If you’re no longer the best person to handle the ongoing maintenance and upkeep required, you can transfer Google Business Profile ownership to a designated replacement. Read on to find out how to start this process and what you’ll need to consider along the way. 

Can I transfer Google Business Profile ownership?

Whether you’ve run out of time, changed jobs, or sold your business, there could well come a time when you wish to transfer ownership of your Google Business Profile to someone else. While Google has numerous policies around listings management, it does allow primary owners to merge Google Business profiles and to transfer ownership of a listing to someone else. 

Things to Consider Before Transferring Google Business Profile Ownership

While the process of transferring ownership of your listing is straightforward, there are still a few things that you’ll need to consider. 

Roles

There are two main roles within the Google Business ecosystem: owners and managers. Owners are further categorized as primary owners and owners.

Your profile can have multiple owners and managers, but only one primary owner. The primary owner is the only one who can transfer ownership of the listing to another user. A primary owner can only remove themselves from a listing when another user is appointed as the primary owner to take their place.

There’s a Holding Period

Transferring ownership is a quick process, but once the primary owner role is assigned to another user, a seven-day holding period will commence. During this handover phase, the new primary owner will have limited capability to enact changes. They won’t be able to remove other owners or managers, for example, nor can they recover a deleted profile or delete a listing.

Listing Accuracy

When transferring ownership to another user, the listing information, including reviews, will be maintained. However, it’s still a good idea to check the listing for accuracy and ensure all contact information, opening hours, and location information are up to date.

Communicating the Change

While you won’t need to tell anyone outside of your organization that you have successfully transferred Google Business Profile ownership to someone else, there may be people within the business that you’ll need to notify. 

How to Transfer Ownership of a Google Business Profile

There are several steps involved in the ownership transfer process:

Step 1: Log in to your listing

Go to business.google.com to access your listing control panel and admin tools.

Step 2: Choose your listing

Click the listing you wish to transfer and then navigate to ‘Settings.’ You can find this by clicking on the three dots icon to the right of your screen.

Step 3: Navigate to ‘People and access’

When the Business Profile settings menu loads, select the ‘People and access’ option. This is where you add and remove other managers and owners and assign roles.

Step 4: Add the new owner (option A)

When the ‘People and access’ menu loads, you’ll see that you have the option to add a person to the listing.

If the person you wish to transfer ownership to isn’t already a manager for the listing, you’ll need to add them. Enter their email address and select ‘Owner’ from the two role options given. Then click ‘Invite’.

Step 4: Change role to owner (option B)

If the person you’re transferring ownership to is already a manager, you can change their role to ‘Owner’ rather than add them to the listing.

Simply click on their name and then select ‘Primary owner.’

Step 5: Await invitation acceptance

If you’ve invited a new user to own the listing, you’ll need to wait for that person to accept the invitation before you can proceed. They can do this by opening the email sent by Google and clicking on the link provided.

Step 6: Remove the previous owner

When the new owner accepts their invitation, you’ll need to log back into your Google Business Profile, navigate to the ‘People and access’ menu, and remove the old owner. This process will complete the transfer of ownership. 

Why might I need to transfer Google Business Profile ownership?

There are multiple reasons why you may need to transfer ownership of your Google Business listing. Often, these reasons relate to a notable change within the business, such as the arrival of new owners or the appointment of a new marketing team. During that transition period, your profile must remain helpful, trustworthy, and up-to-date, and for that to happen, you need to ensure the right person has ownership.  

A Change in Business Ownership

If you’ve sold your business, the new owners will need full access to the Google Business listing to manage their presence on Google Search and Maps. They’ll only have complete control of their profile when they become the primary owner.

The Departure of a Key Employee

The primary owner of your Google listing may be an employee or contractor rather than the physical owner of the local business. Often, this is because that person originally set up the listing or was given responsibility for managing the Google Business Profile as part of their role.

If that employee leaves or the contract reaches an endpoint, someone within the business will need to be appointed as the primary owner so they can manage the profile and assign roles in the future.

Changes to Agency Relationships

If your business has worked with a marketing or local SEO agency, that agency may have initially claimed the business listing. It’s always advisable to request the transfer of ownership to yourself or someone within your business when this happens so that you don’t lose control if you cease work with that agency.

To Create a Central Management Team

Are you opening a new location? Or perhaps you already have multiple locations? Businesses with more than one storefront or service area will have multiple listings to manage. Often, it’s more efficient to consolidate that management into a centralized hub, with one designated owner responsible for updating and maintaining those multiple listings. 

Conclusion

Your Google Business Profile listing is a central pillar of your local search presence. It can be an invaluable tool, but it’s only an asset to your business when it is accurate, provides up-to-date contact information, and is proactively maintained. Our Local Business Discovery and Trust Report 2023 found that 62% of consumers would avoid using a business if they found incorrect information online.

If your circumstances change, whether due to a business sale, a transition into a new role, or the arrival of a different marketing team, transferring the ownership of your Google Business profile can ensure it continues to perform at an optimal level.

The process of appointing a new listing owner is straightforward, but as we have seen, there are a few steps to follow and several things you’ll need to consider. Use the above information as your guide, and you should find the process quick and easy. 

If Google detects multiple listings for the same business, that profile won’t be eligible for inclusion in Google’s Local Pack and Google Maps, meaning duplicate Google listings could be actively harming your search visibility.

Having various profiles is something of a minefield for local business owners, as there are multiple reasons why an extra listing or two might have popped up:

• It could be that a Google Business Profile was created by a previous employee or local SEO agency, and you didn’t have permission to manage that listing, so you created another one
• Perhaps you moved to a new location, and rather than update the existing listing, you created a new profile
• Your service business may have created multiple listings to represent each unique service, rather than including them on a single profile
• You might even have created a duplicate listing by mistake

Whatever the reason, you’ll need to resolve the conflict to be eligible for Search and Maps.

At this point, you’re probably wondering how to merge two Google Business listings. You’re in the right place! We’re here to walk you through it, but first, a word of warning: proceed with caution because this process can be more problematic than it first appears.

Is it possible to merge Google Business Profiles together?

The short answer is yes; you can merge two or more Google Business Profiles to create a single listing. 

The longer answer is that it isn’t just a case of selecting a few duplicate listings and then combining them into one page. As you’ve probably guessed, Google will only allow multiple listings to be merged in certain circumstances.

The main requirement is that you can only merge listings for the same business. The addresses must be the same, and the information for each listing must be broadly very similar.

Additionally, you’ll only be able to merge multiple listings if you are the verified owner of each listing and can see each profile within your Google Business dashboard.

These requirements do rule out some instances where you may want to merge several different listings. If you were to acquire a new business in a totally different location, for example, you couldn’t merge that firm’s listing with your own existing Google Business Profile. Ditto if you find a dupe that you’d like to fold into your main listing but don’t own or manage that additional profile.

How to Merge Two Google Business Listings

The good news is that only a few steps are required to combine additional listings into one main profile for your business.

Step 1: Confirm you meet Google’s requirements

First things first, you’ll need to double-check that you meet each of these requirements:

• Duplicate listings do exist
• Each listing gives the same business name
• The address stated on each listing is the same
•  The listing information is virtually identical across each profile
• You own or manage each listing via your Google Business Profile account 

With those requirements met, here’s what you’ll need to do next.

Step 2: Locate each profile’s ID

Each Google listing has a unique ID that identifies it specifically. To merge multiple pages, you’ll need to note down the ID of each listing to be merged.

1. To find the ID number, log into your Google Business Account and find the first listing to be merged.
2. Once the listing is open, locate the menu in the top right corner.

   
   

3. Select ‘Business Profile settings’ and then from the following menu click ‘Advanced settings’.
   
   
4. Your ID will be at the top of the next screen. Copy that ID and repeat each step until you have the ID for each listing you wish to combine.

Step 3: Submit a request

1. Open the Google Business Help Centre and select the profile you wish to merge from the drop-down box. In the ‘Tell us what we can help with’ box, enter ‘Merge duplicate profiles’ and then click ‘Next’.

2. Select your issue from the options given and click Next.

3. Provide the IDs and request a merger.

Pros and Cons of Merging Google Business Profiles

Local search visibility is a powerful tool for your business, so you’ll want to do all you can to present the clearest and most accurate version of your business in Maps and Search. Cleaning up duplicate profiles and consolidating your presence is one way to do that, but merging two or more listings isn’t always smooth sailing.  

Advantages of Merging Google Business Profiles

Now you know how to merge two Google Business listings, let’s explore the advantages of going through this process.

