How to Get a Google Business Profile in the UK

A Google Business Profile is the box that can appear on Google Search and Google Maps with your business name, opening hours, phone number, photos and reviews. Google says you can add or claim your business at no charge. This guide explains who can have one, how to set it up, how Google checks it, and how to let someone help without handing over your password.

Who Can Have One

Google's guidelines say a business needs "a physical location that customers can visit, or travels to customers". In practice:

Usually yes: shops, cafés, salons and offices that customers visit while staff are there, and trades and mobile services that travel to their customers.
No: businesses that only work online, a rented mailing address you don't work from (a virtual office), and PO boxes.
Not open yet? You can add an opening date up to a year ahead. Google says that once the profile is verified, it can show on Google from 90 days before the opening date.

Google decides who gets a profile. If you aren't sure, read the guidelines first, or try our free Google Profile Check.

Your Address: Shown or Hidden

Customers come to you: your address is shown, so people can find you.
You go to your customers: you are a "service-area business". Google asks you to hide your address and show the towns or area you cover instead. That is how a cleaner or plumber working from home keeps their home address private. Google says the area shouldn't stretch further than about 2 hours' drive from where you are based.
Both: if customers visit you and you also travel to them, you can show your address and set a service area too.

The Steps

Check for an existing listing. Search Google Maps for your business name and town. If a listing is already there, choose "Claim this business" rather than making a second one.
Use a Google Account you will keep. Sign in with an account that belongs to you, ideally one using your business email, not someone else's.
Add your business. Go to business.google.com/add and follow the steps: your business name, category, address or service area, phone number and website.
Choose how Google checks you. Google shows the options it will accept for your business (see below).
Finish your profile. Once you are verified, add your opening hours, a short description and some real photos.

How Google Checks Your Business

Before a profile goes live, Google checks that the business is real and that you run it. Google decides which ways are offered to you, and you can't change them. The options can include a phone call or text, an email, a live video call, a postcard by post, or a video you record.

Video is common. Google recommends it where it is offered. For a live video call, Google asks you to show where you are (such as outside signs or a street sign), your business or equipment, and something that shows you manage it, such as keys, a till, a kitchen or non-sensitive business paperwork.
Then you wait. Google says reviews take up to 5 business days, and occasionally longer. Postcard codes usually arrive within 14 days.
Use your real details. The name, address and area should match what customers see in real life. Nobody can promise Google will approve a profile.

Giving Someone Access Without Sharing a Password

If someone helps you with your profile, never give them your Google password. Add them as a user instead. Google has two main roles:

Owner: full control, including adding and removing people and removing the profile.
Manager: almost the same, but can't add or remove people or remove the profile. This is the right role for a helper.

Go to your Business Profile.
Select More, then Business Profile settings, then People and access.
Select Add, and enter the person's email address.
Under Access, choose Manager (or Owner), then select Invite.

Each person needs their own Google Account. You can remove them in the same place at any time. Google says new owners and managers have to wait 7 days before some actions are open to them.

Keeping It Useful

Keep your hours right, including bank holidays and days off.
Reply to reviews, good and bad, politely and briefly.
Never write, buy or swap reviews. Google's rules forbid fake reviews.
Use the same business name, phone number and area as on your social media and website.

Sources

Last checked 12 November 2026. Rules and prices change, so check the official pages linked above before you rely on them.

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