How to Set Up a Google Business Profile for Local SEO

To set up a Google Business Profile, you add your business to Google Search and Maps, verify that you’re authorised to manage it, and fill in the details customers need.

It’s free, and it can put your opening hours, services, photos, phone number, and booking options in front of someone who’s already looking for a business like yours.

The choices you make during setup matter.

• A beauty salon needs customers to find its front door.
• A mobile therapist may need to keep a home address private.
• And a coach who works entirely online needs to check whether they’re eligible in the first place.

For our example, we’re setting up a Google Business Profile for Beauty Studio, a small independent salon in York offering brow treatments, lash lifts, and waxing.

Key takeaways

• Creating and managing a Google Business Profile is free. Check Google Maps for an existing listing before making a new one.
• Choose a business category that describes your main service, then use the services section for specific treatments or appointments.
• Set your address and service area to match how you work. Mobile businesses should keep a non-customer-facing address hidden.
• Google decides which verification methods you can use. Be prepared to prove your business exists and that you manage it.
• Finish with accurate hours, photos, a useful description, and a working route to book or enquire. Then check the published profile as a customer would.

Before you set up a Google Business Profile

First, make sure the business qualifies. Google’s eligibility rules generally require in-person contact with customers during the business’s stated hours. A salon, a physiotherapy clinic, or a plumber who visits clients will usually fit that model. A business that operates exclusively online generally won’t.

The exact setup depends on how customers meet you:

Your business	The relevant setup choice
Beauty salon or physiotherapy clinic	Customers visit your premises, so use your genuine customer-facing address.
Mobile beauty therapist or plumber	You visit customers. Set up a service-area business and hide the address from the public.
Salon offering bridal treatments at venues	If customers also visit your staffed salon, you may qualify as a hybrid business with both an address and a service area.
Coach	If you meet clients in person at an eligible business location or travel to them, check the relevant location rules. An online-only coaching business isn’t eligible.

A rented meeting room or occasional workshop venue doesn’t automatically qualify as your business location. Google has additional rules for shared premises, signage, and locations you don’t control. Check its business representation guidelines before listing an address.

Have the following ready:

• your real business name
• address or areas you serve
• business phone number
• website if you have one
• regular opening hours
• your main services
• a few genuine photographs.

You’ll also need access to a Google account you intend to keep using for the business.

If you’re working on wider local visibility, our local SEO guide for small businesses covers reviews, your website, local listings, and the other pieces that work alongside your profile. For now, let’s get the setup right.

Step 1: Check whether your business is already listed on Google

Open Google Maps and search for your business name and town. Try the exact name first, then a variation if nothing comes up.

You may find a listing that Google created from publicly available information or that someone else added. If it’s your business and it’s unclaimed, open it and select Claim this business, then Manage now. Follow the prompts to verify that you have permission to manage it.

If someone has already verified the profile, Google provides a process to request ownership. Don’t create a duplicate just because you can’t access the original. Two listings with conflicting hours and phone numbers are a fairly effective way to confuse your next customer.

If the business doesn’t appear, you’re ready to create it.

Step 2: Start creating your Google Business Profile

Go to business.google.com/add and sign in. Choose Add your business to Google, then follow the prompts.

Use a Google account that you control. If a freelancer or marketing agency helps you, you can grant them management access later. You don’t want your only way into the profile to disappear when a contract ends.

For our example, we’re creating a profile for Beauty Studio, a small salon in York. The demonstration uses an illustrative business — please don’t submit a fictional listing to Google yourself.

Google may offer you a Google Workspace trial during the process. That’s a separate, optional product. You can skip it if you don’t need it.

Step 3: Enter your business name and choose a category

Enter the business name customers know: the name on your signage, website, and booking page.

For our salon, that’s Beauty Studio. Adding “Best Lash Lift and Facials in York” to the business name might look tempting, but Google’s name rules require your real-world business name. Put service details in the sections designed for them.

Next, choose your primary category from Google’s suggestions.

Google has categories for a wide range of businesses, so start typing what you do and choose the closest match from its suggestions.

Your primary category should describe your main business activity as accurately as possible. For example, if you specialise in nail treatments, Nail salon would be a better choice than the broader Beauty salon.

You can add other relevant categories later to describe additional parts of your business. Individual treatments or services can be listed separately.

Step 4: Add your business address, if customers visit you

Google asks whether customers can visit your business at a physical location. Beauty Studio sees clients at the salon, so we’ll select Yes and enter its address.

Use the correct street address and postcode. Check the position on the map, particularly if your clinic or salon is upstairs, inside another building, or tucked away in a courtyard.

