Google Business Profile: How to Create, Verify and Get Reviews

A Google Business Profile (in Slovak, "Firemný profil na Googli") is a free listing for your business that appears in Google Search and Maps. You're eligible if you meet customers in person, either at your premises or at theirs. You create it at business.google.com/add, Google verifies it, and from then on you keep it up to date and collect reviews.

Summary

• Eligibility depends on in-person contact with customers. Virtual offices and online-only businesses can't have a profile.
• Google decides how you verify. You can't choose the method.
• The name must be your real business name, with no keywords, places or taglines.
• You can ask for reviews with a link or QR code. Incentives and asking only happy customers are forbidden.
• Google says you can't request or pay for a better local ranking. Complete, accurate information helps.

Who is eligible for a Google Business Profile?

Google says a business must make in-person contact with customers during its stated hours (Google). That leaves two options:

• Premises customers visit: a hair salon, shop, clinic or café. The address should carry permanent signage with the business name.
• Service-area business: a plumber, cleaning service or air-conditioning technician who travels to customers. It should have one profile for its central location with a designated service area (Google).

If you serve customers at your address and at theirs, you're a hybrid business and keep both the address and the service area.

You're not eligible if you rent a mailing address where you don't operate. Google calls this a virtual office, and P.O. boxes or mailboxes at remote locations don't qualify either. Google's list of ineligible businesses also includes "online-only businesses", such as an e-shop with no pickup point, and lead generation companies (Google). An office in a co-working space only counts if it has clear signage, receives customers during business hours and is staffed by your team (Google).

How do you create a Google Business Profile?

1. First, search for your business on Google Maps. If an unverified profile already exists, claim it through Maps rather than creating a new one (Google).
2. If there isn't one, go to business.google.com/add and choose to add your business.
3. Enter the name, primary category, address or service area, phone and website as prompted.
4. Pick a verification method from the ones Google offers.

Adding or claiming a profile is free. Create only one profile per location (Google).

How does verification work, and can you choose the method?

You can't. Google's help page says verification methods "are automatically determined by Google and can't be changed" (Google). What's offered depends on your business type, public information, region and opening hours, and some businesses need more than one method. Google may offer:

• Video recording, which Google recommends if you're eligible for it.
• Phone or text with a code. You must answer the call yourself, as automated phone systems can't receive it.
• Email, if you can access that address.
• Live video call with a support representative, where you show your location and proof that you manage the business. Only during your business hours, and not available to every business.
• Postcard with a 5-digit code. Most codes arrive within 14 days and expire after 30. While you wait, don't edit your name, address or category, and don't request a new code.

Once you've finished the steps, Google says reviews take up to 5 business days. Keep the code private: Google says it will never ask you for it.

How should you write your business name?

Your name should match the real-world name on your premises, website and stationery. Adding unnecessary information isn't permitted, and the Slovak version of the guidelines warns it could lead to suspension (Google). Taglines, hours, phone numbers, URLs, service descriptions and location details don't belong in the name.

If your salon is called "Salón Lucia", enter "Salón Lucia", not "Salón Lucia Nitra Hairdresser Cheap 24/7".

Which category and service area should you choose?

Categories. Your primary category should describe what your business is, not what it has. Google prefers a specific category over a broad one and doesn't let you create your own (Google). You can add up to 9 additional categories (Google), but Google asks for the fewest categories needed and says not to use them as keywords (Google).

Service area. You can set up to 20 service areas by city, postcode or other area. You can't set a radius, and the whole area shouldn't extend more than about two hours' drive from where you're based (Google). If you don't serve customers at your address, remove it from the profile and list only the service area. A business in Nitra shouldn't claim "all of Slovakia".

What should you fill in?

Google says businesses with complete and accurate information are more likely to show up in local results (Google). Fill in:

• Description: what you offer, what sets you apart, how long you've been trading. Up to 750 characters, no links, no promotions or prices (Google).
• Services: in the services editor, with prices if you want to show them. The menu editor is for food and drink businesses only.
• Opening hours and special hours for public holidays and closures.
• Phone: a number that reaches your location, ideally local and under your direct control, never a premium-rate line (Google).
• Website: your own site, not a redirect to a social media page.
• Photos: logo, cover photo, exterior, interior, products and team. JPG or PNG, 10 KB to 5 MB, 720 × 720 px recommended. Photos should be in focus, well lit and without heavy filters (Google).
• Products: connecting in-store stock through the Local Inventory app is currently limited to the US, Canada, the UK and Ireland, according to Google's help page (Google).
• Posts: updates, offers and events. Once approved, they show on Search and Maps. Posts older than 6 months are archived unless a date range is set (Google).

Google reviews every change before it goes live.

How do you get reviews and reply to them?

The simplest way is to ask straight after the job and send a review link or QR code, which you create from your profile (Google). Customers need a Google Account, though it doesn't have to be Gmail.

Google's Maps content policy forbids (Google):

• incentives for reviews: payment, discounts, free goods or services,
• discouraging negative reviews or asking only happy customers (review gating, such as sending the link only to satisfied clients),
• pressuring customers to write a review while on your premises,
• reviews from current or former staff or contractors, as a conflict of interest,
• paid reviews and reviews posted from several accounts by one person.

You can reply only once the profile is verified. Replies are public, appear under the review as a reply from the business, and are checked first, usually within 10 minutes but occasionally up to 30 days (Google). Google suggests short, professional replies, no selling, an apology where it's due, and never sharing the reviewer's personal information (Google).

What can you do about a fake review?

Open your reviews, choose to report the review and pick a reason, such as spam. Only reviews that break Google's policies are removed, not ones you simply disagree with. Evaluation typically takes several days, and you can track the status in the Reviews Management Tool. If Google finds no violation, you can submit a one-time appeal (Google).

Why does Google suspend profiles?

Google may suspend or disable profiles that don't follow its guidelines, and restrict content or access. If an account is restricted, every profile in it is suspended (Google). Based on the rules above, the main risks are:

• keywords or other extras in the name,
• a virtual office, P.O. box or no in-person contact,
• more than one profile per location,
• a service area far beyond two hours' drive,
• categories used as keywords,
• fake or incentivised reviews.

If your profile is suspended, fix it first, then appeal through the appeals tool, ideally with documents such as a business registration or utility bill showing the same name and address. You can appeal only once, and you shouldn't create a new profile for the same business (Google).

How does the profile feed Maps and AI answers?

Google says local results are mainly based on relevance, distance and prominence. Prominence takes in review count and ratings, and links from other websites. Google is explicit that you can't request or pay for a better local ranking (Google).

For AI Overviews and AI Mode, Google lists keeping your Business Profile information up to date among the SEO best practices that still apply (Google). That isn't a promise your profile will appear in an AI answer, and we don't make one either. For more on how SEO and AI search relate, read SEO vs GEO.

Frequently asked questions

How much does a Google Business Profile cost?

Nothing. Google says adding or claiming a profile is free (Google).

Can I have a profile without a public address?

Yes, if you travel to customers. You enter the address for verification, then remove it from the profile and keep only the service area.

Can I choose how Google verifies me?

No. Google sets the methods automatically. If several options appear and one doesn't work, you can try another.

Can I delete a negative review?

Only if it breaks the policies, for example spam or abuse. Otherwise it stays, and your best move is a calm, factual reply.

Is a profile worth it for an e-shop?

Only if customers can visit you in person, for example a pickup point with opening hours. Online-only businesses aren't eligible.

Not sure your profile is in good shape? Ask for a free marketing diagnostic or see our SEO and AI search service.