• Eligibility for Search and Maps: When Google detects multiple listings for the same business name and address, those listings will no longer be visible in Search and Maps. Merging or deleting duplicate listings so you have just one Google Business Profile for your business restores your eligibility.
• Improved local search rankings: Information spread across multiple listings can hamper your ability to rank well for your core Google Business listing. Consolidating your business information and activity, such as images, review responses, and Posts, into a single, unified profile can boost your local rankings.
• A stronger review profile: Multiple listings could mean your reviews are spread across numerous profiles. Most consumers won’t click through to each listing to read your reviews, so the majority will only ever see a snapshot of your feedback. Given that more than half (53%) of consumers want to read positive experiences of local businesses, it makes sense that you’ll gain more benefits from your positive reputation if those reviews are gathered in one profile. This is also important for your local search rankings.
• An improved consumer experience: Multiple listings can be confusing for local search users and could sow a seed of distrust. Eliminating that confusion by having just one accurate and up-to-date listing ensures a more streamlined, more positive customer experience.
• More efficient profile management: Managing multiple listings is inefficient and unnecessary. Merging those unnecessary listings into a single profile frees up your time and efforts so you can focus on making your primary Google Business Profile the best it can be.

Disadvantages of Merging Google Business Profiles

While it’s always advisable to comply with Google’s policies and stick with a single Google Business listing, there are some disadvantages to merging two or more profiles.

• Loss of optimization: Chances are, the two listings you wish to consolidate have different levels of optimization. There is a risk that some of that could be lost if a stronger profile merges with a weaker one. This could result in a loss of local search visibility.
• Loss of review responses: Merging listings will also merge reviews, but it’s been widely reported that review responses often aren’t included in this process. This can be particularly problematic if you’ve had to address negative feedback recently.  
• Negative reviews: If one listing has been plagued by negative reviews, you might not want those to be pulled into your main listing without any means of response. You could consider deleting the duplicate profile instead.
• Inaccurate content: If one of the listings contains inaccurate or outdated information and images, you run the risk of that showing up on your consolidated profile. Rather than merging with an inaccurate profile, a better option would be to delete the incorrect listing.

When is it a good idea to merge Google Business Profiles?

If you’re committed to maintaining a strong local search presence, you can’t afford to drop the ball when it comes to managing your Google Business Profile. Regularly checking for duplicate listings and taking appropriate action to clean up your presence is key to staying in control (and on the right side of Google’s Business Profile policies).

It’s a good idea to consider merging duplicate listings as soon as you become aware that the issue exists. The longer you have multiple listings active, the greater the chances your Search and Maps visibility will be impacted. 

Keep in mind that merging may not always be the best option. Merging inaccurate, malicious, or very outdated listings with your main profile could do more harm than good. Consider deleting those listings (or reporting malicious listings to Google) rather than merging. 

Can I merge more than two Google Business Profiles?

In some circumstances, there may be more than two Google Business Profiles for your business. If the listings are for the same business, at the same address, and contain broadly the same information, you can merge more than two profiles to create a single consolidated profile. 

Conclusion

Having more than one Google Business Profile isn’t just against Google’s policies. It can also confuse search users, increase the risk of inaccurate information being made public, and weaken your review profile.

Merging is one way to regain control and return your search presence to a single optimized listing. While this is straightforward, you should always consider whether merging is the right course of action. Reporting malicious listings or deleting very old listings might be a better choice.

Who you gonna call? Not Google Business Profile (formerly known as Google My Business) support, as phone help was retired in 2021.

But don’t fret—there are a plethora of other places (both official and unofficial) to turn to for GBP help.

Whose job is it to solve issues?

A business listing that disappears from Google Maps… fake listings that push your one down in results… a run of negative reviews that you suspect aren’t real—any of these things can result in lost enquiries, bookings, and revenue. 

And while it’s understandable for these things to cause frustration (and even anger), we need to keep in mind that Google Business Profile is currently a free product.

As such, Google support staff are thin on the ground, and Google Product Experts that support GBP via the Google Business Profile Help Community do so for free.

So if you’re experiencing an issue, the first step is to be proactive in finding a solution for yourself. Start with guidance available from the Google support team and the GBP community.

After that, it’s time to turn detective—below we’ll run through a range of alternative GBP support channels, outline what they’re best for solving, and look at how to get the best out of each of them.

And remember! Karma reigns supreme—be straightforward, polite, and help others if you can. And, of course, always say thank you!

Google Business Profile Help Center

As I mentioned already, support from the actual GBP team is limited and has been for a number of years.

In the help center, you can browse information and GBP guidelines, all of which are organized by topic areas:

I’d suggest becoming familiar with these pages and checking back if and when you have an issue. The GBP landscape is far from static and Google will change their documentation as needed.

It’s particularly important to understand if you’re doing something that contravenes Google’s Terms of Service, for example:

• If you’re wondering why your listing got suspended—read ‘Guidelines for representing your business on Google’.
• If you’re wondering why your Google Business Profile products aren’t being approved—look at ‘Understand product approval’.
• If you’re wondering how to remove photos someone else added to your business profile—see ‘Manage photos or videos for your Business Profile’.

You should always check Google’s official guidelines first—please don’t waste others’ time by asking questions you could have answered yourself.

Google Business Profile Community

When you make a search describing your issue, Google will return results for both help center documentation and community forum posts.

Items marked with (1) are help articles, and items marked with (2) are community forum posts. Look out for ‘recommended answers’ as these have often been supplied by Google Product Experts or active and experienced community members.

If you can’t find an answer to your question, then Google suggests adding a new community forum post:

However, before you do this, I recommend first checking out the following potential avenues for solutions.

Also, don’t be tempted to tack your own issues onto an existing post. If you need to post (once you’ve exhausted the resources below) then you should create your own post with your own unique information.

Browse Local SEO Peeps on Twitter

You’re probably already following a bunch of Local SEO people on Twitter—if not then be sure to check out BrightLocal’s list of local SEO experts. If there’s a GBP bug going around, you’ll probably hear about it there.

You could ask a GBP expert for help on Twitter, but honestly, I’d go to the local SEO community first. I don’t envy Joy Hawkins (or indeed anyone else from the helpful local SEO community) for the number of tweets she gets asking for help, so do the nice thing and ask for assistance in the right place!

Check the Local SEO Content Archives

I’ve written in the past about the hubs of excellent content that are being produced around GBP issues. For example:

• How to avoid a GBP suspension when using a co-working space (BrightLocal)
• Why are my Google reviews not publishing? (Sterling Sky)
• How to avoid a GBP suspension by thinking about your customers first (Kickpoint)
• How to manage your Google review takedown requests (BrightLocal)
• GBP suspended? Here’s how to recover (Search Engine Journal)
• GBP—should I set a physical address or service area business? (Steady Demand)

Once you’re familiar with primary sources of great information, you can search within those sites using an advanced search operator:

site:brightlocal.com OR site:sterlingsky.ca “GBP” or “GBP” suspension

This asks Google to give me results from the BrightLocal or Sterling Sky websites for pages containing either “GBP” or “GBP” keywords, plus content related to suspensions.

You can use my custom local SEO search engine to search within my own carefully-curated list of trusted sites, or create your own search operator as needed.

Google Business Profile YouTube Channel

Google Business Support does have a reasonably active channel with some useful videos. I recommend taking a look to see if there’s a solution to your problem, for example:

• Transfering primary ownership of a business
• Requesting removal of customer photos
• Moving reviews across business profiles
• Fixing suspended business profile
• Flagging reviews in your account

Google Business Profile Social Channels

In the olden days, you could tweet or Facebook message GBP support and expect a reply. Sadly social support is now very limited, and you’re unlikely to get a reply from the social teams.

Google Business Profile Forms

Google has a number of task-specific forms that you can complete without having to contact support:

• Business redressal form—for submitting spam reports for Google Maps.
• Request reinstatement—if you’ve experienced a suspension and want to let Google know that you’ve fixed the issues.
• Request access to a listing—if you want to manage a listing that’s already claimed by someone else.
• Report issues with third-party food provider links—for example, if you’d like to remove Deliveroo (or similar) links from your Business Profile.
• Third-party violation report—for example if you’d like to report an agency for violating third-party policies.

Google Business Profile ‘Contact Us’

If you can’t find a solution via any of the sources above, then the next step is to contact the Google Business Profile team to ask for their direct support: https://support.google.com/business/gethelp

Alternatively, you can log into your GBP dashboard and select ‘Support’ from the left-hand side menu.

You’ll be asked to select the business you need help with and to describe the issue. Google will then give you a list of articles and community posts that it thinks might be helpful.

Click ‘Next step’ to continue with the process. Google will present you with one or more contact options, that—for me—currently only includes ‘email’:

You’ll then need to fill in a form with the following details:

• Issue type (select from drop down):

• Your relationship to the business
• Your email address
• Your phone number
• Business name
• Business address
• Maps link for the business
• Business website
• Describe the issue
• Add related case IDs (it might be that you’ve already been in touch with the same issue)

Be sure to keep a copy of your requests, as there’s no way to access this information after you submit the form to Google.

Once you’ve submitted the form, you’ll usually be given a case ID—make a note of this somewhere so that you have a record. You’ll also receive an email from Google to confirm their receipt of your support inquiry.

Read to the bottom of this email… don’t just file it away thinking they’ll get back in touch with you:

That’s right, you’re going to need to actively contact them again! If you’ve already written up your notes into a Google document then you can use this to shape your email reply and (hopefully) get the help you need.

