Why is a Google Business Profile important for your business or organization?
You can increase your rankings and your local SEO, as long as your profile is properly optimized. Your business or organization can also now show up on Google Maps, you can ensure that the information is accurate for your customers, and you have a whole new customer pool.
Setting Up Your Google Business Profile
Let’s dive right into the most important step - setting up or claiming your Google Business Profile. Follow these step-by-step directions to ensure you set up your profile correctly.
- Navigate to Google Business Profile
Enter your business name and select the most relevant business category
Choose whether customers can visit your physical location
Enter your business address and place the pin accurately on the map
Add your service areas if you serve customers outside your physical location
Indicate whether you offer deliveries, home visits, or office visits
Add your business phone number, website URL, and additional contact information
Complete Google’s verification process (which may include video, phone, email, or postcard verification to help with stricter spam prevention)
Finish optimizing your Google Business Profile by adding hours, services, products, photos, FAQs, and business descriptions
Claiming a Google Business Profile
Is your business already on Google Maps? You must claim your business to ensure that the information being provided is accurate so you can optimize your profile. Follow the steps below to claim your business.
- On your computer, go to Google Maps
- In the search bar, enter your business name
- Click the business name and choose the correct one
- Click “Claim this business > Manage now”. To choose a different business, click “I own or manage another business”
- Select a verification option, and follow the on-screen steps
Optimizing Your Google Business Profile for Local SEO
A Google Business Profile that’s optimized can improve your business’s visibility in Google Search, Google Maps and AI-powered local recommendations. Although rankings aren’t promised, businesses that optimize and maintain their GBP often have stronger local visibility, more opportunities to generate leads and stronger customer engagement.
There are a few strategies that can help improve your business’s presence through Google Business Profile, including maintaining up-to-date business information, engaging with customers, reviewing engagement metrics and routinely updating your profile. Another important strategy to keep in mind is consistency. Having consistent business information across your website, social media and directory listings improves your business’s local authority and trust signals.
Additional GBP optimization best practices include:
- Fill out every section of your profile
- Review your NAP (name, address and phone number) information for accuracy and consistency
- Use the full, official name of your business
- Choose the most accurate primary and secondary business categories
- Add a detailed business description
- Add products and services with keyword-rich descriptions
- Upload high-quality photos of your business
- Utilize applicable business attributes and features
- Use Google Posts to share announcements, offers, updates and events
- Answer questions in the Q&A section
- Earn customer reviews and respond to them in a timely manner
- Update business hours regularly
- Provide unique descriptions for each business location or branch
Leveraging Google Business Profile Features for Business Growth
Making use of the features that you have access to with Google Business Profile will encourage even more business growth. An important feature to know about is Google Maps integration. With this integration, you can embed interactive maps and customize how they display on your website. The data that lives within these maps can refresh in real time, which means the data that your visitors are viewing is always up to date.
Other features that are important to leverage include business photos and videos, responding to customer reviews to show that you are interactive and care about your customer’s experience, posting updates on Google Business Profile, and monitoring your insights and analytics.
How Google Business Profile Supports AI Search Visibility
Google Business Profiles are the key data source that Google AI systems use to verify your business. GBP influences Google AI Overviews, Gemini-powered local recommendations, voice search, conversational search results and map-based AI recommendations.
An updated and complete Google Business Profile will optimize your local business’s AI search visibility. Here are the most important parts to focus on:
- Trusted and verifiable data, so AI tools don’t have to guess your location or when you’re open
- Authentic reviews and social proof to give AI reasons to cite your business
- Visual elements to verify your storefront, work and visual presence
- Consistent engagement, such as responding to questions and utilizing features like Google Posts
- Schema markup that matches your GBP and website content, to provide consistently accurate information
Google Business Profile presents you with an incredible opportunity to increase your presence as a trusted business in your industry. Your GBP also serves as an AI visibility asset and reputation management platform, not just a directory listing. Following the right steps to claim or set up your business and leveraging the available features will set your business up for success. As always, make sure you are staying up to date with any updates and new features that become available so that you can provide top-tier service to your current and prospective customers.
