Setting up your Google Business Profile, and adding me to it

A Business Profile is the panel that appears on the right of Google when somebody searches your name, and the pin that puts you on Google Maps. It is free, and it is the single most useful thing a local business can own online.

Why it matters more than the website. Somebody searching "dog groomer near me" is not reading websites yet. They are reading the map, the stars, and the opening hours. The profile is what gets you into that list at all — and the reviews on it are what decide which of the three they call. Your site closes them; the profile is how they find you.

Do this yourself, in your own name. Same rule as the domain. A profile registered to an agency is a negotiation the day you want to leave. Registered to you, it never is. I only ever ask to be added as a Manager.

Time: 20 minutes to create it, then a wait for verification — usually a few days, sometimes longer. Start it early.

Go to google.com/business and click Manage now. Sign in with the Google account you want to own this — a business Gmail is ideal. Whoever owns that account owns the profile.

The page is mostly one green Manage now button. If you land somewhere that asks you to pick a plan or pay for anything, you are on the wrong page — the profile itself is free and always has been.

Type your business name. Google will show existing profiles as you type.

Look carefully before you create a new one. Google often makes a profile for a business automatically, from other listings or from customers adding it. If yours is already there, claim it instead of creating a second — a duplicate splits your reviews across two profiles and Google may suspend both.

Google asks whether customers come to you.

• They come to you — a shop, a salon, a studio. Enter the address. It is shown publicly and a pin appears on Maps.
• You go to them — mobile, or you work from home. Choose service area and list the towns or the radius you cover.
• Both — enter the address and the service area.

Working from home? You still enter your home address, because Google needs somewhere real to verify you against, but there is a setting to hide it from public view and show only the areas you serve. Turn it on. Do not invent an address or use a mailbox — that is the most common reason a profile gets suspended, and appealing one is far slower than doing it properly.

Google also asks for a business category, which looks like the least important box on the screen and is the most important thing on it: it is the main thing deciding which searches you appear in.

Start typing what you do and Google suggests from its own fixed list — you cannot invent one. Take the most specific suggestion that is true, not the broadest: "Pet groomer" rather than "Pet store". You can add extra categories afterwards, but the primary one carries the weight.

Your real phone number, and your website address.

Put your site's real address in the website field — not a Facebook page, not a booking link. If the site is not live yet, leave it blank and tell me; I will add it the day we launch. Do not put a placeholder in.

Set your hours honestly, including the days you are closed. Google shows "Open now" to people searching, and being told you are open when you are not is the kind of thing that turns into a one-star review about something that was never about the work.

Google has to confirm the business is real and that it is yours. It chooses the method — you do not get to pick. Usually one of:

• Video. The most common now. You record a continuous, unedited clip on your phone, live through the Business Profile app, showing where you work, some proof it is yours — signage, branded gear, your tools, a vehicle — and then yourself. It must be one take, at least 30 seconds, recorded there and then. A pre-recorded file will not upload.
• Phone or text. A code, entered straight away.
• Email. A code to an address on your domain.
• Postcard. A code posted to the address. Slowest — allow a couple of weeks.

Prepare before you start recording. Have the door, the sign, the van or the kit ready to walk past in one pass, and know where you are walking. The usual reason a video is rejected is that it never connects you to the place — it shows a room, or a logo, but not both together with a person.

The screen offers only what Google has already decided for you. If it offers a postcard and you were hoping for video, there is no menu to change it — take what you are given, because appealing the choice is slower than the postcard.

Verification can take a few days. You can keep editing the profile while you wait, but nothing is public until it passes.

Once it is verified, on the profile:

1. Open your profile — search your business name while signed in, or use the Business Profile app.
2. Open the three-dot menu, then Business Profile settings.
3. Choose People and access.
4. Click Add, top left. It may just be a + with no word next to it.
5. Enter [email protected]
6. Set the role to Manager — not Owner. It is a short dropdown with two entries, Owner and Manager. Check which one it is showing before you send it, because whichever it opens on is what the invite carries, and Owner is the one that can remove you from your own profile.
7. Click Invite. I accept from the email that arrives.

I will then appear in that list with Manager beside my name — that is how you know it worked, and that same row is where you remove me later.

Why Manager and not Owner. Google offers three roles. The Primary Owner created the profile and can delete it. Owners can add and remove other people, including removing you. A Manager can edit everything about the business — hours, photos, posts, replies to reviews — and can do nothing to who has access. That is the whole job, so that is what I ask for.

You stay Primary Owner. You can remove me from that same screen, in two clicks, without asking anyone.

Cannot find People and access? It only appears once the profile is verified, and only the owner sees it. If it is missing, verification has not finished — send me a screenshot and I will tell you which.

This lets me keep your hours and details right, put the site link on properly, post updates, and make sure what Google shows about you matches what your site says. When those two disagree, Google trusts neither.

This is the part that actually earns money, and the only part I cannot do for you.

Ask every happy customer, once, in person or by text, the same day. Not a month later. Google gives you a short link to send — in your profile, under Ask for reviews — and that link opens the review box directly, already pointed at you. Send that, not "search for us on Google".

A few honest things to know:

• Never pay for reviews, and never offer a discount for one. Against Google's rules, and the kind of thing that gets a profile suspended.
• Do not review your own business, or ask staff to. Google is good at spotting it.
• Reply to all of them, including the bad one. A calm, specific reply to a complaint reads better to the next customer than the complaint does badly.
• A bad review cannot be deleted by you or by me. It can be reported if it breaks Google's rules — fake, abusive, or not about your business — but "it is unfair" is not grounds. The answer to a bad review is more good ones.

Send me the good ones and I will put them on your website, with a link back to your Google profile so people can check they are real.

Everything above with the reasoning taken out, in case you would rather work from a single checklist — or hand it to whoever looks after your Google account.

Setting up your Google Business Profile This is the free listing that puts you on Google Maps and in the panel on the right of a Google search. It is the single most useful thing a local business can own online, and it needs to be in your name, not mine. 1. Go to google.com/business and click Manage now. Sign in with the Google account that should own this — whoever owns that account owns the listing. 2. Type your business name. If Google already shows your business, claim that one rather than creating a new one. Google often makes a listing automatically, and having two splits your reviews and can get both suspended. 3. Say whether customers come to you or you go to them. Working from home? Enter your real address, then turn on the setting that hides it from public view and list the areas you cover instead. Do not use a fake address or a mailbox. 4. Pick the most specific category that fits — "Pet groomer", not "Pet store". This decides which searches you show up in. 5. Add your phone number and hours. Leave the website blank if your site is not live yet and I will add it on launch day. 6. Verify. Google picks how — usually a video you record live on your phone showing where you work, something proving it is yours (signage, your kit, a vehicle), and then you. One take, no editing, at least 30 seconds. It can take a few days to come back. 7. Once verified: open the profile, go to Business Profile settings, then People and access, then Add. Add [email protected] and set the role to Manager — check the dropdown, it matters. You stay the owner. You can remove my access any time from that same screen. Then start asking for reviews. Ask every happy customer the same day, and send them the short review link from your profile rather than telling them to search for you. Never pay for a review or offer a discount for one — that is against Google's rules and can get the listing suspended.

Stuck? [email protected] or (360) 921-0148.

Last checked: 20 September 2026. Google changes this dashboard regularly — if a screen does not match what is written here, tell me and I will update it.