Ask the Google Business Profile Help Community

If you haven’t found a useful answer or potential solution, then now’s the time for you to make your own community forum post. Be aware that if you go to the help community without following the ‘support’ steps above, they will send you there first.

Don’t be tempted to tack your own issues onto an existing post. If you need to post be sure to create your own post with your own unique information.

You’ll need to be logged in for this, and in order to get the best help possible I’d suggest using the following points to compose your post:

• Always make sure that you adhere to the Google Help Communities Content Policy.
• Make the subject line (1) brief and descriptive of your issue.
• (2) Explain your issue in full with clear details—but be concise! Show that you have read and understood Google’s guidelines, if applicable.
• If you need to include screenshots or links then it’s best to include this in a Google doc (named appropriately) that is viewable by anyone with the link. Just write a brief message outlining the issue in field 2 and then include the link to the Google doc.
• Include full details of your business name, your address if relevant, and your CID number (a unique identification number for that business on Google Maps) of the business listing. If your concern is about reviews, then include the account names of the persons leaving the reviews in question.
• For (3) choose the most relevant category for your post:

Run through the final steps (make sure there isn’t already an answer on the forum, specify which platform the problem is occurring on) and then you can go ahead and post.

See this example of a forum post that was quickly and expertly answered by a Gold Product Expert. You’ll be able to see all of the questions you’ve previously asked in your profile’s ‘Post history’ area:

Wrapping Up

There are a lot of options for getting help with your Google Business Profile… some via official Google help channels and some outside of them.

It’s up to you to fully investigate a solution before you contact official support—in this way, you’ll help protect limited resources so that they can deal with bugs and help everyone enjoy a better future experience.

Go forth and prosper!

There are many possible factors. We’re going to dive into all the GBP features that may affect conversion rates for Google Business Profiles. Each is something you’ll want to consider when you run a Google Business Profile Audit.

Let’s go!

Review Factors

It’s a no-brainer that GBP reviews impact conversion rates.

Number of Reviews

If you looked at a listing that only had one review and its rating was five stars, would you trust it?

Or would you want to see more reviews to know if the overall review rating was accurate?

That’s why the number of reviews can affect conversion rates.

Make sure to collect as many reviews as possible so that users know they can trust your overall rating.

Overall Review Rating

As we just mentioned, your overall rating is extremely important.

Trustworthy, positive reviews definitely convert!

Also, having negative reviews isn’t necessarily a bad thing as long as there are not tons of them.

According to a study by Uberall, “There are business ratings sweet spots. Locations that improve their Google My Business star ratings from 3.5 to 3.7 can see significant increases in conversions.”

“On the whole, conversion rates peaked when businesses attained 4.9 stars, but it is when businesses improved from 3.5 stars in a given year to 3.7 stars the following year that conversion growth increased by almost 120%, the highest percentage growth jump from any star rating.”

Replying to Reviews

Replying to positive reviews may increase conversion rates.

But so can replying to negative reviews. That’s because users can see how you tactfully handle unhappy customers and it gives you an opportunity to show them your character.

The Uberall study I mentioned above had this to say about replying to reviews:

“Further, enterprise locations that reply to at least 32% of reviews achieved 80% higher conversion rates compared SMBs and direct competitors that replied to 10% of reviews.”

And another 2018 study showed that replying to both positive and negative reviews resulted in better rankings.

“And, perhaps surprisingly, we also found that when managers respond to positive reviews, it has the same benefits as when they respond to negative reviews.”

Here are a few other super-important stats from BrightLocal’s Local Consumer Review Survey:

• More consumers are reading online reviews than ever before. In 2021, 77% ‘always’ or ‘regularly’ read them when browsing for local businesses (up from 60% in 2020).
• 89% of consumers are ‘highly’ or ‘fairly’ likely to use a business that responds to all of its online reviews.
• 57% say they would be ‘not very’ or ‘not at all’ likely to use a business that doesn’t respond to reviews at all.

So, get that keyboard clackin’!

Recency of Reviews

What if your listing hasn’t had any reviews left in months? Will users think you are out of business? Or that you don’t have any customers?

This is a red flag for users and hurts conversion rates.

Product or Service Keywords in Reviews

What about having the product or service mentioned in your reviews? I can tell you from personal experience that it does help users convert.

Allow me to tell a personal story:

One day I was looking for a good eyebrow waxing technician near me. I decided to look on Google Maps, and found several day spas and studios that offer waxing along with many other services.

In a GBP listing, you can search the reviews for keywords. I chose to search for “brows” to see what names popped up in association with that term. I then read the reviews and found a name that kept popping up and scheduled an appointment with that particular technician.

This is a real-life example of how keywords in reviews can help conversions.

Listing Completeness

Obviously, the more complete the GBP listing is, the more information users have to make their decision of whether to contact or buy from you or not.

Making sure to fill out all possible fields in your GBP may help users convert.

Business Name

This is an interesting one. I definitely believe the business name assists with conversions, but how?

Product / Service or Location Keywords in Google Business Profile Business Title

If you were looking for a flooring store in your area on Google Maps, would you click on “KBF” or “The Kitchen, Bathroom & Flooring Store”?

One name basically says nothing, while the other name explains what they have.

This is an example of how the business name can affect conversion rates.

Make sure to use the full business name, especially if it contains keywords.

Some businesses already have a keyword-friendly business name. They should be aware that including the full business name in a GBP listing is a good idea, instead of using the abbreviated name.

To be clear, I’m not recommending keyword stuffing in your Google Business Profile name.

Hours

If users don’t know for sure that you’re open, will they think you’re closed? Will they come by your business location? Will they call? Possibly not.

See how one of the listings below says “Open now” and the other one doesn’t? 

Google calls this out clearly for users to see.

By adding business opening hours, users can know for sure that you are open and that they can come by or contact you.

You can get the “Open now” feature on your listings just by adding your business hours.

Phone Number

If a phone call is counted as a conversion for your business, it should be a no-brainer that not having a phone number listed in your GBP will reduce conversions. How can they complete a phone call conversion with no phone number?

Website Link

Most businesses consider any action taken on their website to be a conversion. Examples include filling out a contact form, making a phone call, or making a purchase online.

If you don’t have a website link listed in your GBP listing, you will reduce the number of conversions here as well. Oftentimes, drastically.

Product/Service or Location Keyword on Google Business Profile Landing Page

When users land on your website from your GBP, does the page they land on match the query they typed into Google?

For example, if a user searched for “accident lawyer in tampa” but landed on the homepage of a multi-location business, the user would now have to take the time to find the Tampa location page or a Tampa accident lawyer service page to get the information they are looking for. Many times, the user will drop off at this point and abandon your website.

Make sure to link to the best page on your site for users. Also, make sure to optimize this page for what they may be looking for.

Products

If you sell physical products, you can list all the products you sell in your GBP listing. Most likely, these don’t help with rankings but users can see your store inventory (essentially) if you add products to your Google Business Profile. If it shows what they are looking for, this can help attract them and they may end up making a purchase.

Google mentions: “Customers will see a more curated showcase of a store’s products on the Business Profile Products tab on mobile, or the Product Overview module on the computer.”

“When customers search your Business Profile on Google Search with their computer, mobile device, or Google Maps app, they can find:

• On the Maps mobile app: A products carousel.
• On Search only: A products carousel and “Products” tab.”

Services

If you sell services (instead of, or in addition to, physical products), you can list all the services you offer in your GBP listing. Most likely, these don’t help with rankings but users can see all your services that are available if you add services to your Google Business Profile. If it shows what they are looking for, this can help attract them and they may end up contacting you.

Google mentions: “In Business Profile, you may get an option to add the services you offer, along with their descriptions and prices. If your business has multiple categories, group services together into sections under the appropriate category to keep your services organized.

When local customers search on Google for a service you offer, that service may be highlighted on your profile. Customers on mobile devices can also find all your services under “Services.””

Photos

Having photos on your GBP listing is a great idea. It’s worth taking the time to take photos of your business (inside and out), your team, your menu, etc. Users will want to see this information when deciding to do business with you or not.

Here’s an example below of what they could see when searching for an HVAC company.

How often do you look at photos of the inside of a restaurant or photos of their food before visiting them? Here’s an example below for a restaurant.

You can see how much GBP photos can help conversion rates.

Posts

Google Business Profile Posts are a great way to increase conversions! These are essentially mini-posts of content on your GBP listing. You can choose to just share an update, show an offer, etc.

They allow you to choose a call-to-action on each post which encourages users to convert. The images in the posts can also play a role.

When you have local deals or offers to post, these are especially effective at converting.

Justifications

If you’re wondering what these are, justifications are little snippets that Google shows in the local pack. They use these to help “justify” why the business is showing up there for that search.

There are several types of justifications. The type you see highlighted in the local pack changes depending on what you searched for.

In the example above, if you were looking for a specific brand of tire, these would be super helpful. Justifications can obviously help with conversion rates.

If you’d like to see all the types of justifications that are available and how you can get them, read our GBP Justification Guide here.

Attributes

Attributes are a way for businesses to show special information/features to users. GBP attributes include all sorts of different things that you may not expect. For example, “veteran-owned”, “mask required”, “curbside pickup”, or  “Wi-Fi”.

