How to set up a Google Business Profile without getting suspended

A Google Business Profile is the panel that shows your hours, phone number, photos and reviews on Google Search and Google Maps. For a local business it often gets more views than the website. It’s free, and Google treats it as the single most important source for whether, and where, you show up in the map results.

Set it up in this order

1. Search for your business firstSomeone may have created a profile for you already, or Google may have made one from public data. Search your business name on Google Maps. If it exists, use “Claim this business” instead of creating a duplicate; two profiles for one location split your reviews and can get both flagged.
2. Use your real-world nameExactly what’s on your sign, your truck or your paperwork. “Smith Plumbing” is right. “Smith Plumbing | Best Plumber Myrtle Beach Emergency 24/7” breaks Google’s guidelines, and it’s one of the fastest ways to a suspension.
3. Pick the most specific primary categoryThe primary category matters more than anything else you choose. Pick the narrowest one that is true (“Family law attorney” rather than “Lawyer”), then add a few secondary categories for the other things you really do.
4. Decide: storefront or service areaIf customers come to you, list the address. If you go to them and don’t serve people at your address, set a service area and hide the address. Listing a home address customers can’t visit, a PO box or a virtual office is against the rules.
5. VerifyGoogle decides how: a video of your location and signage, a phone or text code, or sometimes a postcard. Have your signage, tools or business paperwork ready to show on camera. Don’t edit the name or address while verification is pending.
6. Fill in everythingHours (including holiday hours), phone, website, services with short descriptions, a few real photos of the place, the team and the work, and a short business description written for people.

What gets profiles suspended

If you are suspended, fix the cause first, then file a reinstatement request with evidence: a photo of your signage, a utility bill or business license with the address, and photos of the work. Appeals without evidence rarely succeed.

• Keywords or city names added to the business name.
• An address that isn’t a staffed location customers can visit, when the profile shows it.
• More than one profile for the same business at the same location.
• Big changes made all at once (name, address and category in one edit), especially on a new profile.
• Reviews bought, traded or written by the owner’s friends.

Keep it alive

Profiles that are updated tend to look trustworthy to customers. Answer reviews, add photos every month or two, post when something changes, and fix your hours before every holiday. Our free Google listing check compares what your profile says with what your website says, because the two drifting apart is one of the most common local SEO problems we find.