How to Set Up Your Google Business Profile
- Search for your business first. If an unverified profile already exists, claim it instead of making a second one. If someone else has verified it, you can ask them for ownership.
- Sign in with a Google account, ideally one on your business email.
- Add your name, your category, and either your address or your service area. If customers don't come to you, you can hide your address and list the area you serve instead. That's what we did.
- Verify it. Google chooses the method: phone or text, email, a live video call, mail, or a video recording. You can't pick a different one.
- Fill it out: hours, phone, website, services and photos.
Is It Free to Put Your Business on Google Maps?
Yes. Google says you can add or claim your business at no charge. Ads on Google are a separate, optional expense, and paying for them doesn't change your place in the free local results: Google says there's no way to request or pay for a better local ranking.
How Long Does It Take for Your Business to Show Up on Google Maps?
Google says verification reviews take up to 5 business days after you finish the verification steps. We created our profile on September 13, 2026, as a service-area business with the address hidden, and Google verified it within five days without asking for a video.
Why Is My Business Not Showing on Google Maps?
The common reasons are that the profile isn't verified yet, there's a duplicate profile for the same business, or the address doesn't meet Google's guidelines. It may also be showing, just not for that search: Google says local results are mainly based on relevance, distance and popularity.
So a customer across town, or one searching for a different service, may see other businesses first. Complete information, the right category and real reviews all help the relevance and popularity part.
Can I Have a Google Business Profile Without a Website?
Yes, a profile doesn't require a website. A website gives customers more to go on, though: your full services, prices and photos, and a way to reach you when they're not on Google. It's also what we build, and every plan keeps your Google profile current alongside it.
After You're Verified
- Keep it current: hours, holiday hours, phone and services.
- Ask every happy customer for a review, and never offer anything in return.
- Reply to every review, good or bad.
- Add photos of your work, your team and your place.
How we handle all of this for our customers is on our local SEO page.