If you happen to list an attribute that your users are looking for, then you may be on your way to having more customers.

For example, if I’m a coffee shop, and I have free wifi, I’d definitely want to make sure that it was easily viewable on my GBP listing.

In the example below, I can see that one Starbucks location has a drive-through while the other one does not. So if I just wanted to drive through, this would be useful to me when making my choice.

Business Summaries

These are defined by Google as: “3 types of short business summaries you might see on Google Maps: business descriptions, editorial summaries, and customer review snippets.” Essentially Google is saying there are 3 occasions someone may see a summary of your business displayed in their tools. These are as follows:

• Business Description: You can edit your business description and that is easy to do.
• Editorial Summary: The editorial summaries “give you a snapshot of a popular business our writers compile editorial summaries”. You can’t edit these but you can influence them.
• Customer Review Snippets: Customer review snippets are when “Data from these reviews may be used to highlight certain aspects of your business through Place Topics or review snippets”. You can’t edit these either, but you can influence them.
  • Place Topics: “Potential customers can find the main themes of your business through Place Topics. These main themes are based on the reviews of your business.”
  • Review Snippets: “Review snippets show keywords most mentioned in quotes from Google reviewers. These snippets are selected by an algorithm.”

To recap, having keywords that match what the users are looking for in these areas can get users to take action.

Booking Feature

Online booking transactions count as a conversion for many businesses. If the GBP Bookings Feature is not set up, you are missing out on tons of conversions!

Some businesses that would benefit from this feature are hair salons, spas, massage therapists, chiropractors, etc.

Conclusion

It may sound hard but it’s worth it to take all these steps listed above. You’ve already worked so hard to get your GBP listing to rank. Now it’s time to convert these folks!

Google understands that when we search, especially on a mobile device, there is often an element of locational intent. As a result, Google uses its extensive database of businesses in Google Maps to populate the search engine results pages.

To have the highest chance of showing up in Google’s algorithm and converting potential customers, you always want to be putting your best foot forward. This is where your Google Business Profile comes in. Whether you have a business that has a bricks and mortar location, or one that offers services to people in a specific geographical area, you’ll want to make sure your Google Business Profile is top notch to increase your visibility.

What is Google Business Profile and what does it do?

Google Business Profile was launched in 2014 as a one-stop shop to help local businesses shine. In its official announcement, Google said it was created for businesses as “a free and easy way to find and connect with your people, wherever you are.”

Put simply, Google Business Profile is a listing on Google’s database that you can claim and control. It was formerly known as Google My Business, and you may still hear many refer to it as such.

This is what Google tells us about Google Business Profile:

“With a Business Profile on Google, you can manage how your local business shows up across Google products, like Maps and Search. If you run a business that serves customers at a particular location, or you serve customers within a designated service area, your Business Profile can help people find you.”

Google Business profile offers an easy way to create, manage, and optimize the information that appears for their business in Google search results and on Google Maps.

When someone searches for local services or businesses, your details—such as your name, address, business hours, and website—will be shown to an interested audience.

What is the purpose of Google Business Profile? 

Google Business Profile helps to connect local searchers in need of specific products and services with appropriate local businesses. It plays a vital role in local search, with information from Google Business Profiles used to inform search results. Listing information also makes it easier for local consumers to find your business and contact you.

Why do I need a Google Business Profile?

Google Business Profile is a free tool, so you can set it up yourself without eating into any marketing budget. In return, it offers a range of benefits that will increase your business revenue by helping you make more sales.

The Benefits of a Google Business Profile

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It Increases Visibility in Google Searches and in Google Maps

Google tells us that four in five people use search to find a local business, and local search ranking factors studies prove that listings information directly influences how visible your business is in Google’s Local Pack, the Knowledge Panel, and Google Maps results.

Your Google Business Profile is your opportunity to win over both Google and local consumers by sharing everything that makes your business unique, like: 

• Who are you? The basics, such as your name, location, and opening hours.
• What do you do? Business categories, both primary and secondary.
• Why should I choose you? Add a compelling description, great images, and show off your online reviews.

This data tells Google what you do, where you’re located, and, once you start getting those reviews flowing in, what people think of you (more on that below). All of this information helps it decide when and where your business should be shown to users.

It Helps You Win More Business

As a local business, the chances are that someone else sells the same items or has the same expertise within your town or city.

Google business listings offer people an easy way to compare similar service providers and retailers. Listings are standardized, so searchers can quickly narrow their selection down and decide who best fits their needs.

This makes a Google business listing an invaluable SEO tool to get seen by people who are new to the area, or a local who needs a product or service for the first time.

Not only that, but according to BrightLocal’s Trust and Discovery report, Google is by far the most trusted local business discovery platform—more so than a business’s own website.

It Will Show Off Your Reviews

It’s no secret that online reviews are a powerful sales tool. They’re the digital age’s word-of-mouth recommendation, giving people valuable intel about where to spend their money.

Feedback from other customers is highly valued when assessing an unfamiliar business and can turn a not-so-sure consumer into a confirmed customer.

A Google business listing makes it quick and easy to reply to reviews and easily monitor what’s being said about your business. You can further streamline the process of managing reviews using third-party tools like BrightLocal’s Reputation Manager. 

It Offers Useful Information About Your Audience

Your ‘performance’ data offers you useful information about your audience’s behavior and your business performance in search.

This data can tell you whether users are looking specifically for your business name or finding you through other search terms. Insights also make it possible to keep tabs on what action consumers take after seeing your profile, such as requesting directions, sending a message, making a booking, or making a call.

Google Business Profile Insights and Performance

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The Business Profile dashboard is currently limited to six months’ worth of data. If you’d like to look further back, BrightLocal’s Google Business Profile audit tool offers access to 18 months’ worth of Insights data.

What are the features of Google Business Profile?

Once you have claimed and verified your Google Business listing, you’ll be able to actively manage a whole host of features. Features include: 

• A business description to tell local search users more about your business and what you do.
• Question and Answers section 
• Reviews 
• Posts to share updates, events, and offers 
• Photos and videos, both from yourself as the business owner and consumers 
• Useful information such as opening times and contact information
• Business attributes
• Bookings, reservations, and appointment making

What should I put on Google Business Profile? 

Your Google Business Profile should include helpful local information about your business, including an accurate address, telephone number, website URL, and opening hours. It should also provide details about your products and services, along with helpful imagery and videos. 

With your basic information updated, you should then aim to answer any questions that consumers submit and share regular updates from your business via Posts. These could include any new product or service launches, changes to your opening hours, the addition of new members of the team, company milestones, and special offers or promotions you’re running. 

Where does a Google Business Profile show up online?    

Google Business information appears in a number of search properties, depending on the type of search being performed.

Google Knowledge Panel

If your business name is used as the search term, information taken from your Google Business Profile (and sometimes other sources, including third-party sites and the business website) is presented in a box that sits to the right of the search results. This gives the local search user helpful information about your business, such as your physical address, contact telephone number, and opening hours. 

Google Local Pack

Search users turning to Google for a specific type of local business will see information from Google Business Profiles presented in a list below a map in the search results. This area is known as the Google Local Pack. Most of the information shown for each business is pulled from their Google Business Profile.

Local Finder

Clicking ‘More places’ under the Local Pack brings the user to the Local Finder, which features more businesses in the area that match the query, alongside a map. The Local Finder, however, is not the same as Google Maps.

Local Service Finder

The local service finder is a variation of the local finder. Google has been rolling out the feature according to the type of service that the searcher is looking for.

If you’re served the local service finder it’ll look like this:

The top spots will likely be filled with ads, which are labeled as ‘sponsored’ in the SERP.

Google Maps

Searching through Google Maps will bring the user to a list of businesses similar to the Local Finder, with the key difference being a greater geographical area. 

How do I use Google Business Profile?

As a business owner, you can use Google Business Profile to share helpful information, news, updates and offers about your business with local consumers. After claiming your free listing, you’ll fill out your listing information providing details such as your opening hours, your contact information, photos of your business, and a description of what your business does, its services, or products. 

How do consumers use Google Business Profile?

Consumers use Google Business Profile to find local businesses, compare them and access helpful information such as opening hours, reviews from other clients, directions to bricks-and-mortar locations, and contact details.

Consumers can also share their feedback about your listing in the form of reviews and suggested edits and upload their own images and videos showcasing their experience of your business, products, or services.  

Who qualifies for a Google Business Profile?

Not all businesses are eligible, so before you rush to get started, you’ll need to confirm that you qualify for a Google Business Profile.

You don’t need to have your own business website to claim your Google business listing. In fact, with Google Business Profile, you can create a basic, mobile-optimized website using purely the details and contents from your Google Business Profile.

But you do need to be a business that has face-to-face contact with customers—either at your place of business or somewhere else, such as in their homes or at another location.

Online-only businesses can not apply for a Google business listing.

Is Google Business Profile totally free?

Yes, it’s totally free to use Google Business Profile. There is no cost to claim your business listing nor is there any fee to use any of the Google Business Profile features including reviews, Posts, photos, and Insights. 

