Google Business Profile: How to Set Up and Manage Your Listing
Updated: 7 days ago
When someone searches for "bookkeeper near me" or "bakery in Edmonton", Google often shows a map of nearby businesses alongside the regular results. Those listings come from Google Business Profile, a free tool for managing how your business appears on Google Search and Maps.
A complete, accurate profile helps people find your hours, call you and get directions. No profile can promise a top spot, but an incomplete or outdated one can send customers elsewhere. Here is how to set yours up and keep it working.
Check that your business qualifies
A profile that breaks Google's guidelines for representing your business can be suspended, so check these points first:
In-person contact. Your business must make in-person contact with customers during its stated hours, at your location or theirs. Online-only businesses don't qualify.
A real address. Unstaffed virtual offices, P.O. boxes and remote mailboxes don't qualify, and an office in a co-working space needs clear signage of its own.
The right type. Storefronts serve customers at their address. Service-area businesses, such as mobile cleaners, travel to customers and should remove their address from the profile. Hybrid businesses do both.
One profile. Each location gets one profile, and a service-area business gets one for its whole area. Don't create duplicates.
A home-based business that visits clients can set up as a service-area business to keep its home address off the public profile. You can list up to 20 service areas, and Google says the overall area generally shouldn't extend beyond about two hours' drive from your base. An Edmonton contractor might list Edmonton, St. Albert and Sherwood Park rather than all of Alberta.
Get the core details right
Fill in these fields carefully:
Business name. Use your real-world name, as shown on your signage and invoices, without added taglines, locations or service details. If you trade under a name other than your own or your corporation's, check whether it must be registered in your province.
Categories. Choose the most specific primary category for your core business, and add as few secondary categories as possible.
Hours. Keep regular hours accurate and set special hours before statutory holidays such as Family Day and Thanksgiving, which both Alberta and Saskatchewan observe.
Phone and website. Use a local number you control, and link to your most useful web page for local customers.
Description. Use up to 750 characters to explain what you offer and who you serve. Leave out links, and focus on the business rather than promotions or prices.
Services. List your main services in plain language.
Verify your profile
You must verify your business before you can manage its information and interact with customers. Google decides which methods you can use, such as phone or text, email, a recorded video, a live video call or a postcard, and you may need more than one.
Protect your code. Google says it will never ask for your verification code, so never share it.
Plan any video. It must be one continuous, unedited clip captured live that shows your location, your signage or work equipment, and proof that you manage the business, such as unlocking a branded vehicle. Service-area businesses can also show a business licence or permit, an invoice or a utility bill.
Wait out postcards. Don't change your name, address or category, or request a new code, while you wait.
Allow time. Google says verification reviews can take up to five business days, and occasionally longer.
Add photos that show what to expect
Photos show customers what to expect. Start with:
A logo and cover photo, so people recognize you at a glance.
Exterior photos that help customers find your entrance.
Your work, products or space, including your team at work.
Use real, recent, well-lit photos of your own business rather than stock images. At the time of writing, Google asks for JPG or PNG files between 10 KB and 5 MB and recommends 720 by 720 pixels.
Ask for reviews honestly and reply with care
Ask for reviews in ways that follow the rules:
Ask everyone the same way. Share your review link or QR code at a natural point, such as after a completed job. Google doesn't allow asking only happy customers, pressuring people on your premises or setting review quotas for staff.
Offer no incentives. No discounts, gifts or free services in exchange for reviews.
Keep insiders out. Google prohibits conflict-of-interest reviews, such as from current or former employees, and Canada's Competition Bureau has warned that businesses could be liable for misleading reviews, including undisclosed employee reviews.
Follow CASL for emails and texts. Treat review requests like any commercial message under Canada's Anti-Spam Legislation: have consent, identify your business and include a working unsubscribe option. Implied consent from a purchase generally lasts up to two years.
Reply briefly and professionally. Replies are public, so never reveal a customer's personal information; Canadian privacy laws such as PIPEDA also apply. Take complex issues offline, and flag reviews that break Google's policies instead of arguing in public.
Keep it current and measure results
Set a monthly reminder to:
Review your details. Update hours, services and photos before holidays or seasonal changes. Anyone can suggest edits on Google, so confirm that what's shown is still correct.
Read your performance report. Verified profiles can see how many people viewed them on Search and Maps, the search terms people used and actions such as calls, direction requests and website clicks.
Track website visits. Add tracking parameters (UTM tags) to your website link so your analytics tool can separate visits from your profile, and ask new customers how they found you.
Control access. Give staff and outside helpers manager access through their own Google Accounts instead of sharing your password, keep ownership in your business's hands and remove people when they leave.
Google updates its features and policies from time to time, so check its help pages before relying on a specific rule.
How First Global Citizen can help
As part of our marketing and digital presence services, we help small businesses set up or tidy up their Google Business Profile: checking eligibility, writing the description and service list, choosing categories, planning photos, setting up a consent-based review request process and matching your details to your registration and website. If your trade name or business licence isn't in place yet, we can help with that paperwork too, with government and registry fees passed on at cost.
We quote a fixed fee in a written proposal. Google makes its own decisions on verification and ranking, so we can't promise placement or results, but we can help you present your business accurately and within the rules. Where a question needs legal advice, such as a dispute over a review, we can coordinate with independent licensed professionals. Read more about how we work or book a free consultation.
This article is general information only. It is not legal, tax, accounting or financial advice. Fees and requirements can change, so confirm current details with the relevant government agency or registry. For advice about your situation, consult a qualified professional.
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