How to get your business on Google Maps: step by step

When someone searches for a service nearby, Google shows a map with a few businesses and their listings. Those listings come from the Google Business Profile. This guide explains how to create that profile, how to verify it and what to fill in so the listing helps the business show up.

What does a business need to show up on Google Maps?

It needs a verified Google Business Profile. That is the listing with the name, the address or service area, the hours, the photos and the reviews that people see on Maps and in Search. Setting it up is free and requires a Google account.

Before you start, have this information at hand:

• The real name of the business, as it appears on the storefront, the documents and the website.
• The address where customers are served, or the areas covered if the business works at the customer's location.
• The phone number and the website.
• The category that best describes the main activity.

How do you create or claim the profile?

According to Google's help on adding or claiming a Business Profile, there are two paths. The first one applies when the business is not on Google yet:

1. Go to business.google.com/add with the business's Google account.
2. Enter the name of the business and follow the steps on screen.
3. Fill in the details Google asks for.
4. Choose a verification option and complete it.

The second one applies when the listing already exists on Maps but the business does not manage it:

1. Search for the business name and the city in Google Maps.
2. Open the listing and select "Claim this business", then "Manage now".
3. Choose a verification option and follow the instructions.

Create the profile with a Google account that belongs to the business, not to a person who may leave tomorrow or to a vendor.

How do you verify a Google Business Profile?

Verification confirms that whoever manages the listing is responsible for the business. Google's verification page describes four methods:

The method is not a free choice: Google says it determines the available methods automatically and that they cannot be changed. It also notes that the review can take up to 5 business days. If the profile is eligible for video verification, Google recommends using it.

What should you fill in to show up in more searches?

In its tips to improve local ranking, Google explains that local results are mainly based on relevance, distance and prominence. Distance does not depend on the business. What does depend on it is a complete and accurate listing:

• Category. The most specific one that describes the main activity. The profile guidelines ask businesses to use as few categories as possible.
• Hours. The real ones, including special hours and holidays.
• Photos and videos. Of the place, the team and finished work.
• Services or products. With a short description of each one.
• Website and phone number. The same ones that appear on the website and on social media.

In Miami, where many people search in English and in Spanish, the business description can present the business in both languages.

What if the business has no storefront?

It can still show up, as a service-area business. Google's guidelines ask businesses to hide the address when they do not serve customers there, and the help page on service areas explains how to set them:

• Areas are added by city, by postal code or by another type of area.
• Up to 20 service areas can be added.
• The area should not extend beyond about 2 hours of driving time from where the business is based.

A plumber who covers Doral, Hialeah and Kendall, for example, hides the address and adds those areas.

Which mistakes can keep the listing hidden or get it suspended?

Google's guidelines and help pages set several limits:

• Adding keywords or the city to the name. The name has to be the real one, with no services or locations added.
• Using a virtual office or a PO box. Google does not accept them as the address of a profile.
• Showing the address without serving customers there. Service-area businesses have to hide it.
• Paying to rank higher on the map. Google states that there is no way to request or pay for a better local ranking.

How do you keep the profile up to date?

A verified profile is not the end of the work. Google recommends replying to customer reviews and notes that more reviews and positive ratings can help local ranking. A simple routine helps:

1. Update the hours before every holiday or change of season.
2. Ask for a review after every job and reply to all of them, including the negative ones.
3. Add new photos when the place, the team or the products change.
4. Check that the phone number and the website are still the same everywhere.

The profile is one part of local SEO for Miami businesses, which also covers the website, the service pages and measurement. At TersLab, with a team in Miami and in Buenos Aires, that work is part of the SEO and AI positioning service and builds on websites designed in English and Spanish.