Is Google Business Profile necessary?

Google Business Profile is hugely beneficial for eligible local businesses. Your listing can help you to appear more prominently in local searches and be more visible to local consumers. If you’re aiming to grow your business and get more local consumers or traffic to your bricks-and-mortar location, Google Business Profile is an absolute must. 

Creating a Google Business Profile for your business, or the local businesses that you’re working with, is an essential first step towards SEO success. Setting this up properly is critical, so this comprehensive guide will show you the best way to create a Google Business Profile.

Step-by-step: How to Create a Google Business Profile

1. Create a Business Google Account 

Before you can create a Google local listing, you’ll need to create a Google Account specifically for your business. Google Accounts are available to everybody and are simple to use.

You can either use an existing email to set up your Google Account or you can make a new one. Visit accounts.google.com and select ‘Create an account’ to get started.

As you go through the process of creating a Google account for your business, you’ll be asked to choose a Gmail address as well. This is where you will be given the option to use your existing email. 

Follow the prompts until you have your new account.

Google notes that in a Google Account specifically for your business, you can turn business personalization on. This will make the process of setting up your Google Business Profile easier. 

2. Visit the Google Business Profile Gateway

Once you have your new Google Account, head to google.com/business and click ‘Manage now’ to get started:

3. Look for the Business

Begin by typing in the business name to see if a profile with this name already exists. If it does, then you’ll see it appear as you’re typing. If the business name doesn’t appear, then go ahead and click ‘Add your business to Google’.

The name that you use here should exactly match the official business name. Don’t be tempted to add any keywords to the name, as this violates Google’s guidelines.

Requesting Access to an Existing Business Profile

If someone has already created a Google Business Profile for the business, then don’t worry. You can request that management of the profile be handed over to you. Simply click ‘Request Access’, and you’ll be guided through the process.

4. Choose Your Business Type

You’ll now need to share how you service your customers. If you have a location that customers can visit for face-to-face interactions, you will tick ‘Local store.’ If you’re a Service Area Business (SAB), where you visit customers to provide a service, you select ‘Service business.’

If the business only operates online or has a physical location but doesn’t receive customers in person and is not a SAB, then select ‘Online retail’ instead. If you list yourself as having or being an online retail store, you will have the option of adding a link to your online store. 

You can select more than one of these lists in the event that you are, say, a local store that also sells its products online. 

Service Area Businesses

At this point, if your business is a service-area business or if the business delivers items to customers at home, then you might have a few additional pages to fill out. Simply follow the prompts.

You’ll be able to come back and edit this information later, and you’ll be able to add new locations any time the business expands.

5. Add Your Business Category

Here, you should choose the category that most closely matches the business. You’ll have the option to edit this within the profile later, as well as to add additional categories, so don’t worry if you’re not completely sure what to select right now.

For guidance, check out our advice for local businesses on how to choose the best GBP categories.

6. Enter the Business Location

If the business has a physical location, then you can now provide the address. You might be asked to position a pin on a map to confirm the location.

It’s important that the address you give is accurate and complete to prevent any confusion to customers or issues with the verification process.

If there’s a similar business nearby, Google might ask again if you are looking to claim a different business. If you’re not, simply select ‘None of these’ and hit next. 

7. Add Contact Details

The next step is to add the contact details for the business. First, you’ll need to enter the proper phone number for your business. Remember, this is where you’ll be receiving calls for the business, so include the number that you plan to be interacting with customers via. 

Finishing up this step will create a Google Business Profile, but it’s not quite live yet. 

At this point, you’ll also be asked if you’d like to receive helpful tips and recommendations from Google. Although there’s no obligation, you might find it beneficial to receive this information.

8. Add Your Services

As part of your Google Business Profile set-up, you should showcase the services your business offers. You can select from a list of selected services, or add custom ones.

9. Add Your Hours

When you set up a Google Business Profile, adding your business hours is essential so that potential customers know when they can visit or contact you.

It’s imperative that the hours you specify are accurate, and you should always edit this information if your opening hours change—whether permanently or temporarily.

There are several reasons why your hours of operation may temporarily change, such as public holidays or staff illness. In these cases, it’s a good idea to let your customers know. For more information on why this is important and how to do it with ease, check out our guide to managing opening hours in Google Business Profile.

10. Enable WhatsApp or SMS Messaging

You can choose whether you want to connect your GBP to WhatsApp or SMS, but it’s not a requirement when you create a Google Business Profile. You should only use this if you are confident that you can quickly get back to customer messages. Being unresponsive to messages will create a poor user experience and could harm your business reputation.

11. Add a Business Description

This is where you can go ahead and add a description of your business that will be seen on Search, Maps, and other Google services. It’s a good place to tell your potential customers a bit more about your business in ways that might not be reflected in your profile, such as what sets you apart from other businesses or your beliefs.

You can write up to 750 characters within this section, so be sure to use this opportunity to put the most important information across in a clear and concise way. Remember that you cannot include URLs here. 

How to Write a Google Business Profile Description

Read more

12. Add Photos

Adding photos is a fantastic way to help searchers visualize the business and to get a glimpse of the brand. Google has a great guide on what sort of photos you should look to feature on your profile.

Customers can add their own photos to the listing; some people will choose to do this when leaving you a Google review.

Be aware that you won’t have any control over the order in which photos appear on your listing, so it’s a good idea to have several of your own photos mixed in with the user-generated content.

Make sure you showcase different aspects of your products and services and different areas of your physical location.

13. Set Up Google Ads (Optional)

You’ll be given the option to advertise with Google Ads when creating a Google business account. This can always be skipped and revisited later! 

14. Verify the Business

In this step, you’ll be required to choose a verification method to prove the business is operating at the specified address. Receiving a postcard by mail to the business address is the most common route for verification, but you might also have the option to do so via phone or email.

Video Verification

This type of verification has become the most common way for businesses to get verified. Make sure you have everything ready when you start recording.

Postcard Verification

This type of verification is available to all businesses. A postcard will be sent to the business address and will usually arrive within five days.

The postcard will contain a code that must be entered into the appropriate place within the GBP account. If you don’t receive the postcard, then you can request a replacement.

Phone Verification

Some businesses will be able to verify their accounts over the phone, but this option isn’t available to everyone. If you’re eligible, then you’ll see this option on the verification page.

If you decide to use this method, then you’ll receive a code via an automated phone call.

Email Verification

As with phone verification, the email alternative isn’t available to everyone.

If you do have the option to verify by email, then you can request a code to your inbox. This will only be possible to the email address connected to the GBP account.

16. Add Social Media Profile Links

While Google does tend to pull these from other parts of the web, including your business website, most users will have the option to expand on or overwrite these via a few simple steps:

1. Go to your Business Profile.

2. Click ‘Edit profile’ and then ‘Business information’ and then ‘Contact’.

3. To edit, click ‘Social profiles’ and then the down arrow.

4. In the drop-down menu that opens, select the social media link you would like to add.

5. In the web address field, add the link, then click save.

Optimize Your Google Business Profile

Once you’ve set up your Google Business Profile, then it’s time to consider how best to optimize your GBP to maximize visibility and conversions.

Some essential ongoing tasks include:

• Adding new photos and videos
• Using Google Business Profile Q&A to connect with your audience and answer their questions
• Creating Google Business Profile Posts to showcase offers and promotions
• Listing your services, products, or menu items
• Requesting Google reviews

For expert advice on optimizing your GBP listing, check out this free course by Claire Carlile over on BrightLocal Academy. To learn more about GBP—and to become a local marketing pro—you’ll also want to sign up for our newsletter!

You might remember Google Urchin (the forebear of Google Analytics), Google Insights for Search (now merged with Google Trends), or Google Reader (the original and best RSS feed aggregator). Dead and buried. If you’ve been working in local marketing for a while, you might remember the Google My Business app, Google My Maps, CallJoy, and Google Hotpot… may they all rest in peace.

One product that has stood the test of time is what Google is currently calling Google Business Profile—or what I affectionately refer to as ‘the artist formerly known as Google My Business, Google Places, Google+ Local, and Google Local’.

Despite the assortment of names, the product has fundamentally remained the same. It’s a local business management product that allows business owners to manage (to some extent) the ways that their business shows up across Google products like Maps and Search.

Without a local business listing, you can’t rank in the Local Pack or appear on Google Maps

Think of Google Business Profiles as existing in a Google database of businesses with a brick-and-mortar location or existing to serve customers in a specific geographic region.  

This database is used to power results in the map pack in search, in the local finder, on Google Maps. 

With the way that Google currently works, to appear in these results, a Google local business listing has to exist, as these listings are essentially what it uses to populate them.

You’ll also need to have a Google Business Profile if you want to get the full benefits associated with running Local Service Ads.

