What Is a Google Business Profile and Why Does Your Business Need One?

Google describes Business Profiles as a way for businesses that interact with customers in person to appear on Search and Maps.

What information can customers see?

Depending on your business and profile, customers may see information such as:

• Business name
• Category
• Address or service area
• Opening hours
• Phone number
• Website
• Photos
• Reviews
• Products or services
• Other customer-facing information

This makes your Business Profile an important part of the journey between someone searching for a business and someone making contact.

Why is it important for small businesses?

Suppose someone searches for a service in your local area.

They may see a collection of businesses in Google's local results before they ever visit a website.

Having an accurate Business Profile gives your business an opportunity to appear in this part of the search experience.

Google says local results are primarily influenced by relevance, distance and prominence, and that complete and accurate business information can help Google match a profile with relevant searches.

Your profile needs to be accurate

Check the basics carefully.

Is your phone number correct?

Are your opening hours up to date?

Is your website link working?

Is the address accurate?

Does the business category accurately describe what you do?

Incorrect information can frustrate customers and create unnecessary barriers to enquiries.

Reviews matter, but they are not everything

Your Business Profile may also display customer reviews.

Genuine reviews can help prospective customers understand other people's experiences with your business. They can form an important part of the trust-building process.

However, your focus should be on delivering good service and making it easy for satisfied customers to leave honest feedback.

Add useful photographs

For many local businesses, photographs make the profile more useful.

Consider adding photographs of your premises, team, products, completed work or other relevant aspects of your business.

Customers want to know what they can expect.

It is free to create or claim

Google states that eligible businesses can add or claim a Business Profile at no charge.

That makes it one of the more accessible digital marketing tools available to small businesses.

It is not a replacement for your website

A Business Profile and a website serve different purposes.

Your profile helps customers discover and evaluate your business in Google's local search environment.

Your website gives you far more space to explain your services, answer questions, demonstrate expertise and guide customers towards an enquiry.

The strongest approach is therefore to make the two work together.