What is a Google Business Profile, and is it free?

A Google Business Profile is the listing that shows your business on Google Search and Google Maps: the box with your name, hours, phone number, photos and reviews that people see when they look you up. And yes, it is free. Google's own help center says you can manage how your business shows up on Maps and Search "at no charge". Here is what the profile is, what goes on it, who is allowed to have one, and where money does come into the picture.

What it is, in plain words

Search for any local business by name and a panel appears next to or above the results, with a map pin, a star rating, opening hours and buttons to call or get directions. Open Google Maps and tap a pin, and you see the same information. That is a Business Profile.

You do not design it like a website. You fill in facts about your business, Google checks them, and Google decides how to show them. Customers add to it too, above all through their reviews.

If you remember the name Google My Business, it is the same thing. Google renamed it to Google Business Profile in November 2021 and moved the day-to-day work into Google Search and the Google Maps app, so a single-location business no longer needs a separate tool.

What goes on a profile

Google's help page lists what an owner can edit. The parts that matter most for a small business:

• business name and category
• address and map pin, or a service area if you go to your customers
• opening hours, including special hours for holidays
• phone number and website
• photos and videos
• a short business description
• your menu, services or products

Two things to know before you start typing. First, Google reviews your changes before they show up on the profile, so an edit is not always live right away. Second, once the profile is verified, you also get numbers: how many people viewed it on Search and Maps, what they searched for, and how many called, asked for directions or clicked through to your website. Google shows these performance numbers only for verified profiles.

Is it really free

The profile itself costs nothing to create, verify or keep up to date. What can cost money is everything you might choose to buy around it. Here is the honest split:

None of the paid rows is required. A profile with correct hours, real photos and answered reviews works without any of them. If you are weighing up the website row, we broke the numbers down in How much does a small business website cost?

Who can have one

Not every business qualifies. Google's guidelines say you can create a profile if your business "either has a physical location that customers can visit, or travels to customers where they are". In practice:

• A shop, cafe, salon or clinic with a door customers walk through: yes.
• A plumber, cleaner or contractor who drives to customers: yes, with a service area instead of a public address. Google says the service area should not reach farther than about 2 hours of driving from where the business is based.
• An online-only store: no. Google says Business Profiles are not for online-only businesses.
• A P.O. box or a mailbox address: not accepted as an address.
• A virtual office or a desk in a co-working space: only if it is staffed during your business hours.

The name rules trip up a lot of owners. Use the name on your sign and your receipts, nothing more. Google does not allow taglines, phone numbers, web addresses or extra keywords stuffed into the business name. "Rosa's Bakery" is fine. "Rosa's Bakery - Best Cakes in Austin" is not.

The calls you can hang up on

Once your business is on Google, expect calls from people who say they work "with Google" or "for Google" and warn that your listing is about to disappear unless you pay. Google's help center is clear about this: it will never ask you for payment information over the phone or guarantee you a special spot in its products. Its advice is simple: if someone calls pretending to be from Google, hang up.

In the US you can report these calls to the Federal Trade Commission and add your number to the National Do Not Call Registry at donotcall.gov or by calling 1-888-382-1222.

Getting your profile, in short

1. Use a Google account that belongs to the business, not the personal account of an employee who may leave one day.
2. Search for your business on Google or Google Maps. If a listing already exists, claim it. If not, add your business.
3. Fill in the name, category, address or service area, hours and phone number.
4. Verify the profile. Until you do, you cannot manage it on Search and Maps.
5. Add a handful of real photos: the outside, the inside, your work, the team.

That is the whole setup. The ongoing part is smaller but easy to forget: change the hours before a holiday, reply to each new review, swap in fresh photos now and then. A profile that says "open" on a day you are closed costs you a customer and, usually, a grumpy review. If you are also deciding where your social media time should go, our simple social media plan for a small business puts the profile next to the other networks.

If you would rather not think about it

Our Reviews & Google Profile service is a monthly add-on to any of our posting plans, at $39 a month. We reply to every new Google and Facebook review, keep your hours, services and photos current on your Google profile, and give you a heads-up when a review needs your personal attention. You stay the owner of the profile and add us as a manager. If you enjoy answering reviews yourself and remember to update your holiday hours, you do not need us for this. The details are on the pricing page.