Google Business Profile. What to fill in, and why a review from family can disappear

Someone looks on Google Maps for a business that can do a specific job this week. They find your profile. The category is vague, there is no description, the hours don't match the sign on your door, and the website link leads to a page that won't open. They scroll on to someone whose Google Business Profile is filled in properly.

Your profile is often the first thing a customer sees of you, before they ever visit your website. You fill it in once, and after that you only keep it up to date.

A Google Business Profile without questions and answers

Google has removed the questions and answers section from business profiles. A customer used to be able to ask something there, and you answered underneath. That conversation is no longer part of the profile.

Search now has AI Mode instead, which answers questions in full sentences. In its guide to AI features for site owners, Google asks them to keep their Business Profile information up to date. So it makes sense to fill in your profile so that it answers, on its own, the questions customers used to ask in that section. For example whether you travel to customers, which days you work and whether people need to book ahead.

Google also explains what local results depend on. It looks at how well a profile matches the search, how far the business is from the person searching, and how well known the business is. Google says plainly that there is no way to request or pay for a better local ranking.

Category and name

The first category you choose is the primary one. Google advises picking the one that best describes what your business does, and using as few categories as possible overall. The category should say what you are, not list everything you offer. Specific is better than general.

The name should be the one you really use, on your sign and on your website. Google's rules don't allow adding slogans or other unnecessary information to it. Google can suspend a profile for that. "Best plumber in town" does not belong in the name.

Description, services and hours

The description can be up to 750 characters and cannot contain links. Google wants useful information about your services and products in it, not promotions. Write in plain sentences what you do, for whom, where you work and how to get started, for example whether people need to book. Then read it as if you didn't know the business. If it still isn't clear what you do, write it again.

Add services one by one, each under the name a customer would type. "Car air conditioning repair" says more than "automotive services".

Hours should be the ones when you actually serve customers. Set special hours for public holidays and days off, so that nobody turns up at a locked door. Google notes that some businesses, such as those that work by appointment only, shouldn't list hours.

Service area and photos

If you go to your customers and don't receive them at your own address, Google says to hide the address and set a service area. That area shouldn't reach further than about two hours' drive from where the business is based.

Photos and videos show what you do. A real photo from work, of your premises or of a finished job, says more than a stock photo the customer has already seen on other businesses' pages.

The website link in the profile should lead to a site that works and says the same as the profile. The phone number and hours should match in both places. You can check the technical side of your site with our free website scan.

Reviews on your Google Business Profile

Google says that more reviews and positive ratings can help your local ranking. It also advises replying to reviews.

Ask real customers for a review once the work is done. Google gives you a link and a QR code for this, which you can send to a customer or print.

Google's rules here are strict. Among other things, they prohibit:

• paying for reviews, or offering discounts, gifts or free services in exchange for one, and rewarding someone for changing or removing a bad review,
• asking only happy customers for reviews, and discouraging negative ones,
• pressuring customers to leave a review on the spot,
• reviews written with a conflict of interest. Google gives current and former employees and family as examples.

So a review from your brother-in-law breaks the rules, even if it is honest, and Google can remove it.

Today, open your profile, choose "Edit profile" and read the description as if you were seeing the business for the first time. If it doesn't tell you what you do and where, start there, then send the review link to your most recent customers.