What is a Google Business Profile?
A Google Business Profile is a free tool that gives you a listing of your business that appears on Google and Google Maps, which is especially important for businesses that provide services for their local community, like a roofing company.
Creating a Google Business Profile can be one of the easiest and fastest ways online to bring clients to your store and even bring more traffic to your website. When you think about improving your SEO, most of the time you have to hire someone to optimize your website and online brand in order to get your business found online, and it can still take months to see results. With Google Business Profiles, you can see results quicker due to the fact that you’re competing with those in your area who may not have a strong presence.
The beautiful thing is that to optimize your Google Business Profile, you don’t need a large amount of technical experience, almost none. You are also able to add a lot of information more easily, like;
- Your business name
- Location/address
- Business hours
- Media like your logo, photos, and videos
- Services/products you offer
- and much more!
If you’re looking to take advantage of Google Business Profiles to help improve your local SEO performance, keep reading below to learn how to create, claim, verify, and optimize your Google Business Profile account.
How to Create a Google Business Profile
1. On your computer, go to the Google Business Profile web page, click Get Started, and sign in to your Google Account.
2. The next steps to follow are to enter your business name and choose a business category. With choosing your business category, pick the one that best describes your business if you don’t have an exact match (you can change it later).
3. Next, you’ll have to choose whether you have a location that customers/clients can visit.
- If you have a storefront/office that is staffed during business hours, you can click Yes
- If you’re a business that doesn’t have a storefront/office that is staffed, click No
4. Based on your choice in step 3, you’ll be given a specific next step to help showcase where your business is/the location that you service.
- If you clicked Yes, you’ll have to add your business address
- If you clicked No, you’ll add areas that you service. We recommend adding as many accurate areas as you can
5. Once you have all of that figured out, you’ll need to add your contact details that you want shown to customers/clients of yours. We recommend adding both a phone number and a website.
6. After clicking next, you’ll be able to select a verification method. If you’re not ready to verify now, click Verify Later > Later.
- TIP – If you see a page that says “This listing has already been claimed,” click Request access. Then follow the directions to claim your business.
Verify your Google Business Profile Listing
There are multiple ways to verify your Google Business Profile listing, and only select businesses have some of these options:
- Phone or text
- Live video call
- Video recording
Verification by Mail
- Log in to your Google Business Profile
- Select your business, you’re ready to verify, click Get Verified
- Make sure your business address is correct and edit your address if it is not, and add a contact name. – This address is where your postcard will be delivered and is the listing of your business
- Click Postcard – It usually takes less than a week to get this postcard, but it can take up to 14 days. Make sure you don’t edit anything about your Google Business Profile listing or request a new code until you receive this postcard and finish the verification process
- Once you get your postcard, log in to Google Business Profile, select the business you’re verifying, and click Verify now
- In the code field, enter the 5-digit verification code that is on your postcard
- Click Submit and wait about 5 days to be verified
If your postcard never shows up or you lose it, you can request a new one by logging back into your Google Business Profile account and following the steps above. When you get to the area where you get to select your business you want to verify, click I don’t have a code and a new one will be sent out, but wait around 30 days when the first code expires.
Verification by Phone or Text
Google will allow some businesses to verify by phone. If you don’t see this option, you’ll most likely have to go down the verify by mail route instead.
- Log in to your Google Business Profile
- Select your business you’re ready to verify, make sure your phone number is correct, and click Get verified –> Phone or SMS
- Depending on the method, answer the call or open the text and enter the verification code that you receive on your phone
Verification by Email
Again, not all businesses qualify for the option to verify by email. If you don’t see this option, you’ll have to verify by mail.
- Log in to your Google Business Profile
- Select your business you’re ready to verify, make sure your email is correct, click Get verified –> Email
- Go to your email inbox, open the email from Google Business Profile, then click on the verification code or button in that email
Verify by Live Video Call
We don’t normally recommend this option, and it’s important to realize that it’s not available for all businesses. If it is, you have to do it within the business hours that you have listed.
- Get ready for the call by being at your location with a mobile device (phone or tablet). You’ll likely need to demonstrate your location/ownership on the video call by showing outside signs (street names, nearby businesses, etc.), capturing your operations (stock for sale, tools, etc.), and/or proving you have access to employee-only items/areas (cash register, kitchen, etc.)
- Start a text chat
- Log in to your Google Business Profile
- Select your business you’re ready to verify, click Get verified –> Live video call –> Next
- Select your language and click Start call
- Show your business through the call on your mobile device with the representative who has joined the call
Verify by Video Recording
There are a lot of aspects to verifying through video recording that you’ll want to check before you get started. You’ll want to make sure that you don’t include “private” things like bank info, people’s faces, and/or other private information.
Another step before starting this verification, you’ll want to keep in mind is;
- The video will need to be one unique continuous recording without breaks or editing
- At least 30 seconds long
- Recorded and uploaded from the mobile device you used through your Google Business profile
- We also recommend looking to see what the video requirements are for your storefront or hybrid business
Now onto actually recording, submitting, and verifying through video.
- Log in to your Google Business Profile on your mobile device
- Click Get verified –> Capture video
- Click Start recording
- Then tap the icon to start recording, record your video, and then click the stop button to stop your recording
- Once you have a video you think is ideal for verification, click Upload video
Once you have all of this done, the video will go into the review process, which can take up to 5 business days to be completed. If it’s successful, you’ll know, trust us. If it’s not, you’ll have to review the issues as to why it wasn’t verified, and these will help you record a new video to help improve your chances of getting your Google Business Profile verified.
How to Optimize a Google Business Profile
Once you’ve verified your business, you’re ready to start using your Google Business Profile to its full potential!
Log in to your Google Business Profile dashboard and select your business. Click on Info and choose a section to fill out or update.
Add as much information about your business as possible. These are the details often passed over that make a big difference in getting found on Google. Make sure to add things like:
- Business photos, your logo, cover image, and other media
- The area(s) your business serves
- Hours of operation
- Business phone number (or your personal phone number if you don’t have one)
- Website URL
- Business description – This is a big part of what Google pulls from for user searches
- Any special attributes – Free WiFi, Kid Friendly, Etc.
- The services and/or products you provide
- Add post updates/offers/events – Treat this like the social media side of your Google Business Profile
You’ll want to fill out as much as possible, but be truthful. This is not another area to try and “play the system”.
Google Business Profile Photos
A big part of your GMB listing is the photos on your listing. Straight from Google’s mouth – Google Business Profile pages with photos have 35% more clicks through to their website.
These photos should be 720px by 720px and either JPG or PNG. Some ideas for these photos can be:
- The business logo
- The business office or location – exterior and interior
- Work in action or your product
- Happy employees or customers
- Events
Google Business Profile Reviews
Have you had a happy customer recently? Mention to them that you’re on Google Business Profile for them to leave a review! Having reviews online is great for your online presence for more reasons than one, and one of the best is the “online word-of-mouth” it helps bring to your business.
This can also help you compete against competitors in your area. The better and more reviews you have, the more likely users will consider you and the more Google will recommend you.
Respond to ALL reviews
It’s also important to respond to all of the reviews that you get on your GBP listing. It shows appreciation to happy customers and helps showcase their review more, and for the not-so-good reviews, it shows that you’re trying to fix a problem or bad experience they may have had.
If you’re a local business, a Google Business Profile is almost always a must-have in our eyes!
And if you aren’t already, get on Yelp and other local directories too!