To create a Google Business Profile, first check whether your business already has a listing. Then add or claim the correct profile, enter accurate business details and complete the verification options Google shows you. That is the whole job, and the order matters more than the speed.
The profile is free. Google Business Profile, which many owners still call by its old name, Google My Business, lets an eligible business manage its information on Google Search and Maps. If you pay an agency to help, you are paying for the help, not for a Google registration fee, because there is none.
This guide covers one business location or a business that travels to its customers. It walks through the setup decisions in order, including what to do when someone else already controls the profile. For everything that comes after setup, from reviews to performance reports, read our complete guide to Google Business Profile setup and management.
Before you start
Half of a smooth setup happens before you open Google. Collect the facts you will be asked for, decide which Google Account will own the profile and agree who else gets access. Keep all of it in one document, because Google will ask you to confirm fields one by one and you will want to check the finished profile against something.
Gather the business name as it appears on your signs and website, the correct address or service area, contact details and the hours customers can actually use. Have business photos and a short description ready for the fields available to your profile.
Decide who will own the profile. If an agency helps, the business must keep ownership or co-ownership. Google’s own setup guidance recommends making the business owner the profile owner and giving the agency a manager role.
Step 1. Check whether your business qualifies
For the businesses this guide covers, eligibility means meeting customers in person during your stated hours, at your premises or at theirs. An online-only business with no in-person service does not qualify. A mailing address you rent but do not work from does not count as a location, and some business models follow their own rules.
Seasonal businesses, kiosks and delivery-only food services are among the models with specific exceptions. Check the eligibility rules for your model before applying the ordinary storefront process to it.
A coworking office can qualify, but only with clear signage, customer access during business hours and staffing by your own team. A desk you rent by the hour with nobody there to receive a customer will not pass.
Confirm that Business Profile is supported where the business operates. The supported-country list has exceptions for some territories, so a country name alone does not settle every location’s eligibility.
Step 2. Sign in with the account that will manage the profile
The profile belongs to a Google Account, so pick that account deliberately. An existing one works, and a new one does not need a Gmail address: Google lets you create an account with an email address you already use. Record which account owns the business, because that is the one you will need every time you come back.
If you have several accounts, the wrong one will cost you time later. When you return to manage the profile, Google will ask you to sign in to the account associated with it, and nothing else will show the listing.
Add recovery information and turn on 2-Step Verification before you go further. Then give each colleague their own profile access instead of sharing the account password.
Step 3. Find an existing profile before creating one
Search Google Maps for the business name and city before you create anything. What you find decides the route: no profile means you add one, an unverified profile means you claim it, and a profile someone else has verified means you request ownership. Check the address and the business identity carefully, especially when another company has a similar name.
No profile exists
Go to business.google.com/add and select Add your business to Google. This is Google’s documented starting address. Enter the business details requested on screen.
An unverified profile already exists
Open the correct profile in Google Maps, select Claim this business, then Manage now. Continue with the verification options you are offered. Claim the existing listing rather than adding another for the same business.
Someone else owns the verified profile
For a storefront or hybrid business, find the business through the add-business page and select Request Access. Submit the ownership request. The current owner has 3 days to respond.
If there is no response, you may be offered a way to claim the profile. That option is not always available. A service-area business without a shop or office must contact Google support to request ownership.
A move to a new address is a reason to update your existing profile, not to start over. Google says not to create a replacement listing just because the business relocated.
Step 4. Enter the business name and category
The name field identifies the business and the category tells Google what it does, and both are easy to overthink. Use the name customers know from your real-world branding and the most specific primary category that fits. Neither field is the place for extra services, promotions or a list of everything you sell.
Keep additional services, opening hours and promotional phrases out of the name unless they genuinely form part of the business name under Google’s rules.
If the precise category does not exist, choose a broader accurate option; you cannot create a custom category. Additional categories describe other parts of the business, and you do not need one for every product or service. A later category change may trigger another verification request, so make the first choice carefully.
Step 5. Set the location and service area correctly
Google offers three location setups, and the right one follows from how you serve customers: at your address, at theirs, or both. A storefront shows its address. A service-area business hides the address and lists the areas it visits. A hybrid business does both. Pick the model first, then fill in the fields it needs.
| Business model | Public address | Service area |
|---|---|---|
| Storefront | Show the qualifying customer location | Not needed for a business serving only at its premises |
| Service-area business | Hide the address if customers are not served there | Add the areas you actually visit or deliver to |
| Hybrid business | Show the qualifying customer location | Add the areas you also visit or deliver to |
For a storefront, enter the complete address, including the relevant building or suite details. Check that the map pin points to the actual location. If Google cannot locate the address correctly, adjust the pin.
If you work from home and only visit customers, keep the home address hidden from the public profile. Hiding it does not remove Google’s need to confirm where the business operates during verification.
