Optimise your Google Business Profile: the complete guide

What is a Google Business Profile and why do you need it?

The Google Business Profile, formerly Google My Business, is your business listing that appears in Google Maps and next to the search results. People see at a glance where you are, when you are open, how to call you and what others say about you.

For local businesses, the profile is often the first point of contact, even before the website. Someone searching for "hairdresser Schöneberg" or "emergency heating repair Berlin" often decides right there in the map view. An incomplete or outdated profile costs you calls in that moment that never reach you.

The profile is free. You set it up at business.google.com and verify it, depending on the case by postcard, phone, email or video. Only after verification can you edit all details.

Which category and basic data are right?

The primary category is the single most important setting in the profile. It tells Google what your business mainly stands for. Choose the most specific category that fits your core business, such as "Italian restaurant" rather than just "restaurant", or "plumber" rather than "construction company". Add further categories only for services you actually offer.

Name, address and phone number, known as NAP, are just as important. These three details must be identical everywhere: in the profile, in the imprint, in the website footer, in the structured data and in business directories. Differences such as "St." and "Street" or a different phone number make it harder for Google to match the listings clearly to your business.

• →Name: exactly your real business name, without extra keywords or place names. Additions to the name violate Google's guidelines.
• →Address: complete and written the same way as in the imprint. If you only work at customers' premises, you can hide the address and define a service area.
• →Phone: a local number that is actually answered, identical to the number on the website.
• →Website: the link to your home page or a matching location page.
• →Description: in your own words, what you offer, for whom and where. No links, no marketing clichés.

How do you manage opening hours and special hours?

Wrong opening hours are among the most frustrating mistakes, because they lead to locked doors and bad reviews. Enter the regular hours for every day of the week and check them whenever anything changes in your business.

For public holidays, company holidays or special occasions there are special hours. Set them up in good time, ideally for the whole year in advance. You can also add further hours, for example for delivery, pickup, kitchen or phone availability.

• →Regular opening hours for every weekday, with closed days explicitly marked as closed.
• →Special hours for holidays such as Christmas, New Year's Eve, Easter and regional holidays.
• →Enter company holidays as special hours instead of temporarily closing the profile.
• →The same hours on the website and in the structured data.

How do you use services, products, photos and posts?

A profile that only shows an address and a phone number looks empty. Services and products show exactly what you offer. Add each important service individually, with a short description and, where it makes sense, a price or a note such as "on request". The terms should match the service pages on your website.

For many people, photos are the reason to call you or not. Show real images: the outside so people can find you, the interior, your team, finished work, dishes or products. Upload new images at regular intervals to keep the profile alive. Stock photos and images with large text overlays are not suitable.

Posts work like short updates in the profile: news, offers, events, new services or seasonal notes. A post should have a clear topic, a photo and a matching button, for example "Call" or "Learn more" with a link to the right page.

• →Logo and cover image in good quality.
• →Exterior in daylight so customers recognise the entrance.
• →Interior, team and typical work situations.
• →Products, dishes or finished work, kept current.
• →Regular posts about specific occasions rather than general advertising.

How do you handle questions and reviews?

Users can ask questions in the profile, and anyone can answer them. Check regularly and answer questions yourself before strangers do so with wrong information. Common questions, for example about parking, accessibility or card payment, should also be answered directly in the profile as attributes and on the website.

For many people, reviews are the strongest signal of whether to trust you. Actively ask satisfied customers and everyone else for an honest review, and reply to every one, even short ones. With criticism: stay factual, take the concern seriously and offer a solution. Your replies are read not only by the authors but by every future prospect.

How to get more reviews legally, and what is not allowed, is covered in a separate guide on Google reviews.

How do the profile, website, Google Maps and AI answers connect?

Google Maps shows your Business Profile directly. According to Google, which listings appear at the top of a local search depends mainly on relevance, distance and prominence. Relevance comes from matching categories, services and descriptions. Prominence comes, among other things, from reviews, mentions on the web and a good website.

Your website and profile should confirm each other. The profile links to the website, and the website shows the same details and links to the profile. The website's structured data, such as LocalBusiness from schema.org, contains name, address, phone, opening hours and a reference to the profile. That way search engines can clearly see that all details belong to the same business.

The same applies to AI assistants such as ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and the AI Overviews in Google Search. They rely on information they can find and cross-check on the web. The more consistent and complete your data is in the profile, on the website and in directories, the more likely these systems are to describe and name your business correctly.

• →Identical NAP on the profile, website, imprint and in directories.
• →Structured data on the website with a reference to the profile.
• →Link services in the profile to dedicated service pages on the website.
• →Check and update the profile at least once a month.

How do you check that your profile and website match?

Once a quarter, go through the key points: do name, address, phone and opening hours match everywhere? Are the services up to date? Are there unanswered questions or reviews? Does the link to the website work, and does the landing page load quickly on a phone?

Among other things, the free website check from Clieni Media tests whether your website outputs your business data consistently and in a machine-readable way. You can start the check at Website check.