How to add your business to Google Maps, step by step
When someone searches for "coffee shop near me" or "tyre service Brovary", Google shows a map with a few businesses above the ordinary results. To get into that block, you need a Business Profile on Google. The service used to be called Google My Business.
1. Create the profile
Open business.google.com and sign in with a Google account. Enter the business name exactly as it is written on your sign. Words such as "best" or "cheap" in the name break Google's rules, and the profile can be suspended.
Choose the main category as precisely as you can: "Dental clinic", not "Medical centre". Extra categories can be added later.
2. An address or a service area
If clients come to you, enter the address. If you go to clients yourself, as a tradesperson or a delivery service does, hide the address and list the towns or districts you work in.
3. Verification
Google will ask you to confirm that the business is real. Most often that is a short video showing the sign, the premises and documents. Sometimes it is a call, a text message or a letter. Google chooses the method, and it depends on the category and the country.
Until it is verified, the profile does not appear in search. The check usually takes from a few days to a few weeks.
4. Fill in the whole profile
Opening hours, holidays included.
A phone number that somebody actually answers.
The website: a link to the home page or to the booking page.
Services and prices.
Photos: the front, the entrance, the premises, the team, the work.
A description: what you do and for whom, not a list of keywords.
A profile with photos and opening hours gets more clicks than an empty one. Add new photos every month.
5. The same details everywhere
The name, address and phone number must match on the website, in the Google profile and in directories. Google compares them, and mismatches lower its trust in the profile. If you move, update the address everywhere on the same day.
6. Reviews
How many reviews you have, and how recent they are, affects whether you are shown in the map block. Ask happy clients to leave a review and give them a direct link. You can copy it in the profile itself.
Reply to every review, especially a negative one. A calm reply that offers to fix the problem convinces the people who read it later.
Do not buy reviews or write them yourself. Google removes such reviews and can restrict the profile.
Why the profile needs a website
The profile answers "where and when". The website answers "what exactly, how much and why you". A client who goes from the map to a site with prices and booking is more likely to book straight away.
Google weighs the website too when it decides whom to rank higher. A page with the same address, services and city strengthens the profile.
Frequently asked questions
How much does a Google profile cost?
Nothing. Creating, verifying and updating a profile is free.
Can I have a profile without an office?
Yes. Enter a service area instead of an address. The address is then not shown on the map.
Why am I not on the map for a search?
Google weighs the distance to the person searching, how well you match the search and how well known the business is. A complete profile, fresh photos and reviews strengthen the last two.
Where to start
First you need a website, so the profile has somewhere to send clients. Pick a template for your trade, then create the profile and enter the site's address in it. What a site costs is on the pricing page.A map listing sends people to your site, so check that it really takes enquiries: eight reasons a website gets no enquiries. What to put on a company site so that it is easy to find and understand is covered in “A company website”.