It’s often the first (or only) source of information that a potential customer will use 

As SEOs, we are very familiar with the concept of zero-click search—the idea that, in many cases, the searcher’s intent is met within the search engine results page itself without the need to click away to a website. In fact, according to BrightLocal’s 2023 Local Business Discovery & Trust Report, the top three most trusted platforms for researching local businesses are Google (66%), Google Maps (45%), and then, finally, a business’s own website (36%)… meaning that the information on your GBP will be the first thing that most people look at when deciding where to custom. It also highlights that there is no guarantee they’ll click through to learn more.

As Local SEOs, we’ve been living in this zero-click world for some time. After all, it’s been years now that Google has been pushing more and more features and functionality into our Google Business Profiles as they display in the search engine results pages (SERPs).

• Want to look at photos of a business? Do this from the profile.
• Want to see if a business is open right now? Do this from the profile.
• Want to ask a question about the business? Do this from the profile.
• Want to message a business? Do this from the profile.
• Want to look at a menu or see how busy a location is right now? You guessed it—do these things from the profile.

Because of all the things that a customer or potential customer can do via a profile, it’s a no-brainer that you need to have a listing that’s kept up to date.

Your potential customers can take actions that lead to a conversion right from the SERP

The previous point illustrates the amount of information that a potential customer can access via the business profile without clicking through to the website… the type of content that will help them in their early stages of decision-making when they’re trying to decide which business to choose.

We must also remember that customers who are a little bit further down their path in terms of being ready to make a conversion also have options in the SERP. Google Business Profile offers various functionalities and features that could be considered actual business conversions.  

For example, the ‘order online’ link allows a customer to order ahead of time for collection or delivery:

The ‘book online’ link allows you to schedule and book an appointment directly from the SERP.

It brings a variety of user-generated content (UGC) into one place

There was a time when ‘user-generated content’ was kind of a big deal—back in the day when we all became ‘creators’, and ‘web 2.0’ marked a shift in the general ease of creating content online.

Google Business Profile is an excellent example of where business-created content and user-generated content merge. Although a well-established and trustworthy business has the chance to manage its listing carefully in terms of the information that it chooses to share, it can never truly ‘control the message.’ As user-generated content merges seamlessly with business-generated content in most Google Business Profiles, the various messages become one… one that’s at least partially out of the hands of the business.

Examples of user-generated content in the business profile:

• Reviews
• Q&A
• Photos
• User updates—‘updates from customers’

User-generated content can be great for businesses. It can also be… not so great:

We all know that the various iterations of our ‘GBP content’ across Google’s assorted surfaces are the first (and sometimes only) content related to our business that our potential customers will consume. 

So, now we know that GBP also combines our business-produced, carefully curated content with UGC (both good and not-so-great). With this in mind, we must be sure that we’re consistently monitoring, responding, and encouraging UGC (the good kind). We also need to be careful to try to suppress the UCG that breaches Google’s guidelines by reporting it accordingly.

It also reminds us that businesses need to be consistent with putting their best foot forward in all aspects, hoping that the UCG garnered in response paints them in a good light. 

It gives you plenty of opportunities to signpost content on your website

The ‘website’ link in GBP will indeed drive the lion’s share of the traffic to your website—after all, it’s usually the most obvious link through to a website from any iteration of GBP across surfaces:

But it’s also a great opportunity to drive your potential customers to other spots on your site.

There are a bunch of other places where you can add a link to your website. This might sound obvious, but make sure that you’re linking to a page on your website that suits the intent of that feature and the potential customer that is likely to click.

Bonus points for adding UTM tagging to your GBP links so you can measure their impact in GA4.

Getting Started with GA4

Learn More

It’s a useful source for customer insight for your own business (and your competitors’ businesses)

Sometimes we get so fixated on ‘managing’ or responding to UGC that we forget that monitoring and analyzing that content can give us terrific insight into how our customers and potential customers perceive or experience our products and services.

Reviews

Did you know that 98% of people read online reviews for local businesses, according to BrightLocal’s Local Consumer Review Survey? That’s a lot of eyes on the reviews you get and a lot of minds that could be swayed based on what they say.

But it’s not just about what potential customers see in your reviews; it’s about what you can see. 

By analyzing the textual content of our reviews, we can surface themes and topics that can indicate our business’s strengths and weaknesses. If you’re a multi-location business, you can group that content in any number of ways (by geography, service offering type, size, etc) for insight.

Make sure to look at the review topics for your business(es)—that’s where Google offers up their take on the commonly occurring themes within your reviews:

Are your reviews highlighting issues with your product or service delivery? Go ahead and fix them.

Are your reviews uncovering unseen strengths or facets of your product or service that are important to customers and that you were unaware of? Go ahead and highlight this feedback and those strengths in your marketing materials!

Q&A

Take a look at the questions that are asked in the questions & answers (Q&A) section. Although Q&A can be full of guff, there is also the occasional insight: are there questions here that you should be answering on your website, in your other content, or across various channels?

It’s used by potential customers to get directions to your business

This might seem like an obvious one, but Google Maps is the mapping application that is going to inform your potential customers as to where you are located. Furthermore, it’s likely the app that will guide them on their journey to you.

That might be using the app on their phone, via the navigation system in their car, or via a third-party app that uses Google mapping technology at its core (such as Lyft). No matter how the customers find those directions, they must lead to the right place! 

Its Insights section gives you important information about how people are finding you

We’re used to Google obfuscating our search query data (anyone remember the good old days when keyword data flowed freely into GA?), so we shouldn’t look a gift horse in the mouth.

When you have a Google Business Profile, Google offers up a range of data points—one of which is related to the search terms that searchers use when they trigger a Google SERP that shows your business profile:

It influences Google’s understanding of your business as an ‘entity’

This might sound a bit fluffy, but on a very basic level, your Google Business Profile is one way for you to use a Google Product to feed into Google’s Knowledge Graphs directly.

If you’re unfamiliar with the concept of ‘things, not strings’, read this.

By making sure that all of your details are correct in GBP—including your name, address, phone number, and details of your products and services—and making clear to Google the connection between your GBP, your websites, and your social media channels, you’ll be making a good start in terms of ensuring that Google has a clear idea of who you are, what your business is, and who you serve.

Time to Get Started

It should be clear by now that GBP offers a wide range of benefits to businesses and search users alike. In addition to being the top local SEO ranking factor for the Local Pack, it also makes it easy to showcase useful information about your business, ultimately making the process of searching for, comparing, and selecting a relevant local business much easier for local consumers. 

With bottom-line boosting benefits such as booking and reservation buttons plus the ability to share offers, news, and imagery, it can also make a notable difference to your local business. Getting your GBP up and optimized can have a vital impact on the success of your business, so be sure to stay on top of it.

You can set up a Gmail account in seconds. Ditto for Google Ads. And on the face of it, setting up Google Business Profile (formerly known as Google My Business) follows the same principle. 

That is until you’ve registered but aren’t able to make changes to your GBP straight away. So, what gives? 

Well, verification. It’s a pain, we get it. But until you prove who (and where) you are, you won’t be able to do any of these things:

• Edit your business information across Google (e.g. Search and Maps), including business hours
• See your GBP insights
• Upload images
• Respond to online reviews about your business

The verification system ensures that only authorized representatives of the business, and genuine businesses, can create and manage listings, which ultimately safeguards your business. 

How do I get my business verified on Google? 

Google says that most local businesses will need to verify their listing by post. This means they will send you a postcard containing a verification code that you will then need to enter to confirm your listing. 

How long does it take for Google Business Profile verification?

The time required for Google Business Profile verification depends on the method of verification. In some cases, Google will allow instant verification. This may happen if your business is already verified in Google Search Console. 

Other methods of verification vary—the postcard for example takes around a week to arrive on average but it can be longer if the postal service is busy. Google will then need around one week to manually verify. 

If verifying by email, the email should arrive right away but you’ll also need to allow up to a week for manual verification to then take place. 

For video verification, once your video is uploaded it should take around five days for the video to be reviewed by Google. 

If you’re given the option to verify via live video call, you’ll need to check the support hours for your region and then join the line to speak to an advisor, all of which can be frustrating when you’re ready to take control of your local SEO and optimize your Google Business Profile.

You may also find that this process can be more complicated when you are verifying multi-location business listings. Fortunately, additional features, functions, and support are available. 

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What if I’m tempted to skip Google Business Profile verification?

If you skip verification, there’s very little point in actually claiming your Google Business Profile in the first place as you won’t be able to access most of its features without first completing the verification process. 

Do I have to verify by postcard?

Postcard verification has historically been the most popular method of verification – it’s also the slowest which is why many local businesses would prefer another option. Thankfully, Google has added new methods of verification in the form of video uploads and live video calls, which are much quicker. In some instances, Google will offer other alternatives to postcard verification.

If you’re a service-area business operating within a specific geographic area, or a hybrid business that both serves customers at your place and visits them at theirs, you may be given the option to complete verification via email, phone, or through Google Search Console.

For businesses with multiple locations (such as a chain of stores or restaurants), there is also a bulk verification option. If you’re eligible for this option, you’ll be asked to complete a form, including a telephone number for verification and a business manager email, to confirm you are an authorized representative. 

If you aren’t given an email, phone, or Search Console verification option, you must verify by post. 

The only way to find out what your available options are is to claim your listing and proceed to the verification stage. 

