Google Business Profile: the free listing that helps local customers find you

A Google Business Profile is the free panel with your map location or service area, hours, photos, and reviews. For an eligible local business in Canada or the United States, it gives customers another way to find and contact you. Keep it accurate alongside your own website; neither a completed listing nor a live website guarantees new customers.

Claim it (or wrestle it back)

Check Google’s eligibility rules first. A business that meets customers at a genuine location or travels to serve them can be eligible; an online-only business does not qualify merely because it has a website.

1. Go to google.com/business and sign in with a Google account you own, following the same ownership principle as domains.
2. Search for your business. It may already exist (Google auto-creates listings). Claim it.
3. Use the verification methods Google offers for your profile. Google decides which methods are available. If you travel to customers and do not receive them at your business address, use the service-area setup and hide that address from public display. Google may still need it for verification.

If an old employee or web company owns your listing: follow Google’s ownership-request instructions. The existing owner has three days to respond; after that, you may be offered a claim/verification option, but it is not guaranteed. Service-area ownership requests use the support route described there.

If verification fails or the profile is suspended, use the Business Profile troubleshooting guide. Identify the notice before changing details or creating a duplicate listing.

The “Google listing” sales call

Google does not charge you to create or keep a Business Profile. A caller may be a legitimate marketing company, an aggressive seller, or an impersonator. Do not grant account access, read out a verification code, install remote-access software, or pay to prevent the free listing from being removed.

End the call and sign in through business.google.com yourself. Google publishes specific guidance for identifying calls from Google and asks businesses to report suspicious calls. A real agency can explain its service in writing without pretending the listing itself has a fee. For repeated spam, use the phone-screening and voicemail routine and test that unknown genuine customers can still leave an enquiry.

Fill it like you mean it

Accurate, complete information helps customers understand the business. Google explains local ranking in terms of relevance, distance, and prominence; filling every field is not a promise to outrank another business.

• Category: choose a specific category that accurately describes the business. Add secondary categories only for services you actually provide.
• Hours: exact, including holidays. Nothing burns trust like “Open” on Google and a locked door.
• Photos: use genuine images of your work and relevant business assets, with permission to show people or customer property. Do not invent a storefront for a service-area business.
• Services and prices: describe what you actually offer. If displaying prices, label CAD or USD and make the scope and applicable tax treatment clear.
• The description: what you do, where, since when, and what you’re known for. Plain words your customer would type.
• Website + booking links: point at the site you now own outright.

Reviews: the flywheel

Reviews help customers assess your work. Ask for honest feedback consistently, following the review guide and Google’s review policy:

1. In your profile dashboard, copy the official review link. It opens the review form; the customer chooses the rating.
2. Ask real customers once they can judge the completed work: “Would you share an honest review? Here’s the direct link.” Do not select only customers you expect to leave positive ratings. Follow the applicable email or text rules for the channel you use.
3. Reply to every review, good and bad, briefly and like a human. Prospects read the replies as much as the reviews.
4. Do not buy or fake reviews, or offer discounts, gifts, or other incentives in exchange for them.

Keep it accurate

Review hours, contact details, and services regularly, and update them when the business changes. Add relevant recent-work photos and respond to reviews without exposing private customer information. Confirm the website and contact links still work.

Make it fit the area you actually serve

The core profile rules apply in both Canada and the United States. Use the actual province or state, cities, and service area you cover. A domain ending or a local phone number does not establish profile eligibility, and there is no general promise that Canadian businesses will attract customers faster than US businesses.

If the listing and website work but suitable enquiries are not arriving, use the first-customer experiment to check visibility, the offer, and the contact path before buying another marketing tool.