A Google Business Profile, the tool many people still call Google My Business, is the free listing that puts your company on Google Maps and in the block of three local results shown at the top of the search page. Creating it takes about twenty minutes from a Google account, but two steps really decide how well it works: the verification of your business, now very often by a short video, and the optimization of every field to win over the local algorithm. This guide walks you from creation all the way to the common problems like a suspended or duplicate listing, with the rules in force in 2026 and Google’s own figures on what each effort returns.
What is a Google Business Profile and what does it do?
A Google Business Profile is the free business listing that Google shows on Maps and in the local pack, that block of three businesses with a map that appears above the classic results. It gathers your name, address, hours, phone number, photos and reviews, and acts as a storefront at the exact moment a customer is looking for a service nearby.
Your listing appears in three places that matter enormously for a local business. The first is the local pack, those three listings with a map that answer geolocated searches like “hairdresser Lausanne” or “plumber near me”. The second is Google Maps, where customers look directly for a shop, a route or a number to call. The third is the knowledge panel, the large box that shows on the right of the results when someone types your exact business name.
For a tradesperson, a shop owner, an independent professional or a service provider, this listing is very often the first contact with a prospect, before your website even comes into play. It answers the most concrete questions in a fraction of a second, such as today’s hours, your distance or your average rating, and it offers a call or directions in a single tap. A business with no verified listing is simply absent from these searches, whatever its real skill.
Google My Business or Google Business Profile: what’s the difference?
There is no real difference, it’s the same tool under two names, because Google renamed Google My Business to Google Business Profile from November 2021. The original name is still widely used, but the separate mobile app was retired in 2022, and you now manage your listing directly from Google Search and from the Maps app.
In practice, if you’re still looking for the old app in your app store, you won’t find it. The right method is to type your business name in Google while signed in to the account that owns the listing, then use the management panel that appears to edit your information, reply to reviews or publish an update. On mobile, the Google Maps app plays exactly the same role once you’re signed in.
Businesses that run several locations use a dedicated space called the Business Profile Manager, built to keep dozens of listings consistent at once. The programming interface followed the same move and is now called the Business Profile API. The reassuring point to remember is that both names refer to the same profile, and an old Google My Business listing lost nothing by becoming a Google Business Profile.
How do you create your Google Business Profile step by step?
To create your Google Business Profile, sign in to a Google account, go to google.com/business or type your business name in Google, then follow the creation flow by entering the exact name, the primary category and your contact details. Plan for about twenty minutes, and first check that an automatic listing doesn’t already exist under your name, because Google sometimes generates one from public directories.
The first precaution is to search for your business before creating anything. If a listing already exists, even a partial one, you should claim it rather than open a new one, or you’ll create a duplicate that hurts you. Once that’s settled, enter the exact name of your business, the one on your sign and your official documents, without adding a city or a keyword. An artificially padded name like “Dupont Plumbing emergency repair Geneva” breaks Google’s rules and exposes your listing to an immediate suspension.
Then comes the choice of the primary category, which is the single most important decision of the whole setup. Google offers several hundred, and the one you pick directly influences the searches your listing has a chance to appear for. A freelance web developer is better served by “Website designer” than by the vague “IT service”, then by adding two or three secondary categories for related activities. Finally, enter your address or your service area if you travel, a local phone number rather than a virtual one, your real hours and the link to your website.
How do you verify your listing with video verification?
Google only makes your listing visible once your business is verified, and in 2026 that verification most often runs through a short video filmed live on your phone. The video must last at least thirty seconds, stay a single unedited recording, and show your location, your signage with the business name and proof that you actually manage the place.
The rules Google publishes are precise and worth following to the letter, because a rejection forces you to start over. You have to film the scene live, without editing the video and without uploading a file prepared in advance, from a mobile device rather than a computer. For a business with premises, the video first shows the surroundings with street signs and building numbers, then your signage carrying exactly the name on the listing, and finally proof that you’re in charge, such as access to the till, the kitchen or the stockroom.
If you work without premises open to the public, the logic stays the same but adapts to your situation. Film nearby landmarks that confirm your area, show your professional equipment, then present a business document that proves your activity. In every case, avoid filming other people’s faces or sensitive information, and plan your route in advance so you can hold it in one steady, well-lit take.
Depending on your type of business, Google may also offer verification by phone, by email or, in some cases, by postcard, but video has become the most common method, especially for new listings. Once your recording is sent, Google reviews it within five business days at most, and your listing goes public as soon as it’s approved. Keep your video simple and honest, because an attempt to cheat ends in a refusal and complicates any later request.
