a customer more than anything you can write about yourself.

Getting verified: what to film and what to expect

Google won't treat the profile as yours until it's verified. Google picks the method, and you can't change it. It might be a code by phone, text or email, or a postcard with a code on it. It could also be a live video call with Google's support team, or a video you record yourself. For service businesses with no shopfront, it's more and more often the video.

What happened with MIW

MIW Patios & Landscaping in Derby is exactly the kind of business the video is hardest on. No shop, no showroom, no trade counter. It's Jamie, a branded van and a set of tools, out on jobs all day.

When we set MIW up in early 2026, Google held the profile through several rounds of video review. We had to contact Google directly more than once before it was approved. Weeks went by before MIW could show up in search at all. Jamie talks about it in his review of us:

What Google asks for

Google's rules for the video are short:

• Record it live on your phone, through your Business Profile. You can't upload something you filmed earlier.
• Make it one unedited recording with no breaks, at least 30 seconds long.
• Show where the business is, that it really exists, and that you're the one running it.

What to film

Film it like you're explaining your business to an alien that's just landed on your driveway. Assume Google knows nothing about you. Every claim on your profile, your name, your number, the work you do, don't imply it. Prove it on camera.

For a service business, that means:

• Where you are. Start outside, at the address on your profile. Show the street sign and the house or unit number. If you work from home, nearby street signs and landmarks are fine.
• That the business exists. Your tools and equipment, out of the van and on camera. Your branded workwear, business cards and branded invoices.
• That you run it. Unlock your branded van with the business name and phone number readable. Or hold up an invoice or utility bill with your business name and address on it, close enough to read.
• If you have premises. The sign on the building with your business name on it. Then unlock the door and show inside: your stock, your equipment, a storeroom only staff can get into.

Every detail should match your profile to the letter. A different name on the van, or a different number on the invoice, is a red flag.

A few things that catch people out:

• Talk as you film. "This is my van, that's our number, these are the tools we use." Good daylight, steady hands.
• Don't stop and restart. If you mess up, start a fresh recording.
• Keep it private. Google asks you to keep other people's faces out of it, and not to show bank details or ID numbers.
• Don't rush. Google's minimum is 30 seconds, and there's a lot to get in.

After you send it

Google says reviews take up to five working days. If the video is rejected, you'll get a "Review issues" notice saying what was missing. Record a new one with everything from the first video plus the missing parts. Don't refilm the same weak video and hope. What finally got Jamie through was one unbroken take with the van, the tools and the paperwork, narrated from start to finish.

If Google sent a postcard instead, most codes arrive within 14 days and they expire after 30. Asking for a new code cancels the one already in the post, so give it time.

Whatever happens, don't start a second profile out of frustration. That makes things worse, as the next section explains.

Mistakes that get new profiles suspended

A suspension is when Google takes a profile down because it stops trusting it. On a brand new profile that hurts, because you've nothing to fall back on. These are the usual causes, and Google's guidelines rule out every one:

1. Keywords in the business name. "Smith Plumbing" is fine. "Smith Plumbing | Best Emergency Plumber Nottingham" gets you suspended. Google doesn't allow taglines, opening hours or locations in the name, and competitors can report it.
2. An address Google doesn't trust. PO boxes and virtual offices aren't allowed, and neither is a mate's unit you don't work from. Use your real address. If you're a service business, Google asks you to hide it anyway.
3. Details that don't match the rest of the internet. If your website, Facebook page and directory listings show different phone numbers or addresses, that's a red flag. Get them identical before you verify.
4. Changing core details straight after verifying. Editing your name, address and category in the first few days looks like the profile was set up dishonestly. Get it right first time and leave the core details alone for a few weeks.
5. A second profile. Google allows one profile per business. If something goes wrong, never start again with a new one.

If you are suspended, appeal through Google's appeals tool. Google says an appeal can only be submitted once, so make it count. Attach your company registration, a business licence or a utility bill, with the business name and address matching your profile.

Google Ads credit offers

When you finish setting up, Google may suggest starting a Google Ads account, sometimes with ad credit for new advertisers. These offers change, and they usually come with a condition: you have to spend a set amount within a set time to earn the credit. Check the current terms in your Ads account before you accept anything. Leave it until you're ready to run ads, with a budget set aside.

What to do after setup

Creating the profile is the start. What you do next decides whether it brings you calls:

• Learn where your dashboard lives. Everything is managed through Google Search itself, with no separate login. How to access your Google Business Profile shows where it is on desktop and mobile.
• Start collecting reviews from day one. Google says more reviews and positive ratings can help your local ranking, and they're the first thing customers read. Our review system guide gives you the exact ask, the message template, and how to get your direct review link and QR code.
• Check your profile every few weeks. Anyone can suggest an edit to it, and Google sometimes changes your hours or details on its own. You won't always be told.
• Add your team or your agency properly. Never share your Google password. How to invite people to your Google Business Profile covers adding managers the right way.
• Work on getting into the map pack. Our map pack guide covers how Google picks the three businesses it shows, and what moves you up.
• Check the website your profile points to. Your profile will send people to your site, and a poor site wastes those clicks. Our free website audit scores it out of 100 across design, mobile, SEO, trust and conversion, so you know if it's ready.
• Rather hand the whole thing over? Our Google Business Profile service covers setup, verification and the ongoing work that gets profiles ranking.

Frequently Asked Questions