How to get your business on Google and Google Maps

The short answer

Getting your business on Google is free and takes about twenty minutes. You create or claim a Google Business Profile, verify that you own the business, and fill in your name, category, phone, hours and address. Once Google verifies you, your business shows up in Search and on Maps. Here is each step, in order.

Step 1: See if Google already has you

Search Google for your business name plus your city. If a panel with your name, a map pin and a phone number appears on the right (or at the top on a phone), Google already has a listing. Look for a link that says "Own this business?" and click it. If nothing appears, you will create the profile fresh in the next step. Either way, you end up in the same place.

Step 2: Create or claim the profile

Go to google.com/business and sign in with the Google account you want to keep for the long term. Use a business email if you have one, because whoever holds this account holds the listing. Choose "Manage now" or "Add your business" and type your business name. If Google offers a match, pick it. If not, keep typing and create it.

Google will ask what kind of business you are. Pick the single category that describes what you are, not everything you also do. "Hair salon" rather than "Beauty". You can add more categories later.

Step 3: Tell Google where customers find you

If customers come to you, enter your street address. If you go to customers (plumbers, landscapers, mobile services), choose the option to hide your address and set a service area instead. That is a supported setup, not a workaround, and it stops Google from showing your home on a map.

Step 4: Verify

Google has to confirm you are really the owner. Depending on the business it will offer a phone call, a text, an email, a short video walk through of your business, or a postcard to the address. Take whichever appears first. Postcards take about a week, so if video is offered, choose video. Nothing shows publicly until this step is done.

Step 5: Fill in the five fields customers read

Once verified, search your business name while signed in and choose "Edit profile". Fill in, in this order: phone number (the one somebody answers), hours (including the day you close early), website, a two sentence description that says what you do and your city, and at least three real photos from your phone. Those five fields are what a customer scans in the few seconds before they decide to call.

How long until it shows up?

Usually within a few days of verification. Search your business name in a private browser window to see it the way a stranger does. If it is not there after a week, the most common reasons are an unfinished verification or a name that does not match your sign.

What this guide does not cover

Getting on Google is one of ten things a local business needs online. Hours that stay right, photos that stay fresh, reviews that get replies and a website Google can find each have their own check. The free Bearlo scan runs all ten on your business and shows you every pass and fail.