Your GBP cover photo is the first visual impression you make on potential customers. Most businesses upload a logo or a random photo and call it done.
Every time I audit a new Google Business Profile, I ask the same first question: what does the cover photo show? The answer tells me almost everything about how seriously this business is taking its local SEO.
Most cover photos I see are one of four things: a blurry logo that looks like it was exported from a 2009 PowerPoint, a stock photo that has nothing to do with the actual business, an exterior shot taken at night from a bad angle, or, worst of all, the profile hasn't set a cover photo at all and Google has auto-selected the most random photo from their uploads.
None of those are doing the work your cover photo should be doing.
Your Google Business Profile cover photo appears prominently in both Google Maps and Google Search, it's the first visual impression potential customers see before they decide to click on your listing.
When someone searches for your category in Google Maps and your listing appears, they see: your business name, your star rating, your review count, and your cover photo. In that moment, before they've read a single word, your photo has already influenced whether they keep looking or move to the next result.
This isn't a minor marketing detail. It's a conversion lever.
📊 Flento Data: GBP profiles with a professionally composed, business-specific cover photo receive 35% more click-throughs from Maps search results than profiles with logos or generic photos as their cover.
⚠️ Common Mistake: Uploading your logo as the cover photo. Logos aren't designed for the cover photo format, they look small, lack context, and tell a potential customer nothing about your business environment or offering. Use your logo in the designated logo field instead.
Action Step: Open your GBP right now and look at your current cover photo. Could a stranger tell what kind of business you are from that photo alone? If not, it needs to change.
Google's cover photo requirements are specific, uploading the wrong size or format causes cropping that can make even a good photo look unprofessional.
Technical specifications:
Display contexts: Your cover photo appears differently depending on the display context. In Google Maps listings, it's displayed as a wide banner. In the Google Search knowledge panel (when someone searches your business name), it may be cropped differently. Check how your cover photo looks in both contexts after uploading.
💡 Pro Tip: Export your cover photo at exactly 1080 x 608 pixels before uploading. Don't let Google resize it, you lose control over what gets cropped. Frame your key visual content in the center of the frame to be safe across all display sizes.
The best cover photo is the one that shows your business at its best, specific to your category.
Restaurants and cafes: Your most visually appealing signature dish or drink, OR your most inviting interior angle. Food looks better with natural light and a clean background. If you have outdoor seating that's an asset, show it.
Retail stores: Your product selection in a visually organized display, OR a warm exterior shot showing your storefront. Avoid cluttered inventory shots, negative space makes product photos more appealing.
Professional services (law firms, accountants, financial advisors): Your team or your office. Approachable faces and a professional environment build trust before any words are read. Don't use a stock photo of a handshake or a gavel, it signals inauthenticity immediately.
Service businesses (plumbers, HVAC, landscapers): A branded service vehicle or a well-framed "after" result photo. A clean truck with your logo is a strong visual trust signal. A beautiful landscaping result shows capability.
Healthcare (dental, medical, therapy): Your reception or waiting area, clean, welcoming, not clinical. If you're a pediatric practice, show your child-friendly space. Avoid operating room or clinical procedure photos.
Salons and spas: Your interior at its most aesthetically appealing, ideally styled and lit well. Before-and-after result photos work well if your service produces visible transformations.
Fitness (gyms, yoga studios): Your practice space during a class or training session, ideally with people in it (with permission). Empty equipment racks are less compelling than an active, vibrant space.
The technical specs tell you what Google accepts. These principles tell you what actually converts.
Clear subject: One main focal point. A photo trying to show everything at once often shows nothing effectively. Choose one thing and make it look great.
Good lighting: Natural light or professional lighting. Avoid photos taken in dim conditions or with harsh overhead fluorescent lighting. For food, window light. For exteriors, morning or golden hour.
No text overlays: Adding your business name or promotional text to the cover photo looks unprofessional and can violate Google's photo guidelines. Your business name appears under the photo automatically, the image should stand on its own.
Real, not stock: Google's quality evaluators, and your customers, can tell the difference between a stock photo and a real photo of your business. Real always wins.
Current: Don't use a photo from 5 years ago if your space has changed. If you renovated, updated branding, or added significant services, your cover photo should reflect what your business looks like today.
Horizontal composition: The 16:9 format rewards horizontal compositions. Avoid vertical or square photos that will get awkwardly cropped.
🔥 Quick Win: Pull up your 3 top-ranking competitor listings and look at their cover photos. Which one would you click on if you were a customer? That's the benchmark for your cover photo.
Your logo: The logo field exists for your logo. The cover photo should show your business environment, product, or service.
Blurry or low-resolution images: Even a great composition is ruined by pixelation. Use a photo taken on a modern smartphone in good lighting, no image editing skills required.
Generic stock photos: A dentist using a stock photo of teeth, a lawyer using a stock photo of a courthouse, a restaurant using a stock photo of food that's not on their menu. These signal that you haven't invested in your own visual brand.
Text-heavy graphics: Promotional banners, seasonal sale graphics, and infographics don't belong in the cover photo slot. They look like ads rather than authentic business photos, and Google may suppress them.
Competitor's photos: This sounds obvious, but Google's algorithm detects and removes photos that match existing images at other businesses.
Outdated photos: Using a photo from your original opening when your space has since changed is a trust problem. New customers expect to see what they'll experience today.
⚠️ Common Mistake: Leaving your cover photo as whatever Google selected as the default from your uploads. Google's auto-selection algorithm often picks the most recently uploaded photo, which may not be your most flattering or relevant image.
Updating your cover photo takes less than 5 minutes once you have the right image ready.
Step-by-step process:
How often to update: There's no minimum frequency requirement, but updating your cover photo every 6-12 months, or when your business changes significantly, keeps your listing feeling current. Seasonal cover photos (holiday decorations, summer exterior) can also serve as activity signals.
According to Google's guidelines for business photos, high-quality photos help customers discover your business and make better decisions about whether to visit. The cover photo is your highest-visibility photo, treat it that way.
Flento's Google Business Profile Optimizer monitors the completeness and freshness of your GBP photos, including your cover photo. When your cover photo is outdated or your overall photo count falls below best-practice thresholds, Flento flags it.
Flento's photo freshness tracking also helps multi-location businesses ensure every location's cover photo is current and meets quality standards, not just the flagship location.
Does the cover photo affect my Google Maps ranking? Directly, no, photo type isn't a direct ranking signal. Indirectly, yes, a compelling cover photo increases click-through rate from search results, and click-through rate does influence local ranking signals. Better photo = more clicks = better ranking over time.
Can I change my cover photo whenever I want? Yes. You can update it as frequently as you like. Changes typically take 24-48 hours to appear in search results.
What if Google keeps overriding my cover photo choice? This sometimes happens when users submit alternative photos. If you find your cover photo changing without your input, check your GBP for user-submitted photos that Google may have selected. You can flag inappropriate user photos for removal.
Should I hire a photographer for my cover photo? For most businesses, a good smartphone camera in good lighting produces a professional-quality cover photo. If your space or product is visually complex, a professional photographer is worth it. For food photography specifically, professional photos dramatically outperform smartphone photos.
Can I use a video as my cover photo? No. GBP allows video uploads, but the cover photo slot requires a still image. Videos appear separately in your media gallery.