How do I verify Google Business Profile?

When you have claimed your listing, Google will present you with appropriate verification methods, which may include via email, postcard, or video.

Verify With a Postcard:

1. Log in to Google Business Profile and click ‘Verify’.
2. Ensure your address is entered accurately, with full street name and zip code.
3. Include your floor, suite, or building number.
4. Add a contact name.
5. Click ‘Request Postcard’.
6. Wait for your postcard to arrive, then log back into Google Business Profile and enter the verification code. This code will expire after 30 days so it’s advisable to verify as soon as possible after you receive the postcard.

Verify Over the Phone:

If your business is eligible for phone verification, you’ll see a phone option when you click ‘Verify’. 

1. Log in to Google Business Profile and click ‘Verify’.
2. Click the associated phone number.
3. The code will be sent via an automated phone call or text message.
4. Return to Google Business Profile and enter the code you were given.

Verify Via Email:

Some businesses may be given the option to verify by email, rather than a postcard.

1. Log in to Google Business Profile and click ‘Verify’.
2. If you see the email option, click this.
3. Go to your email and follow the instructions provided in the message from Google.

Verify With a Video Recording: 

1. Log in to Google Business Profile and click ‘Verify’ you must be at your business location).
2. Click the video option and start recording.
3. Your video will need to include your business location (try to film street signs), the business itself, and proof of management (entrance into staff-only areas, for example, or video yourself unlocking the premises with your keys).
4. End the recording and upload your video. You can review the recording to ensure you’re happy with the clarity and accuracy before submitting.

Verify With a Video Call:

1. Log in to Google Business Profile and click ‘Verify’ (you must be at your business location).
2. Select the video call option.
3. Click start call. A text window will open with a support assistant, and they will walk you through how to join the live video call.

Is my business verified on Google Business Profile?

You can check if your business is verified by logging in to your Google Business Profile. If your listing is verified, you’ll see the dashboard and have access to all features. If your listing isn’t verified, the verification options will show. Or, you may be offered no verification options and instead, see a message saying that someone else has verified that profile:

If you see this image, you’ll need to use the ‘request ownership’ option to send an email to the other party asking them to contact you. That person can then confirm or deny your request. 

If the present owner doesn’t reply, your ownership request email will contain a link that will then walk you through a verification process. 

What happens if I fail my verification?

The good news, as of April 2025, Google Business Profile announced that you can now review your video recordings before you submit for verification. This can help you save valuable time by checking your recordings for accuracy, without having to wait for a verification failure and starting the process again.

If your video verification process does fail, though, you will receive an email from Google. This email will detail what you need to tweak when you resubmit for verification. Follow the advice in this email and submit a new video to try again. The email will look like the one below, with the details specific to your application and where you can improve.

Verifying your Google Business Profile listing can take some time but is necessary to manage and use your Google Business Profile. It’s advisable to start the process as soon as you can as verification can take a while to complete, depending on the verification options presented for your business.

Fortunately, Google continues to add features and offer support for enterprise brands and agencies, thereby assisting multi-location companies with GBP listings.

One fantastic feature available for agencies working with multi-location businesses is the GBP agency dashboard. This dashboard makes it easy to manage multiple brands and locations with an intuitive interface and bulk features.

Another great feature is Google Business Profile bulk verification. This is an option that chains and franchises can use to get an account whitelisted, meaning that they don’t have to send postcards to verify every new location that they add.

Here I’ll explain the steps to doing this, so you can save yourself time and stress!

Verifying a Business on Google Business Profile

In order to bulk-manage multiple locations in Google Business Profile, the business listings must first be set up and verified. The listings can either be verified one by one, or bulk verification can be used to make the process much simpler. 

Before you can get started with verification, you first need to set up your listing. For details, check out this guide to setting up GBP listings.

Once the listing has been created, the most common way to verify a location is to receive a postcard at the business address.

This usually takes between one week and 12 days for the postcard to arrive, or (in some cases) it’s possible to obtain a verification code via an email or phone call, which will naturally be much faster.

Each location you manage will need to go through the same process. Once the verification process is complete, you can begin making edits to the listing. 

Bulk Verification for Multiple Locations

Google’s guidelines explain that you can bulk manage 10 or more locations of the same business. In order to do this, you need to become ‘bulk verified’.

Being bulk verified means you’ll be able to add new locations and make updates to a listing without having to go through further manual verification procedures. 

In order to use bulk location management, you’ll need to create a ‘location group’ for your business. From there, you can create and upload a spreadsheet with all of the location information and request bulk verification.

When you bulk-verify listings with an individual account, all eligible locations in your account not claimed by someone else will be verified.

If you are a location group, when the main owner of the account is verified, all eligible locations in the group are verified as well. This then means that the locations can’t be owned by anyone else.

Google Business Profile Bulk Verification

Google’s guidelines on eligibility for bulk verification are straightforward: you have to have 10 or more locations belonging to the same business.

Additionally, Google specifies that:

• All of the locations for the brand should be in your bulk account, either published or unpublished
• No duplicate listings should be in your account when you request bulk verification

The business information for each individual location should always be accurate and up to date. Also, if the listings all belong to the same brand, then the business name, domain, and GBP categories should all match.

What about Service-area businesses?

Service-area businesses (SABs) are not eligible for bulk verification. It’s usually the case that a SAB will only have one listing due to only having one physical address.

The areas that the business serves can be added as additional information within the same listing.

Setting up Bulk Location Management

According to the Google Location Group guidelines, a business qualifies for bulk location management if they have 10 or more locations.

They must also meet the Google quality guidelines to be eligible to appear on Maps, Search, and other Google properties.

If an account has not been bulk verified, there is a limit to the number of business listings a company can create per Google Account in a given time period.

Listing creation thresholds for bulk spreadsheet upload are based on the number of verified listings you already have in your account. These limits exist to help maintain the integrity of listings on Google.

According to Google, to manage profiles in bulk you need to:

1. Use an email address with your business domain—an email address not affiliated with a business domain will take longer to verify.

2. Create a business group to manage the locations—business groups allow the GBP manager to safely share management of locations with multiple users.

3. Create a spreadsheet with all of your locations so you can verify them all at once.

a. Within GBP, near the top right corner, click ‘Add Location’
b. Import locations and download the template
c. Add all locations
d. Complete all the fields you can

4. Upload the spreadsheet to Google.

5. Review and fix any errors before locations are published.

6. Request bulk verification to ensure only the business owner or authorized representative of the business can manage and verify locations. Simply submit a form through GBP with information about you and your business.

The form will ask for information about your:

a. Business name
b. Countries/regions
c. Contact name
d. Contact phone
e. Business manager email
f. Google account manager email (if applicable)

7. Double-check all of the information is up to date

Setting up GBP Management with Fewer than 10 Locations

If your business has fewer than 10 locations, then you’ll need to claim, verify, and update each location individually. This is likely the case for the majority of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

Verifying each location individually can be challenging when this task is divided between several different team members. Restricting GBP manager access to a small number of people is a good idea and this will help to keep the process organized.

An easy way to simplify the process is to use a general company email, or the business owner’s email, to claim GBP listings. This will avoid potential headaches in the future, and ensure that access is never lost due to employee turnover.

Creating a spreadsheet is a sensible way to keep track of essential information, such as location data, business details, and any errors. This spreadsheet will serve as a convenient central reference point for businesses with multiple locations.

A Note About Account Suspensions

In recent months, Google has been handing out account-level suspensions to GBP account holders. A suspension will often happen because of an issue with an individual Google account, and not necessarily because of any fault by the business itself.

For example, if a business previously worked with an SEO agency, and this agency has later been found to be engaging in bad practices, then this connection between the agency and the business could trigger a suspension.

An account suspension may also be triggered if an account holder makes spammy edits to Google Maps. If a user has several edit suggestions denied, then they could be automatically flagged as a spammer. This will cause the account holder to be suspended and any listings they manage could also be suspended.

When an account is suspended, the user will lose access to all of the listings within their account. Furthermore, separate users who also manage these affected listings will lose access to the listings, and they’ll be able to see that a suspension has been given.

How to Deal with a Google Business Profile Suspension

Listing suspensions will either be hard or soft, and the severity may vary based on Google’s assessment of the violation (although this has not been confirmed):

• A hard suspension will result in the GBP listing not being visible at all.
• A soft suspension means the listing is still visible, but you can’t access or make edits to it. 

It might sometimes be the case that you log in to your GBP account and see that one of your listings has been suspended but that the rest of your listings are active as normal. In this instance, it’s likely that another manager of the affected listing has been suspended.

When this happens, you’ll have to attempt to identify the suspended user so that you can remove them from the listing. Due to privacy reasons, Google will not let you know which user has been penalized, so you’ll have to investigate yourself.

Once you know who is responsible, you should remove them from the listing and contact GBP support to explain the issue. This is the fastest way to get your listing live again.

In order to avoid problems with potentially rogue account managers, it’s a good idea to audit your Google Business Profile account semi-regularly to determine if anyone should be removed. Having a listing suspended when you’re not personally at fault could be incredibly frustrating, and detrimental to the reputation of your business.

