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A properly set up Google Business Profile is the foundation of local SEO.
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A Google Business Profile (GBP) is the most important local SEO asset any business can have. It controls how you appear on Google Maps, in the Local Pack results, and in voice search responses. Done right from day one, it gives your business an immediate competitive advantage over the thousands of businesses with incomplete or unclaimed profiles.
This checklist covers every section of a Google Business Profile setup, in the order you should complete them, so that your listing is fully optimized before a single customer ever finds you.
If you want to go deeper, our article on GBP holiday hours walks through how to set special and holiday hours on your profile.
Step 1: Search for your business first. Go to Google Business Profile and search for your business name. If someone else has already created a listing for your business — a previous owner, an employee, or Google automatically — you will need to claim it rather than create a new one.
Step 2: Claim an existing listing. If your business appears in search results, click "Claim this business" and follow the verification prompts. If you find a duplicate listing, do not create another one — report the duplicate through Google's support channel.
Step 3: Create a new listing. If no listing exists, click "Add your business to Google" and complete the initial creation form. You will need to enter your business name, category, and location before proceeding.
💡 Pro Tip: Never create a new listing for a business that already has an existing one — even an unclaimed one. Creating duplicates confuses Google and can reduce both listings' rankings.
For more on this, see our guide to local SEO without a website, which covers how far you can get in local search with no website at all.
Business name: Enter your exact legal business name as it appears on your signage, website, and other official materials. Do not add keywords, city names, or taglines to your business name. Example: "Smith's Plumbing" not "Smith's Plumbing — Best Plumber in Austin TX."
Primary category: Choose the most specific category that describes what your business primarily does. Google uses this as a primary ranking signal. If you are a "Pediatric Dentist," use that instead of the generic "Dentist." You cannot invent categories — choose from Google's list.
Secondary categories: Add up to 9 additional categories for other significant services you offer. A dental office might add "Cosmetic Dentist," "Orthodontist," and "Emergency Dental Service" as secondaries. Only add categories that genuinely represent your services.
We break down how to show up when customers search for businesses open right now in our guide to open now searches.
Physical address: Enter your complete street address. Google verifies this during the verification process — it must be accurate.
Hide your address (service-area businesses): If you serve customers at their location (plumbers, landscapers, caterers, mobile services), enable the "I deliver goods and services to my customers" option and hide your address. Service area businesses that leave their address visible rank lower in areas outside their immediate address.
Service area: If you hide your address, set your service area using cities, zip codes, or regions. Be realistic — only add areas where you actively take jobs. Google can detect and penalize inflated service areas.
Map pin placement: After entering your address, verify that the map pin is correctly placed on your building or parking lot entrance. An incorrectly placed pin can cause customers to arrive at the wrong location.
Phone number: Use your primary business phone number — ideally a local number with your area code. Avoid toll-free numbers for local businesses if possible (local numbers signal proximity). Ensure the number is answered during your listed hours.
Website URL: Link to your business homepage or a relevant location page. Do not link to a social media profile, a directory listing, or a third-party booking platform.
Booking link: If you take appointments or reservations, add your booking URL in the "Appointment links" field. This appears as a "Book" button on your listing.
Regular hours: Add your opening and closing times for every day you are open. If you have different hours for different services (e.g., the lobby closes at 5 PM but the drive-through stays open until 8 PM), use the "More hours" section to add service-specific hours.
Holiday hours: Add special hours for every upcoming public holiday. Google notifies you before major holidays to update your hours. Businesses that do not update their holiday hours frustrate customers who arrive at a closed location.
Temporarily closed: If your business closes for vacation, renovation, or other reasons, mark yourself as "Temporarily closed" rather than deleting your hours. This preserves your ranking while communicating the closure.
24/7 businesses: If you are genuinely open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, set each day's hours to "Open 24 hours" rather than manually entering midnight to midnight.
⚠️ Common Mistake: Leaving hours blank or incomplete. A GBP without listed hours ranks lower and causes customer frustration. Always complete all seven days.
Your description appears on your GBP in the "From the business" section. It is 750 characters maximum and is read by both potential customers and Google.
What to include:
What to avoid:
Services section: This is one of the most impactful and most often skipped sections. Add every service you offer with a name, category, price (if applicable), and description. Google uses service descriptions as a ranking signal for service-specific local searches.
Products section: If you sell physical products, add them here with photos, descriptions, and prices. Products appear directly on your Maps listing and can rank in product-specific searches.
📊 Flento Data: Businesses with 10+ services listed in their GBP services section rank for 2.3x more local search queries than those with no services listed.
Attributes are checkboxes that tell Google and customers specific facts about your business. They appear prominently on your listing and are used by Google to match businesses to filtered searches.
Review and enable every applicable attribute:
Enable "Accepting new patients" / "Accepting new clients" if applicable — this is one of the most searched attributes in healthcare and service businesses.
Photos are one of the highest-impact GBP optimizations available. Businesses with photos receive 42% more direction requests and 35% more website clicks than those without.
Required photo types to add:
Photo specifications:
Add at minimum 10 photos before publishing. Add 5+ new photos every 90 days to signal an active, engaged listing to Google.
💡 Pro Tip: Use Flento to monitor your GBP photo performance and track which photo types generate the most profile views over time.
The Questions and Answers section allows anyone to ask questions about your business — and anyone to answer them. Left unmanaged, this section can contain incorrect information posted by strangers.
Best practice:
Google requires verification before your listing goes fully live and eligible to rank. Verification options vary by business type and location:
Complete verification as soon as possible. An unverified listing cannot rank in Google Maps.
Google Business Profile Posts are updates that appear directly on your listing. They expire after 7 days (except Offers and Events) and must be refreshed regularly.
Post types:
Post cadence: Aim for at minimum 2 posts per month. Businesses that post consistently signal an active, engaged listing to Google's algorithm.
Google allows customers to send direct messages to your business from your GBP listing. Enable this feature and respond to all messages within 24 hours. Google tracks response time — slow response can affect your listing's visibility and your ability to keep messaging enabled.
After your listing is verified and complete, monitor these metrics monthly through your GBP Insights dashboard:
🔥 Quick Win: Once your GBP is live, sign up for Flento to track your Google Maps rankings across your entire service area. Most businesses are surprised to discover how dramatically their visibility varies even within a few miles of their address. Knowing exactly where you rank — and where you do not — is the first step to a consistent local SEO strategy.
Before you consider your Google Business Profile "done," verify every item below is complete:
A complete, verified, and actively maintained Google Business Profile is the single most powerful free marketing tool available to any local business. Invest the 2 to 3 hours it takes to do it right at launch — and you will be building local visibility from day one.