Select service areas by city, postal code or another supported area. Google allows up to 20 areas and does not let you define them as a radius. Choose the places you actually serve.
Do not create a separate profile for each service offered by the same business. Google provides a services field for those offerings where it is available.
Step 6. Add contact details and customer information
This is the longest step and the one customers judge you on: phone, website, hours, description, services and attributes. Enter a number the business controls, a full website URL you have opened yourself, the hours people can actually use, and a description of up to 750 characters without links. Some fields unlock only after verification.
In Edit profile, the Contact section lets you select the country and enter the phone number. Use a number that reaches the business directly.
If you have a website, add its full URL, including https:// or http://. Open the link before saving it and check that the destination represents this business and shows the correct contact information.
Set the regular hours when customers can use the business. If you close for a break, enter separate opening periods for the day. Use Special hours for holidays or other brief changes instead of rewriting the ordinary week. A business that operates only by appointment should not publish ordinary opening hours under Google’s guidelines; the hours editor has an Open with no main hours option for that case.
Write a description of what the business does and what a customer needs to know. Keep it within 750 characters, without URLs or HTML, and avoid concentrating on sales, prices or promotions. If Google offers an AI-generated description, check every detail before using it: Google itself warns that the feature creates creative text and needs an accuracy review, and availability varies by region and language.
Where available, add the services you actually offer and accurate attributes such as payment or accessibility information. These options depend on the business category and location, and some attributes come from customer input.
You may be able to enter some information before verification, while other profiles require verification first. Return to Edit profile afterward to finish the fields available to your business.
Step 7. Complete the verification offered by Google
Google decides how each profile gets verified. Depending on the business, the options can include a video recording, a phone call or text, email, a live video call or mail, and you may need more than one. Nobody can promise you a particular method, so prepare for the one your profile shows and keep the details it asks for private.
There is no universal method that every business can choose, and an agency cannot guarantee that your profile will avoid a particular route. Follow the options displayed in your own profile.
For video recording, prepare the location, evidence that the business exists and proof that you manage it. A storefront needs permanent business signage; a service-area business can show its operating area, tools and business-only assets.
Record in the Business Profile on a mobile device. The video must be continuous, unedited and at least 30 seconds long. Do not record it offline to upload later, and keep sensitive information, private details and other people’s faces out of it.
If mail is offered and you request a code, do not change the name, address or category while you wait. Those changes invalidate the code, and requesting another code invalidates the one already sent.
Google says verification review can take up to 5 business days after you complete the steps. That review period does not include the earlier parts of setup, such as waiting for mail or resolving an ownership dispute.
If a video is rejected, open Review issues and check what was missing. Record a new video that includes both the original required evidence and the missing information.
Step 8. Check the profile customers can see
Verification is not the finish line; the public listing is. Search for the business by name and city on Search and Maps, compare what appears with your working document, add photos, confirm that saved edits were actually accepted, and invite the people who will help. Then remember what verification does and does not give you.
Add clear, well-lit photos that represent the real business. For a storefront, include the exterior so visitors can recognize it, and choose relevant interior or work photos as well. Public photos and videos require a verified profile.
Review the status of saved edits. Google distinguishes Accepted, Pending and Not approved, and saving a change does not mean the new information is already visible to customers.
To invite help, open Business Profile settings, then People and access. Add the person’s email and choose the appropriate role. Managers can handle daily updates but cannot add or remove users or remove the profile.
Verification confirms your authority to manage the business. It does not guarantee a particular search position; local ranking also depends on relevance, distance and prominence.
Questions that come up during setup
Four questions arrive with almost every setup: whether you need a website, whether you can register before opening day, what happens when the profile changes hands, and where to get help when a step refuses to complete. The short answers are no, yes with a date limit, a one-week restriction, and below.
Creating a profile without a website
A separate website is not a universal requirement. Google’s guidelines allow a phone number that connects to the business location or a website that represents it. Complete the contact fields that apply to your business.
Registering before the business opens
An eligible business can set a future opening date up to one year ahead. After the date is entered and the business is verified, Google says the profile appears 90 days before opening. Use the actual planned date.
Handing the profile to a new owner
New owners and managers face a 7-day restriction on certain actions, including transferring primary ownership. This is not a ban on all profile work during the first week.
Working through a setup problem
For help with registration or profile details, see CyberLab’s Google Business Profile setup service. You can also describe your setup issue before deciding what help you need, and once the profile is live, monthly profile management takes over the routine.
Sources
Key guidance from Google, checked 7 September 2026. The research file behind this article covers 30 Google Help and policy pages; three of them are linked here.
- Google Business Profile Help. “Add or claim your Business Profile.” https://support.google.com/business/answer/2911778
- Google Business Profile Help. “Guidelines for representing your business on Google.” https://support.google.com/business/answer/3038177
- Google Business Profile Help. “Verify your business on Google.” https://support.google.com/business/answer/7107242
