How to get your business on Google Maps

Why it matters

When someone searches for "bakery", "locksmith" or "hairdresser" on their phone, Google first shows a map with a few businesses in the area. Those businesses get most of the calls, messages and visits.

You don't need a website to be on that map: you need a complete, verified Google Business Profile. It's free and you manage it yourself.

Create or claim your profile

Go to business.google.com with a Google account you'll keep, ideally the business's own and not an employee's. Search for your business name:

• If it already shows up, someone (a customer or Google itself) created it. Claim it so you manage it.
• If it doesn't, create a new one with the business's real name, exactly as it appears on your sign.

Pick your main category carefully: it weighs the most in which searches you show up for. Be specific: "Bakery" beats "Store". You can add secondary categories later.

Verify the business

Google asks you to prove the business is yours. Depending on the case, it offers a short video of the premises, a phone call, a text or an email. Until you verify it, your profile doesn't show in full and your edits aren't published.

If you work at your customers' homes and don't receive them at yours, you can hide the address and set the areas you serve.

Fill in everything

A complete profile builds trust and gives Google more to work with. Check that it has:

• Up-to-date hours, including holidays and time off
• Phone or WhatsApp, and your website if you have one
• Real photos: the storefront so people recognize it, the inside, your products or your work
• A plain description of what you do and who for
• Your services or products, with prices if you want to show them

Your name, address and phone must match everywhere: on Google, on your website and on your social media.

Get reviews and reply to them

Reviews are the first thing a customer looks at to choose between two businesses on the map. Ask your happy customers: from your profile you can copy a direct link to send over WhatsApp.

Reply to all of them, good and bad. Our guide on reviews explains how.

Keep it alive

An abandoned profile loses ground. Every so often, upload new photos, post news or offers, and set special hours before each holiday.

What decides your place on the map

Google ranks local results on three things: how well your profile matches the search, how close your business is to the person searching, and how well known it is (reviews, mentions, your website). You can't change the distance; you can work on the other two.

You can't pay to rank higher on the map: Google's ads show separately and are marked as sponsored.

Common mistakes

• Adding keywords to the name ("Rosa's Bakery, best in Ciudad Jardín"): it breaks Google's rules and can get your profile suspended
• Having two profiles for the same business: it confuses Google and splits your reviews
• Outdated hours: a customer who finds you closed won't trust you again
• Using the account of someone who later leaves the business