You can adjust the map pin if Google can’t place the address correctly.

For mobile businesses: you’ll still provide accurate business location information for Google’s checks, but you should hide an address where customers aren’t served. That’s the next setting.

Step 5: Choose whether you serve customers at their location

Google may ask whether you also visit customers or deliver services. For Beauty Studio, all treatments happen at the salon, so we select No.

Now consider a salon that also sends a bridal makeup artist to wedding venues across York and the surrounding area. It could qualify as a hybrid business: customers visit the salon, and the team also travels to them.

A mobile beauty therapist or plumber with no customer-facing premises should use the service-area business setup. Their address stays hidden, while Google can show the areas they serve.

Google lets eligible businesses specify up to 20 service areas, based on towns, postcodes, or other recognised areas.

Be accurate. Listing every town in Yorkshire won’t make a small business available for appointments in every one of them. Google also advises keeping the overall service area within roughly 2 hours’ driving distance of the business base.

Step 6: Add your phone number and website

Enter a business number that customers can use.

If you’re a sole therapist working hands-on for most of the day, think about what happens when somebody calls during an appointment. A clear voicemail and a habit of returning missed calls are a decent start.

Then add your website, if you have one. Someone checking your business should be able to find its services, prices, location, and booking information without hunting through five menus.

You can create the profile without a website and add one later. If you have a separate online booking page, keep its link ready; we’ll add it in Step 12 where Google’s booking feature is available.

Step 7: Verify your Google Business Profile

Verification is the step where Google checks that the business exists and you’re authorised to manage it.

Google chooses which methods are available for your profile. You might be offered a business video recording, phone or text, email, live video call, or post.

In some cases, Google asks for more than one method.

Follow the options in your account. You can’t simply select another method because it looks easier.

If Google asks for a verification video

For a customer-facing business like a shop or a salon, Google may want to see:

• The location: the street, nearby landmarks, or building number, so it can match the video to the address.
• The business: permanent signage showing the same name as the profile, plus the premises.
• Your authority to manage it: something a member of staff can access, such as unlocking a staff-only area or using business equipment.

For a plumber or mobile beauty therapist, the evidence looks different. Google may ask to see identifiable surroundings near the operating address, professional tools or a branded vehicle, and proof that you manage the business.

A mobile physiotherapist might show their equipment and relevant business materials, keeping all patient details out of view.

Google requires a verification recording of at least 30 seconds, captured live through the profile on a mobile device, without edits or breaks. Keep customers’ faces, private paperwork, and sensitive details out of the footage. Google says its review of an uploaded video can take up to 5 business days.

If verification fails, read the reason Google provides and record a new video that addresses the missing evidence. If you’re offered another verification method, follow its on-screen instructions.

Your profile’s public appearance and some management features may remain limited until verification is complete. Once it’s verified, continue filling in the details that help customers choose you.

Step 8: Add the services customers can book

Next, Google asks which services your business offers.

Based on your chosen business category, Google may suggest services you can select. You can also add your own if something is missing.

For Beauty Studio, we’ll brow lamination, lash lifts, and waxing — the treatments our salon offers.

Where the option is available, add a short description and a price. For example:

Service	Example description	Illustrative price
Lash lift	Lash lifting treatment, with a consultation before the appointment	£50
Brow shaping	Eyebrow shaping to suit the client’s preferred look	£20
Waxing	Eyebrow waxing to shape and define the brows	£15

• A physiotherapy practice might list initial assessments, follow-up sessions, and sports injury rehabilitation where accurate for its services.
• A plumber could list tap repairs, leak detection, and radiator installation.

Think about the words a customer would use. Someone searching for a lash lift in York needs to see that specific treatment, rather than a profile that says only beauty services.

Step 9: Set your opening hours

Next, Google asks for your opening hours.

Select the days your business is open and enter the corresponding times.

For Beauty Studio, our illustrative schedule is:

Day	Opening hours
Monday	Closed
Tuesday–Friday	10:00–18:00
Saturday	09:00–16:00
Sunday	Closed

Check your hours whenever the schedule changes, and add special hours for bank holidays or closures.

Google also has category-specific rules for businesses that operate strictly by appointment, so use the hours setting that accurately describes how customers can access your service.

Imagine somebody planning a Saturday trip across York because Google says you’re still open. Wrong hours cost everyone time — and nobody enjoys a wasted journey.

Step 10: Write a useful business description

Next, Google gives you the option to add a business description.

This is where you can briefly explain what your business does, which services you offer, and what customers can expect.

