Picture this. Someone in your city just burst a pipe. They grab their phone, type “plumber New York” and within three seconds Google shows them a map with three businesses, ratings, and phone numbers. One has 52 reviews and a five-star average. They call that one.
If your business is not on that map, someone else will take the job. Today, tomorrow, every single day.
That, in one sentence, is why Google Business Profile exists.
What is Google Business Profile?
Google Business Profile (abbreviated as GBP, formerly known as Google My Business or GMB) is a free tool that gives your business visibility on Google Search and Google Maps.
Once you set it up and verify it, Google displays your business in local search results alongside key information: your address, opening hours, phone number, photos, and customer reviews. All of this without the potential client ever needing to open your website.
The tool is completely free. No subscription, no hidden fees. Google charges for advertising through Google Ads, but the profile itself and all its features cost nothing.
The difference between Google Business Profile and a website
This is a question small business owners ask often, so it is worth addressing directly.
A website is your “home” on the internet. You control everything there, from design to content. But someone has to actively visit your website, which means they need to already know you exist or find you through search.
Google Business Profile works differently. It shows up for people searching for anyone who does what you do, in your city or neighbourhood. In other words, it reaches people who do not know you yet.
For tradespeople and local service businesses, GBP often generates more relevant enquiries than their own website. A hairdresser in New York does not need to rank on the first page of Google for “hairdresser” globally. They need to be visible when someone in New York types “hairdresser near me”. Those are two completely different problems, and GBP solves the one that actually fills the calendar.
It is also worth framing it this way: GBP is usually described as a tool for your visibility, but it is equally accurate to call it a tool that exploits your competitors’ invisibility. At the local level, the vast majority of small businesses and sole traders either have no profile at all, or set one up years ago with no reviews, no photos and no updated opening hours. You do not need to be exceptional. You just need to be the one who made the effort. That is a different motivation from “improve your visibility”, but a much more concrete one.
Both tools complement each other and you do not need to choose between them. But if you are deciding where to invest your first hour, GBP puts you on the map, literally.
How GBP appears in Google results: the Local Pack
When someone types a query with local intent (“dentist New York”, “cafe near me”, “accountant New York”), Google often displays a special block of results above the standard organic links. This block is called the Local Pack, sometimes the “3-pack” because it shows three businesses.
The Local Pack displays:
- business name and primary category
- rating and number of reviews
- address and opening hours
- a button to call or get directions
Clicking on one of those businesses opens a detailed profile, all within Google, without going to a website. For someone looking for an urgent service, that is more than enough to decide who to call.
If your business is not in the Local Pack, you effectively do not exist for that search. Regardless of how good your website looks.
What determines who appears?
Google uses three main signals:
- relevance (does your profile match the search query)
- proximity (are you physically close to the person searching)
- prominence (how many reviews you have, how active and up-to-date the profile is)
An optimised Google Business Profile directly influences all three.
How to set up Google Business Profile step by step
The whole process takes around 15 to 20 minutes, plus a few days waiting for verification. No technical knowledge required.
Step 1: sign in to a Google account
You need an active Gmail or Google Account. A business email separate from your personal one is recommended (e.g. info@yourbusiness.com), but it is not mandatory.
Step 2: go to google.com/business
Click “Manage profile” or “Add your business”. Google walks you through a setup wizard that is intuitive enough to follow without any instructions.
Step 3: enter your business name and category
The name must be your actual business name, without adding keywords like “New York hairdresser cheap best”. Google penalises this with profile suspension. The category matters more than it seems because it directly affects which searches you appear in. If you are a dentist, choose “Dental clinic”, not just “Doctor”.
Step 4: choose your business type
There are three situations here:
- Physical location (restaurant, salon, clinic) where clients come to you: enter the address
- Mobile service (plumber, electrician, cleaning) where you go to clients: choose “service area”, your address is then not shown publicly
- Combined: clients come to you and you also go to them (e.g. a salon that also offers home visits) – there is a hybrid option for this too
It is worth highlighting that mobile service businesses are systematically underrepresented on GBP. Many plumbers, electricians and similar tradespeople assume the profile is only for businesses with a shop or office. The direct consequence is that in those categories the Local Pack is less competitive than in categories with physical locations, which means less competition for anyone who sets things up properly.
