How to Set Up Google Business Profile Properly: A UK Guide

Setting up a Google Business Profile is the single highest-return marketing task for most small UK businesses, takes about an hour, and is completely free. A properly optimised profile will get you into the local "map pack" results, generate enquiries directly through Google, and dramatically improve your visibility for "near me" searches. Here is exactly how to do it properly.

What is Google Business Profile (and why does it matter)?

Google Business Profile (formerly Google My Business) is the free Google product that controls how your business appears in:

• The local map pack (the box of three local businesses with a map at the top of search results)
• Google Maps
• The "knowledge panel" on the right when someone searches for your business by name
• Local "near me" searches
• Voice search results ("Hey Google, find a plumber near me")

For a small UK business, this is often a bigger source of customers than your website itself. Most people searching for local services never click through to a website — they call, message, or get directions directly from the Google Business Profile.

Step 1: Claim or create your profile

1. Go to google.com/business
2. Sign in with the Google account you want to use to manage the profile (use a business account, not a personal one if possible)
3. Search for your business — if it already exists (Google sometimes auto-creates profiles from public data), claim it
4. If it does not exist, click "Add your business to Google" and follow the prompts

A note on multiple locations: if you have more than one location, you can manage them all from one Google Business Profile dashboard. Each location gets its own profile.

Step 2: Verify the profile

This is the part that catches some businesses out. Google needs to verify that you actually own the business. There are a few methods:

• Postcard verification (most common) — Google sends a postcard to your registered address with a 5-digit code. Takes 5–10 working days
• Phone verification — only available for some businesses
• Email verification — rare
• Video verification — Google asks you to record a short video showing your business location, signage, and equipment
• Live video call — sometimes used for service-area businesses without a public address

For businesses run from home (very common for small UK businesses), you can hide your address from public view but still get verified. Google will only show "service area" rather than the actual location.

You cannot do anything else until verification is complete. This is the biggest reason to start the process now, even if you are not ready to use the profile yet.

Step 3: Choose the right business categories

This is the single most important field for ranking. Google uses your category to decide which searches you can appear for.

Pick the most specific primary category that fits your main service.

Examples:

• ❌ "Marketing agency" → too vague
• ✅ "Web design company" → specific
• ❌ "Restaurant" → too vague
• ✅ "Italian restaurant" → specific
• ❌ "Trader" → too vague
• ✅ "Electrician" → specific

Then add secondary categories for any other services you offer. You can have up to nine secondary categories, but only the primary one gets the most weight.

Choose the primary category carefully — changing it later can temporarily hurt your rankings while Google re-indexes you.

Step 4: Fill in every field

Most businesses fill in the basics and stop. The ones that get the best results fill in everything.

• Name — your actual trading name, exactly as it appears on signage/website. Do not stuff keywords into it (e.g. "Smith Plumbing - Best Plumber in Leeds" violates Google's guidelines)
• Address — your actual business address. Hide it from display if you work from home and want to keep it private
• Service areas — list the towns, cities, or postcodes you serve
• Phone — your main business number (preferably a local number, not a 0800)
• Website — your full website URL
• Hours — your actual opening hours, kept up to date. Include special holiday hours
• Special hours — bank holidays, Christmas, etc. — set these in advance
• Attributes — relevant descriptors like "wheelchair accessible", "free wifi", "outdoor seating", etc.
• Services list — every service you offer, with descriptions and prices if applicable
• Products list — if you sell physical products, add them here
• Description — 750 character honest description of what you do and where you serve
• Opening date — when your business actually started

Spend an hour filling all of this in properly. It is a one-time job that pays off forever.

Step 5: Add photos (this matters more than you think)

Profiles with photos get 42% more requests for directions and 35% more clicks to the website than profiles without. You need at least 10–15 photos.

