Google Business Profile · Part of Growth
Google Business Profile setup and upkeep.
The free listing that puts you on Google Maps is the most important page you do not own. Here is how to set it up right, keep it current and avoid getting it suspended.
Sample data · “Your Business”, Oxford, AL
Quick answer
What is a Google Business Profile?
A Google Business Profile is the free listing Google shows for your business in Search and on Google Maps: your name, category, hours, phone, photos and reviews. It is what puts a local business in the map results. Operation Buildup sets it up and keeps it current as part of the $399 Growth plan, and the profile stays in your name.
Set it up right
Six decisions that shape the profile.
Most profile problems trace back to one of these six choices being rushed on day one.
Claim and verify it
Search your business name on Google. If a listing exists, claim it; if not, create one. Google then verifies you, often by a short video of your location, signage or tools. Until it is verified you cannot fully manage it.
Use your real name
The name must be the one on your sign and your paperwork. Adding a town or service to it (“Your Business Best Plumber Oxford”) is against Google’s guidelines and a common reason for suspension.
Pick the primary category carefully
The primary category is the strongest signal of what you are. Choose the single most specific one that describes the whole business, then add only the few others that truly apply. Google asks for the fewest categories that describe your core business.
Storefront or service area
If customers come to you, show the address. If you travel to them and have no staffed storefront, Google’s guidelines say to hide the address and list the towns or counties you serve instead.
Hours and phone
Real hours, including holidays, and a local number that a person answers. Wrong hours are one of the fastest ways to earn a bad review.
Services and description
List each service in plain words. Write the description for a customer, not for a search engine: what you do, where, and how to reach you.
Service-area businesses
Plumbers, roofers and anyone who goes to the customer.
This is the question contractors ask most, and bad advice here causes most of the suspensions we hear about.
- Hiding your address is allowed, and expected. Google’s guidelines say a business that travels to customers and does not serve them at its address should hide the address and set a service area.
- You still have to be real. Google can ask for proof of the business at verification, even though the address is not shown publicly.
- No P.O. boxes or mail drops. Google does not accept P.O. boxes or remote mailboxes as a business address, and a virtual office does not qualify unless it is staffed during business hours.
- One profile per business. A service-area business gets one profile for the area it serves, not one per town. Reach other towns with town pages on your website instead.
- Both is fine. A shop with a counter that also sends crews out can show its address and list a service area.
Keep it identical everywhere
Same name, address and phone, to the letter.
It is dull work, and it is one of the few things in local search that is entirely in your control.
- 01
Why it matters
Customers, search engines and AI tools all compare your details across sites. When Google says one phone number and an old directory says another, people call the wrong one and machines become less sure the listings are the same business.
- 02
Where to check
Google, Bing, Apple Maps, Facebook, Yelp, the Better Business Bureau, your Chamber of Commerce listing, and your own website’s header, footer and contact page.
- 03
What usually drifts
An old phone number, a suite number written three ways, last year’s hours, and a former name still on one directory.
- 04
How to hold it
Write the exact name, address, phone and hours in one place. Copy from that every time. Recheck after any move, rename or new number.
Upkeep
A profile is never finished.
Google lets the public suggest edits to your profile, and it sometimes applies them. Somebody needs to look at it regularly.
Photos
- Real photos of your work, your crew, your trucks and your building
- Add a few every month, not fifty once
- Phone photos are fine if they are clear
- Skip stock photos; customers can tell
Posts
- Short updates that show on your profile
- A finished job, a seasonal reminder, a change in hours
- A photo, two or three sentences and the town
- Old posts fade, so post steadily
Questions
- Google has been retiring the old public questions-and-answers section on profiles
- More and more, Google answers customer questions itself from your profile, reviews and website
- So put the answers where it can read them: a full services list and a real FAQ on your site
- If your profile still shows questions, answer them yourself
Every month
- Check hours before each holiday
- Read and answer new reviews
- Look for edits suggested by the public
- Confirm the phone number still rings
Suspensions
What gets a profile suspended.
Common causes
- Keywords or town names added to the business name
- A P.O. box, mail drop or unstaffed virtual office as the address
- Showing an address customers cannot actually visit
- More than one profile for the same business
- A business that never meets customers in person
- Fake reviews or other prohibited content
How to stay clear
- Use your real-world name, exactly
- Hide the address if you travel to customers
- Keep one profile per business or real location
- Keep details accurate and current
- Earn reviews honestly
- If suspended, fix the cause first, then use Google’s appeal form
What it costs
One monthly price, in writing.
Profile setup and upkeep are part of Growth: claimed, verified, categories and services set, hours kept current, new photos and posts added, and your details matched across the listing sites.
Keeps the site online, safe and backed up. No marketing work.
- Hosting
- Security & updates
- Backups
- Small changes
- A local person to call or text
- Everything in Care, plus:
- Every finished job becomes a post on your site
- Google Business Profile set up and kept current
- Same name, address and phone on every listing site
- 2 new service or town pages a month, plus question pages
- Reviews shown on your site, with an alert and a drafted reply for each new one
- A monthly check on whether ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity and Google AI mention you
- Weekly scan for broken links and wrong phone numbers
- A plain-English monthly report
Ad spend, photo day, a call tracking number and extra pages are add-ons, quoted when you ask. Verified 501(c)(3) nonprofits get 15% off.
Questions
Google Business Profile questions, plainly answered.
Does a Google Business Profile cost anything?
No. The profile is free from Google. Our Growth plan charges for the work of setting it up and keeping it current, along with the rest of the plan.
Can I hide my home address?
Yes. If you travel to customers and do not serve them at your address, Google’s guidelines say to hide the address and set a service area. This is the normal setup for most trades run from home.
Can I have a profile for every town I serve?
No. Google allows one profile per business, or one per real staffed location. To be found in other towns, build a page for each town on your website.
Who owns the profile if you manage it?
You do. We are added as a manager, and you stay the owner. If we ever part ways you remove our access and keep everything.
Someone else claimed my listing. What now?
Google has a process to request ownership from the current owner. It takes some days. We walk you through it, and you end up as the owner.
My profile was suspended. Can you help?
Yes. The first step is finding which guideline was broken and fixing it, then filing Google’s appeal with proof of the business. Google decides, and we cannot promise the outcome or the timing.
Does the profile replace a website?
No. The profile gets you onto the map; the website gives customers and Google something to read about each service and town. They work together.
Contact
Ask for a preview of your new site.
Tell us your business name and your current web address. We build the preview from your public info and text you the link.