Step 5: enter your contact details
Phone number and website. Double-check they are accurate and identical to what appears on your website. Inconsistent data across different places confuses Google and negatively affects your local ranking.
Step 6: verify your profile
Verification proves to Google that the business is real and that you manage it. Without it, the profile does not appear in results.
The most common method is a postcard with a PIN code sent to the business address, arriving within 5 to 14 days. Faster methods via phone or email exist but are not available to everyone. If more than 14 days have passed with no postcard, you can request a new one through the profile dashboard.
That wait feels like an administrative nuisance, but look at it this way too: that small step is precisely what causes enough people to abandon the process. In practice it means there are fewer verified competitors in your category than there would otherwise be. Patience here has direct business value.
What to optimise after setting up
Setting up the profile is just the beginning. Most business owners enter the basic details and stop there. That is exactly where the difference between a profile that brings in clients and one that merely exists starts to show.
Business description
You have 750 characters. Describe what you do, for whom and in which cities or regions you operate. Work in the terms your customers actually search for, without forcing it.
Secondary categories
Beyond your primary category, you can add secondary ones. A mechanic who also services air conditioning units can add “Air conditioning repair shop” and appear for both searches.
Photos
Profiles with photos get significantly more clicks than those without, according to Google’s own documentation. Add a photo of the exterior (so clients recognise the place when they arrive), interior, services or work in progress. A logo and cover photo are the bare minimum.
Opening hours
Update them every time something changes, including public holidays and annual leave. A client who arrives because the profile says “open” and finds the doors locked is not leaving five stars.
Reviews
Reviews are one of the strongest signals for the Local Pack. Ask satisfied clients to leave a review, in person or via a QR code that links directly to your review page. Reply to every review, positive and negative. Google tracks activity, and potential clients read the responses.
One thing most advice skips: the effect of reviews is not linear. The difference between zero and ten reviews, in terms of both ranking and visitor trust, is far greater than the difference between forty and fifty. The first few reviews build the signal that your business actually exists and operates. A profile with zero reviews is treated by Google with a degree of scepticism regardless of everything else you have done. For a business just setting up its profile, the first ten reviews are not “part of the strategy”. They are the condition for the strategy to work at all.
Posts
GBP has a posts feature, similar to a social media update. You can publish a promotion, a new service or a note about holiday opening hours. Posts do not rank directly, but they signal to Google that the profile is active.
When Google Business Profile is not enough on its own
GBP is the foundation of local visibility, but it is not the whole story.
If you are in a more competitive segment, or if your competitors already have well-optimised profiles with plenty of reviews, simply creating a profile will not be enough to overtake them. That is when local citations, consistent data across all online directories, locally focused website content and technical SEO come into play.
Those are the elements covered by local SEO as a complete strategy. We will be writing about each one separately in this blog.
For now, if you do not have a GBP set up yet, it is one hour of effort that pays back many times over.
FAQ
You can. A website is not a requirement for creating a profile. That said, a profile linked to a website comes across as more credible and gives Google more context to work with.
Google sometimes automatically creates profiles based on data pulled from other websites. This happens more often than people realise, and there is a hidden problem with it: your business may already exist on Maps with an incorrect address, an old phone number or the wrong category taken from some outdated directory. Until you claim ownership, that profile works against you because it is visible but showing data you do not control. The issue is not just “not being on Google” but “being on Google incorrectly”. Search for your business on Google or Maps and click “Is this your business?” to claim it and correct the details.
The postcard usually arrives within 5 to 14 days. If more than 14 days have passed, you can request a new one through the dashboard.
No. If you work on-site and travel to clients, you can choose “service area” and keep your address hidden from the public.
Generally no. Google does not allow it and duplicate profiles can lead to suspension. If you have multiple physical locations, each one can have its own profile.