Verified Google Business Profiles

If you want to use a spreadsheet to verify more than 10 listings, a Google team member will review the information, verify the listings, and then you’ll see them in your Google Business Profile account. It’s worth being aware that this process could take several weeks.

If you’re verifying less than 10 locations, your listings should be verified within two weeks via postcard, phone, or email.

Be sure to stay organized, allocate resources, and be patient. Once your listings are verified, your team can begin the process of GBP optimization.

Wrapping Up

Google Business Profile continues to evolve and this extends to its features for multi-location businesses.

Verifying multiple business locations has gotten easier over the years, especially for bulk listings. Whether a business has three locations or several thousand, GBP provides guidelines and tutorials on how to effectively verify these listings.

Remember, always follow the guidelines when completing this process to avoid creating a headache for yourself, or risking a suspension on your account.

Your business presence across Google Search and Maps is managed from within a single Google Business Profile (formerly Google My Business) platform. It’s a great system for small businesses, but how can you ensure consistency, accuracy and the greatest degree of optimization across hundreds or even thousands of locations? Multi-location businesses, including franchises, corporate chains and service-area businesses, face unique challenges when it comes to local listings management.

Over the last few years, Google has added more features and support for enterprise brands and users to manage locations in bulk. Most recently, they rolled out an agency dashboard that makes it easier to manage multiple brands and locations in a simpler interface. In this guide, we’ll explore some of Google Business Profile’ bulk features and provide tips on how to maximize efficiency and manage locations at scale.

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The Basics of Google Business Profile Bulk Import: Step-by-Step

While it’s helpful to use both bulk importing and bulk verification, you can use one without the other.

Bulk importing your location data is a simple way to make updates to existing locations, or create new ones, in bulk. For enterprise brands that are managing dozens, hundreds, or thousands of locations at a time, bulk importing data and updates based on your internal system or CMS is likely the most efficient method. This gives you the ability to impact a large number of locations in a relatively short period of time, rather than clicking through each location manually within the dashboard.

1. You have two choices for getting started

You can either create a new template for uploading, or download your existing locations. To download existing locations to build or edit your bulk template, simply click on ‘Download Locations’ located underneath your account summary within the Google Business Profile dashboard.

This gives you the option to download all ‘downloadable’ locations in an excel or .csv format. Locations ineligible for downloading have errors or are not published (e.g. duplicates, request access, etc.). Once these errors have been resolved, these can be included in your downloads.

Google Business Profile will also give you the option to ‘include Google Updates’ in your export. Including this data is helpful if you want to review Google and user-suggested updates alongside your current data. If you chose to include the updates, when available, they will be in a neighboring column for each field prefaced with ‘[UPDATED]’.

The export provides your list of locations, as well as a summary of Google Updates and each location’s status. This is helpful for auditing your locations, as you can focus on just those locations that may need attention or that users have suggested changing.

Outside of the basic location elements, you’ll also see your list of attributes included in the export. Keep in mind that because you have bulk-exported all locations (which may be separate brands and have varying categories), all available attributes will show. However, if a particular attribute is not available for that location or category, you will see ‘[NOT APPLICABLE]’ in the column for that location.

2. Edit your attributes in keeping with Google Business Profile formatting guidelines

When editing attributes, you can export the Attribute Reference Spreadsheet to see which values are accepted for each attribute. These can only be included when the field is blank and does not show the [NOT APPLICABLE] notice.

Be sure to follow all Google Business Profile formatting guidelines for the bulk import spreadsheet. Once you’ve reviewed any errors and made the necessary changes, you are ready to import your corrected file. Remember, if you are making a change to a single or a small number of fields, it is not necessary to include all columns in your import. If you are only making updates and not creating new locations, the only column required is Store Code.

In order to bulk edit, each location is required to have a unique store code. Because this is the required association field, it’s also the one field you are unable to change in bulk. When creating new locations, you must include the Store Code, all address fields, and primary category.

3. Import your corrected file

Next, to import your file, click the blue plus sign button and select ‘import locations from file’.

This is also where you’ll find the template and sample file to download for building files from scratch.

4. Verify your changes in the Import Summary

Once you’ve loaded your file, there is one last step before the changes are published to your locations. Google will review your spreadsheet and provide a summary of changes that will be made to your listings, so you can review before you import.

The Import Summary lets you know how many locations and changes you are making by completing the import, and flags potential errors or missing locations. If your summary includes changes you weren’t anticipating, you can select the ‘Download Details’ option which will download a summary by location for you to validate before continuing. You can also ‘Cancel’ the import if you do not want to continue.

When all changes are correct, click the submit button to process your file. From here, as long as your changes are valid, your data will save and publish to Google. If there are any errors with your data (such as address formatting), these locations will be flagged in red as formatting errors and require a manual update in order to save changes.

While many changes publish in a matter of minutes, some larger changes to fields like name, address, and URL may take up to 48 hours to publish. Additionally, if you do not have bulk verification, some of these larger changes can trigger a re-verification flag.

Google periodically adds and changes fields, acceptable values, categories and attributes, so it’s important to review available options for your locations by downloading your existing locations.

The Road to Google Business Profile Bulk Verification

In order to manage your multiple locations on Google, you first have to claim and verify your business locations. This process exists to ensure that you are associated with the business and have the authorization to manage location updates. Standard business verification requires that the user receives a postcard, email, or phone call with the verification code. Once you’ve completed the verification process, you can make location updates to your listing. This process must be repeated for each additional location you’re managing.

Bulk verification in Google Business Profile differs from standard verification in that it was created for brands with 10 or more locations. With bulk verification, you don’t need to manually verify each new location.

Who is eligible for bulk verification in Google Business Profile?

Google’s published eligibility guidelines are fairly simple: you must have 10 or more locations belonging to the same business. However, there a few other things you should know before applying for bulk verification:

1. All of the locations for the brand should be loaded to your account. Your location statuses can show published or not published.
2. You should not have any duplicate or access-needed locations in your account when requesting bulk verification.
3. You can still request bulk verification if you’ve previously manually verified some of your locations.
4. You will still be able to benefit from bulk verification for future changes or locations.

To prepare for bulk verification, ensure that all business details (primarily name, address, website, and categories) are as accurate as possible and match what is published on real-world signage and marketing material. If your listings are all of the same brand, then the name, domain, and categories should all match.

Verifying locations with name or category variations

If your brand has variations of names and categories (example: banks with ATMs, or apartment communities), they can still be bulk-verified as long as Google can prove they are all managed under the same business/company. Some things you should have prepared for these types of businesses in particular are:

1. A corporate website showing all location details as you have in Google Business Profile
2. Current storefront images of at least 5 locations. These images should show the business name and address number and street name, if possible. It’s also helpful if you can see surrounding businesses in your images, so Google can reference their data. If Google has trouble verifying your locations via Street View or other methods, they may request this data for a sample set of your locations.

Ensure that you have a corporate domain email account available to access, as Google requires a response from a corporate domain in order to approve your account. You can sign up for bulk verification with a generic email address (such as Gmail), but the corporate domain needs to respond to a Google request. When applying for bulk verification, keep in mind that the email address you verify can not be changed.

You should not register an employee’s personal email for this verification, as there is a chance they may move on and that would interfere with the company’s access to the Bulk Verified Google Business Profile account. Additionally, if at any point in time you transfer ownership of locations that were bulk verified, they will lose verification if transferred to a non-bulk verified account.

Of course, there are other potential delays and issues when applying for bulk verification. Most importantly, Google wants to ensure that the data you are publishing is correct and representative of the business in the real world, and that you are authorized by the business to manage these updates.

Google Business Profile Bulk Management FAQs

Which fields cannot be edited in bulk?

You cannot edit store codes or map pin location/coordinates in bulk. You also can’t add or edit Google Posts via the bulk import function.

Can you apply for bulk verification for Service Area Businesses?

No, because Google requires that Service Area Businesses are manually verified. If you have a bulk-verified account that includes brick-and-mortar locations and try to change a location to a service area or add a new location that is a service area, it will revert to ‘manual verification required’.

Do you need to be bulk-verified in order to bulk upload your locations?

No, all Google Business Profile users have access to bulk-import their data.

How do I add managers to my locations in bulk?

Only location owners can add managers. While you can add single managers in bulk, if you have different managers you will want to add by location, and it must be done manually (or via API).

If you have a manager that you want to add to all or a set of your locations, you simply need to move these locations to a subfolder in Google Business Profile. This doesn’t impact any location data or verification. Once your locations are in a subfolder, edit the subfolder and ‘manage users’, adding the Google Business Profile email address of the desired manager.

Can you close locations in bulk?

Yes, but not via import. You can multi-select a group of locations that you wish to close and ‘mark as permanently closed’. From here, you can either keep or remove the locations from your account. You can always store the closed locations in a subfolder separate from active locations, to avoid publishing incorrect data.

I hope I’ve been able to explain the ins and outs of Google Business Profile bulk verification and bulk upload in a way that makes this process much easier.