Your Google Business Profile is your other homepage. Here is how to get it right.

When someone nearby searches for a chiropractor, a contractor, or a real estate agent, the first thing they usually see is not a website. It is a box on Google with a name, a star rating, a phone number, and a map pin. For a lot of local service businesses, that box does more selling than the website does.

That box is your Google Business Profile. It is free, you control most of it, and it is where the reviews we wrote about in how to ask every happy client for a review end up. It is also still the most-used place to read them: in BrightLocal's 2026 consumer survey, 71% of consumers said they use Google to read reviews of local businesses.

How Google decides who shows up

Google is unusually open about this. Its help page on local ranking names three factors:

• Relevance: how well your profile matches what the person searched for.
• Distance: how far you are from the person searching, or from the place they named.
• Prominence: how well known your business is, which Google says draws on things like reviews, ratings, and links to your website.

You cannot change distance. You can do a great deal about relevance and prominence, and almost all of it is free. Google is blunt on the point: "There's no way to request or pay for a better local ranking on Google." Anyone who promises you a guaranteed top spot on the map is selling something Google says does not exist.

The checklist

1. Claim it, verify it, and make sure there is only one

If you have not claimed your profile, someone else may have created one for you, or Google may have built one from public data. Claim it and complete verification. While you are there, search for your business name and old addresses to look for duplicates. Google's guidelines say there should be only one profile per business, because duplicates cause problems with how your information shows up on Maps and Search.

2. Use your real business name, and nothing else

This is one of the most common mistakes we see. Google's guidelines say your name should match your real-world name as it appears on your signage, website, and paperwork. That means no keywords, no city names, and no taglines added on the end.

Stuffing keywords into the name can work for a while, which is why people do it. It also breaks Google's rules, and competitors can report it. It is not worth putting the profile at risk.

3. Get the address right, or hide it

If clients come to you, list the address where they come. If you go to them, as most contractors, home service businesses, and mobile practitioners do, Google says you should remove your address from the profile and set service areas instead. You can list up to 20 cities, postal codes, or areas, and Google's guidelines say the area should generally stay within about two hours' drive of where you are based.

Two rules catch people out. Google does not accept P.O. boxes or mailboxes at remote locations as a business address, and virtual offices are not eligible either. If your only address is a mailbox, set the profile up as a service-area business and verify it from where you actually work.

4. Choose categories carefully

Your primary category carries a lot of weight in relevance, so pick the most specific one that fits. Google's advice is to use as few categories as possible and to finish the sentence "This business is a..." rather than listing everything you offer. A family law firm is a "Family law attorney," not "Lawyer," "Attorney," "Legal services," and "Divorce lawyer" all at once. Your individual services belong in the services section, not the category list.

5. Phone number, website, and hours

• Phone: use a local number that rings your business, not a call center. If you have a missed-call text-back set up, as we describe in our post on missed calls, make sure it covers this number.
• Website: link to the page that best matches the listing. If you have more than one location, link each profile to its own location page.
• Hours: list the hours you actually answer and serve customers, and add holiday hours before each holiday. Nothing costs trust faster than a client driving over and finding the door locked.

One small trick: add a tracking tag to the website link so you can see in your analytics how many visitors come from the listing. It turns a vague sense that "Google sends us some traffic" into a number.

6. Fill in the parts most people skip

The description, the services list, and the attributes all help Google understand what you do and who you serve. Write the description the way you would explain your business to a neighbor: what you do, who it is for, and where. Add your main services with a sentence or two each. It takes an hour, once, and most of your competitors will not have done it.

7. Add real photos, and keep adding them

Google lists uploading photos and videos among the things that help your profile. Use real ones: your team, your work, your space, before and after shots if your trade allows it. Stock photos tell a potential client nothing. A few new photos every month or two also shows that the business is active.

8. Keep the reviews coming and reply to them

Google names responding to reviews as one of the ways to improve your profile, and review count and rating feed directly into prominence. Our reviews post covers how to ask without breaking Google's rules or making it awkward.

Make it match everywhere else

Your name, address or service area, phone number, and hours should read the same on your profile, your website, Facebook, Yelp, and every directory that lists you. When they disagree, customers get confused, and so do the tools that recommend businesses.

That second group is no longer small. In the same BrightLocal survey, 45% of consumers said they use ChatGPT and similar AI tools to find local businesses. Those tools can only work from what is published about you, which we cover in our post on practical AI. A complete, consistent Google profile is one of the best inputs you can give them.

Check it like a customer, every quarter

The public can suggest edits to your listing, and Google sometimes applies them. Hours change, a category gets swapped, a phone number gets updated by someone who meant well. Every few months, search for your business on your phone while logged out, the way a new client would, and read the listing top to bottom. Tap the phone number. Tap the website link. Check the hours. It takes five minutes.

Where to start this week

1. Search for your business name and your main service plus your city. Note what shows up and whether any duplicates appear.
2. Log in to your profile and compare the name, address, and categories against the rules above.
3. Fill in the description and services, and add five real photos.
4. Make sure the phone, website, and hours match your website exactly.

If you find a duplicate, a suspended profile, or a verification that keeps failing, that is when it is worth getting help. Those problems are fixable, but Google's process for them rewards getting the details right the first time.