Google Business Profile Optimization: Complete Guide

Claiming and Verifying

A profile shows to customers fully only once it’s verified: Google’s photo help says photos and videos “show up on Google only after you verify your Business Profile”, and performance data “is available only for verified Business Profiles.”

Google’s verification help sets the method: “Verification methods are automatically determined by Google and can’t be changed.” Depending on “your business type, public info, region, or business hours”, the options can include phone or text, email, a live video call, a video recording and mail. Two notes from the same page: postcard verification “isn’t available for all businesses”, and where video recording is offered, Google recommends it.

Changing the business name later can mean verifying again: Google’s editing help says “If you change your business name after it’s verified, you might need to verify your business again.”

Business Information

Google’s guidelines for representing your business and its editing help set the rules field by field:

Field	Google's rule
Name	"Your name should reflect your business's real-world name"
Address	"Create your Business Profile for your actual, real-world location"
Phone	"Use a local phone number instead of a central call center helpline number whenever possible"
Phone control	"The phone number must be under the direct control of the business"
Hours	Regular customer-facing hours, with special hours for holidays or special events
Description	"Do not exceed 750 characters in the description field"

The name. Google’s guidelines list what a name must not include: marketing taglines, store codes, trademark signs, fully capitalized words, hours, phone numbers or URLs, and special characters or irrelevant legal terms such as LLC. For example, a name like “Smith Plumbing, Fastest Emergency Plumber in Town” breaks the tagline rule; “Smith Plumbing” is the profile name.

The phone. You can add “up to 2 more phone numbers”, mobile or landline, but not fax, and Google doesn’t allow numbers “that redirect or ‘refer’ users to landing pages or phone numbers other than those of the actual business”.

The website link. Use the page that represents the location: the homepage for a single location, the location page for a multi-location business. Adding UTM parameters to the link lets you separate profile visits in your analytics.

Service areas. Businesses that visit customers set a service area and hide their address; the rules are in service-area business SEO. Keeping the same name, address and phone everywhere else is covered in NAP consistency.

Categories

Google’s guidelines say: “Use as few categories as possible to describe your overall core business”, choose ones “as specific as possible, but representative of your main business”, and “Do not use categories solely as keywords or to describe attributes of your business.” The test Google gives: categories should “complete the statement: ‘This business IS a’ rather than ‘this business HAS a.'”

Google also adds general categories itself: selecting “Golf Resort” implicitly includes “Resort Hotel”, “Hotel” and “Golf Course”, so you can skip categories that a more specific one already covers. A business that offers plumbing and heating chooses the one that describes its core business as primary, and adds the other only if the business also is one.

The Description

From Google’s editing help, the description should cover what you offer, what makes you special, how long you’ve been in business, and anything else useful to customers. It must not include URLs or HTML, and Google asks you to “Focus primarily on details about your business instead of details about promotions, prices, or sales.”

A workable order: what the business does and where, the main services, and one or two facts that set it apart. Promotional claims such as “best in town” don’t belong in it.

Photos and Videos

From Google’s photo and video guidelines:

Item	Requirement
Photo format	JPG or PNG
Photo size	Between 10 KB and 5 MB
Recommended resolution	720 px tall, 720 px wide
Minimum resolution	250 px tall, 250 px wide
Video file size	Up to 75 MB
Video resolution	720p or higher

Google says an exterior photo “helps customers recognize your business when they visit.” You can set a logo and a cover photo, though Google notes that setting a cover photo “doesn’t guarantee the cover photo will show up as the first image for your business.” Use real photos of the premises, the work and the team; newest uploads appear first on the profile.

Posts

Google’s posts help lists three post types:

• Updates: information about the business, with an optional photo, video and action button.
• Offers: require “a title, dates, and time”, and include a “View Offer” button.
• Events: a title, start and end dates and times.

Timing is the detail that matters for planning: “Posts older than 6 months are archived unless a date range is set.” Posts can be scheduled and set to repeat. Two cautions from the same page: posts with a phone number in the description “might get rejected” if the number can’t be verified as the business’s, and every post is reviewed against the posts content policy before it goes live. Post planning is covered in Google Posts and GBP features.

Questions and Answers

The Q&A feature has changed. Google’s Q&A API change log says the API “was discontinued on November 3, 2025”, and that Google is “in the process of updating the Q&A functionality and user experience.” Check what your own profile shows today rather than planning around how Q&A used to work, and keep the description, attributes and hours accurate, since those are the facts customers see.

Reviews

Google’s local ranking page says “More reviews and positive ratings can help your business’s local ranking”, and that replying “shows that you value their feedback.” Its sentence on replies speaks of standing out rather than of ranking: “Positive reviews and helpful replies can help your business stand out.” Reply to reviews, positive and negative, in a way that would make sense to a future customer reading them. Asking for reviews and handling negative ones are covered in local reviews management.

Measuring the Profile

The performance report shows interactions, searches with “The search terms people used to find your business”, views, and, where they apply, calls, direction requests, website clicks, bookings and other actions. Google notes three things worth knowing before reading the numbers:

• “Only metrics that apply to your business appear.”
• The data “includes views, searches, and actions from both organic search results and Google Ads.”
• “The searches metric is updated at the start of each month.”

Comparing searches for your business name with searches for your category or services in the search terms list can show whether the profile is reaching people who didn’t already know you. How the profile fits into local search as a whole is covered in local SEO fundamentals.

If the search terms in the performance report are mostly your business name, compare the primary category and the description with the services people search for; those are the fields that tell people who don’t know your name what you do.