What to include:

• Logo — high-resolution, square format
• Cover photo — landscape, shows your business at its best
• Exterior photos — what your shopfront or office looks like
• Interior photos — for shops, restaurants, salons
• Team photos — humans build trust
• Photos of your work — before/after, finished projects, products in use
• Product photos — for retail
• At work photos — you doing the job, with permission from the customer

Use real photos. Stock images are obvious and customers do not trust them.

Step 6: Get reviews (and respond to all of them)

Reviews are the single biggest ranking factor for the map pack after categories. You need:

• Quantity — aim for 30+ reviews in the first year
• Recency — recent reviews matter more than old ones
• Quality — long, detailed reviews carry more weight than one-word ones
• Responses from you — to every review, positive and negative

How to get reviews:

1. After every job, send a personalised review request via email or SMS
2. Include a direct link to the review form (not just "leave a Google review please")
3. Make the link impossibly easy to find — bookmark it once, paste it into every request
4. Never offer discounts, freebies, or anything else in exchange (against policy)

Generating your direct review link: in your Google Business Profile dashboard, click "Get more reviews" — Google gives you a custom short link you can share.

Responding to negative reviews: be calm, professional, and brief. Acknowledge the issue, offer to take the conversation offline, do not get defensive. A well-handled negative review is often more reassuring to future customers than a wall of glowing five-stars.

Step 7: Use the Posts feature

Google Business Profile lets you publish "Posts" that appear directly in your profile. These are great for:

• Special offers and promotions
• New products or services
• Events
• Updates and announcements

Posts expire after seven days (with some exceptions), so it works best as a steady drip of small updates rather than a one-off marketing push.

Step 8: Enable messaging

Turn on the messaging feature so customers can contact you directly through the profile. Set it up to forward to your phone or email if you do not want to constantly check the dashboard.

This is a massive convenience for people on mobile, and it cuts down on the friction of getting in touch.

Step 9: Track what is working

The Google Business Profile dashboard shows you:

• How customers find you — direct (searching your name) vs discovery (searching for your service)
• What they do — visit your website, call you, request directions, message you
• Photo views
• Search queries that brought people to your profile

Check this monthly. If discovery searches are low, your category or description needs work. If website clicks are low, your website thumbnail or call-to-action needs improvement.

What NOT to do

Things that get profiles suspended or penalised:

• ❌ Stuffing keywords into the business name
• ❌ Using a fake address
• ❌ Listing a business that does not exist or that you do not own
• ❌ Buying reviews
• ❌ Multiple profiles for the same business at the same address
• ❌ Categories that do not match what the business actually does

A suspended profile is hard to recover. Stick to the rules.

What does SME Shack do for clients?

For every website we build, we set up or audit the client's Google Business Profile as part of the project. That includes:

• Choosing the right primary and secondary categories
• Writing the business description
• Setting up service areas and services
• Configuring messaging and photos
• Establishing a review collection workflow

We do not charge for this separately — it is part of the standard process. See our services for what else is included.

Frequently asked questions

Q: How long does verification take?

A: For postcard verification, 5–10 working days for the postcard to arrive, then immediate once you enter the code. Phone verification (when offered) is instant. Video verification takes 1–2 working days for Google to review.

Q: Can I run a Google Business Profile from a home address without showing the address publicly?

A: Yes. During setup, you can choose "I deliver goods and services to my customers" and Google will hide your address from public display while still using it for verification. You then set service areas (towns, postcodes, etc.) instead.

Q: How many Google Business Profiles can I have?

A: One per physical location, or one per service area for service-based businesses. Multiple profiles for the same business is against Google's guidelines and risks suspension.

Q: Can I edit my Google Business Profile after I have set it up?

A: Yes. Most fields can be edited any time. Some changes (especially business name, address, or category) trigger a Google re-review, which can take a few days. Your profile keeps working during the review.

Q: What is the difference between Google Business Profile and Google Maps?

A: They are the same data, displayed in different places. Google Business Profile is the dashboard you use to manage the information. Google Maps and Google Search are where customers see it.