For Beauty Studio, we could use:

Beauty Studio is an independent beauty salon in York offering brow lamination, lash lifts, and waxing. Our treatments take place in a welcoming studio in the city centre, with appointments available throughout the week.

Short, specific, and easy to understand. The description says where the salon is, what it provides, and what customers can expect. The treatment list and booking page can do the rest.

• For a physiotherapy clinic, useful details might include the types of appointments offered and the patient groups you work with.
• A leadership coach could describe the in-person coaching services they provide, if the business is eligible.

Make only claims you can support.

Skip promotional prices, links, and strings of repeated keywords. They’re better handled in the relevant fields.

Step 11: Add your logo and real business photos

Start with a recognisable logo and an appropriate cover image. Then add photos that help a new customer understand the place and the service.

For Beauty Studio, I’d prioritise the salon exterior, reception area, and treatment room. An outside photo is especially useful when the entrance isn’t obvious.

Other businesses need different proof.

• A physiotherapy clinic might show the treatment space, equipment, and team.
• A mobile therapist could show their professional kit and a carefully photographed work setup.
• A coach who meets clients in person could show the actual meeting environment where doing so is appropriate.

Use genuine, current images. Get permission before publishing identifiable clients or patients, and take extra care with health-related information and treatment photographs.

A stock image of a salon that looks nothing like yours may create a very awkward first appointment.

Choose well-lit, in-focus images that accurately represent the business.

Photos appear publicly after verification and Google’s checks; selecting a cover photo doesn’t guarantee Google will display it first.

Step 12: Add an appointment booking link, if available

If customers book appointments, check whether your profile has Booking or Bookings. The label and options depend on your business category, region, and the current Google interface.

Where Google supports it, add a direct link to your booking page or connect an eligible booking provider. Test the link on your phone after saving it.

For Beauty Studio, that should take the customer to the salon’s appointment booking page. Ideally, they can choose a lash lift, see available times, and book with minimal detours.

For a physiotherapy practice, link to the appropriate appointment route; for a coach, a consultation booking page may be useful if the profile is eligible and the booking option exists.

If Google doesn’t give you a booking option, make sure the website link leads somewhere visitors can easily find how to book or enquire.

Step 13: Check your Google Business Profile before calling it finished

Go back to the profile’s management view and check the information you’ve entered. Look for missing fields or edits still under review.

When the listing is publicly available, search for your business on Google Search and Maps. Check it from your phone, too.

• Can a first-time customer find the entrance?
• Are the services accurate?
• Do the website and booking links work?
• Is the phone number correct?

If you’ve reused a phone number, address, or booking service from an older business website, check those particularly carefully. The profile is only as useful as the information behind its buttons.

Google reviews some profile edits before publishing them, so a change may not appear immediately. Make any corrections in Edit profile and check the live result again.

Common Google Business Profile setup mistakes

A few mistakes are worth checking before you move on:

• Creating another profile when one already exists. Claim or request access to the existing profile where possible.
• Adding keywords to the business name. Use the name customers recognise, and describe services in their own fields.
• Showing a home address for a mobile business. Choose a service-area setup when customers don’t visit that location.
• Using an office or meeting room that doesn’t meet Google’s location rules. A rented address by itself doesn’t establish an eligible customer-facing business.
• Guessing during verification. Follow the evidence requirements for the method Google actually offers.
• Leaving links or hours unchecked. Open your booking page and call number from a mobile phone before assuming they work.

If Google rejects a verification attempt or suspends the profile, start with the stated reason and the relevant Google Business Profile Help instructions. Repeatedly creating new listings rarely solves an ownership or eligibility problem.

What to do after setting up your Google Business Profile

Once your profile is live, give it a short monthly check.

Update holiday hours, add new services when your offer changes, and upload genuine photos when you’ve got something useful to show.

You can also ask customers for honest Google reviews. Google provides a review link or QR code you can share after an appointment.

Don’t offer discounts or gifts in exchange for reviews, and let customers write their own feedback.

Then open Performance in your verified Business Profile. Depending on the features available, you can see interactions such as calls, website clicks, and direction requests. Those figures tell you how people are using the listing; your diary or booking system tells you whether enquiries are turning into appointments.

Your profile is now one part of your local marketing. Our local SEO guide explains how to work on reviews, your website, and the other signals Google considers.

Ready to plan what comes next?

Peerie gives you a marketing plan built around your business, manageable weekly actions, and AI assistants to help you work through them. You can keep your local SEO, website, social media, and other marketing tasks together — with a clear idea of what to do next.

Try Peerie for free →