How do you optimize your listing to appear in the local pack?
A verified but incomplete listing stays almost invisible, because it’s the optimization that gets you into the local pack. Google reports that a complete listing gets seven times more clicks than a sparse one, and that a searcher is 2.7 times more likely to consider a business trustworthy when its profile is complete, which is why every filled field counts.
Start by filling every section without neglecting a single one. Write a description that clearly states your activity and your service area in 750 characters at most, choose the most precise category possible, and list your products or services with their prices when it makes sense. Remember to tick the attributes that describe your business, such as wheelchair access, contactless payment or outdoor seating, because they show directly on the listing and answer questions a customer has before ever contacting you. Add at least ten quality photos, inside and outside, of your work and your team, because listings with photos get 42 percent more direction requests according to Google, and a listing with images is twice as likely to be seen as trustworthy.
The listing’s regular activity matters just as much as its initial setup. Publish one or two updates a month to flag an offer, a new product or an event, turn on messaging if you can reply quickly, and get ahead of the questions and answers section by adding the requests that come up often yourself. Reviews remain the second most powerful lever after the listing itself, so ask for them systematically right after a successful job, with a direct link, and reply to each one within forty-eight hours, whether it’s positive or negative.
Keep in mind that Google ranks local listings on three criteria, namely relevance to the search, distance and the prominence of your business. A complete, active and well-rated listing acts on all three at once, and this work extends naturally into your local SEO strategy, which ties your visibility on Google to the visibility of your website.
What if your listing is suspended, duplicated or already created?
Three problems come up again and again: the suspended listing, the duplicate listing and the listing already created by Google that you never claimed. In almost every case, the solution runs through the Google Business Profile help center and through a reinstatement or a claim request, never through creating a second listing, which would only make things worse.
A suspension happens when Google detects a rules violation, most often a keyword-stuffed name, an address that doesn’t match a real presence, category abuse or a burst of abrupt edits. The way forward is to fix the precise cause first, return to a fully compliant name and details, then file a reinstatement request from the help center with proof of your business, such as an invoice, a photo of your sign or a registration document. It takes patience, but a reinstated listing keeps its history and its reviews.
A duplicate raises another issue, because two listings for one business scatter your reviews and confuse Google’s ranking. If you spot one, report the extra listing and ask for a merge through support rather than letting it run in parallel. The case of the already-created listing is simpler than it looks, since you just search for your business, click the option to claim it, then go through the usual verification. To edit an existing listing, sign in and change your fields from Search or Maps, knowing that a change of address or name can trigger a verification before it goes live.
Then there’s the case where you want to remove a listing, for instance after a shop closes or to clear a duplicate you own. Never delete a profile that carries reviews outright, because you would lose all that reputation history built over the years. If the business has stopped trading, mark the listing as permanently closed from the management panel instead, which correctly informs searchers while keeping your data. A full removal is only justified for a stray listing created by mistake that carries no reviews yet.
Do you need a website to complete your Google listing?
Yes, a website and a Google listing strengthen each other, because Google judges a company’s prominence by cross-checking both sources. Strict consistency between the name, address and phone number shown on your listing and on your website, together with LocalBusiness markup in the code, sends the algorithm a trust signal that most of your competitors leave on the table.
The link to your website is one of the most clicked fields on the listing, and it’s often where the real conversion happens. The listing sparks the interest and the call, but your website reassures, details your services and shows your work, which turns a simple visit into a quote request. That only works if the site speaks the same language as your listing, with contact details identical to the character, a page dedicated to your local activity and a load time that doesn’t scare away a visitor arriving from their phone.
This is also the moment to add LocalBusiness structured data, which describes your name, address, phone and hours in a format search engines read without ambiguity. That markup reinforces the consistency between your listing and your site, and it stays rare among local businesses, which makes it a quiet advantage. If you don’t have a site yet or yours is dated, it’s the right time to create a website built for local search, and to work in parallel on your organic SEO, which pairs with local visibility instead of competing with it.
Where to start with your Google listing
The most effective order comes down to a few clear steps, and it’s better to follow them in sequence than to do everything halfway. First search for your business to claim any existing listing, create it otherwise with care for the exact name and the primary category, prepare your verification video before you start it, then fill every field, add about ten photos and ask for your first reviews as soon as a customer is happy. Once that base is in place, a few minutes a month are enough to publish an update and reply to reviews.
Your Google listing does half the work toward a solid local presence, and your website does the other half by turning interest into real customers. If you want local visibility that actually brings requests rather than a listing left to gather dust, let’s talk about your project or see my services to build the whole thing as one piece.
