Google Business Profile Setup Guide

Before we start

You'll need: a Google account you want tied to the business long-term, plus basic business info (name, address or service area, phone, hours, category, website URL).

Tip Use the same Google account for both Search Console and the Business Profile — it's associated with a better shot at instant verification, and it's the account that ends up as Primary owner, so pick one you'll keep long-term.

Step 1 — Confirm the Google account

Go to google.com on the phone/browser you'll be using, tap the profile icon top-right, and confirm you're signed into the account you want tied to this business long-term.

Tap the profile icon — a tooltip confirms which account is active.

Tapping again opens the full account panel. "Show more accounts" reveals any other signed-in accounts if you need to switch.

Good habit If you're ever unsure which account is active on a given Google property (Search Console, Business Profile, etc. can each behave independently), open a fresh tab to google.com or myaccount.google.com and check the avatar there directly — don't assume it carried over from another tab.

Step 2 — Verify the site in Search Console

2.1 Start Search Console

Go to search.google.com/search-console and tap "Start now."

If you land on a hub screen with social platform options first, tap "Add a website" — ignore the platform-linking options, that's a different feature.

2.2 Choose URL prefix

On the "Select property type" screen, tap the URL PREFIX tab (not Domain — Domain requires DNS verification, which we're deliberately avoiding). Type the full site URL with https://.

URL Prefix selected, full URL entered. Tap Continue.

2.3 Choose the HTML tag verification method

Google may default to recommending the "HTML file" method. Use HTML tag instead, listed under "Other verification methods" — a single line added to the site's <head>, no separate file to host.

Tap "HTML tag" to expand it.

Tap Copy to grab the full verification tag. It's not a secret — it's meant to live in the page's public HTML source.

2.4 Add the tag and verify

Paste the tag into the site's <head>, right after the charset meta tag.
Deploy the change.
Back in Search Console, tap Verify.

"Ownership verified" confirms the tag was found. Ready for the next step.

Step 3 — Create the Business Profile

3.1 Search first, then create

Go to business.google.com/add. It'll ask you to search the business name first, to check whether a listing already exists before creating a new one.

Find and manage your business search screen

Type the business name to search first.

Create a business with this name suggestion

If nothing's found, "Create a business with this name" appears — tap it.

3.2 Business name and category

Name and category are combined on one screen. The category field is searchable — type a description of what the business does and pick the closest match. It can be changed later.

Name pre-filled, category selected from suggestions. Tap Next.

3.3 Do customers visit in person?

Google now explicitly asks whether the business has a location customers physically visit.

Do you want to add a location customers can visit question

Answer honestly. Most remote/service-based businesses should select No.

Get this right Selecting "Yes" without a real, visitable address is a common cause of verification or compliance problems down the line. If it's a remote business, say No — you'll be routed to a service-area setup instead.

Where do you serve your customers search

Add the city/region(s) served. Optional, editable later.

3.4 Contact details

Phone number is required; website is optional here but should be filled in whenever the business already has one.

Contact details screen with phone and website filled in

Phone + website filled in. "Add chat" is optional, skip unless wanted.

Step 4 — Verification

4.1 Mailing address

Google asks for a mailing address to verify the business is real, even for service-area businesses with no public storefront. This address is hidden from the public. PO boxes are not accepted.

Mailing address form, street address redacted

Fill in the mailing address.

4.2 Instant verification (when eligible)

You are now verified confirmation screen

"You're now verified" can appear right after the address — no postcard, video, phone, or live-call detour needed.

Good to know Instant verification isn't guaranteed for every business — Google decides automatically based on business type, location, and other factors it doesn't fully disclose. If it's not offered, expect video recording, phone/text, email, or a live video call instead; video has become increasingly common for new listings as of 2026.

Step 5 — Optional polish

After verification, Google walks through optional "Customize profile" steps — business hours, description, photos. None of these block verification; there's a Skip option throughout.

Toggle each day Open/Closed, set times or "24 hours." Same pattern repeats for every day.

Step 6 — Confirm it's live, then check ownership

"Verified" and "publicly showing up in Search/Maps" are not the same moment — indexing can take anywhere from a few minutes to a day or two. Check the source of truth directly instead of a plain web search: go to business.google.com or open the Google Maps app and search the business name.

Your business on Google management card in search results

The management card appearing in Search confirms the profile exists and you have access, regardless of whether it's showing in the public local pack yet.

Critical check: who actually owns this profile?

The account shown as "active" in a browser tab doesn't always match which account the Business Profile actually got created under — this can silently diverge, even when you're confident which account was active. Always check this immediately after creating a profile.

Go to the account menu (⋮) on the "Your business on Google" card → Business Profile settings → People and access.

Business Profile settings menu.

Shows the actual Primary owner on record for this profile.

Step 7 — Fixing a wrong-account mismatch

If the wrong account ended up as Primary owner, here's the actual sequence to fix it — there's a required order, you can't just remove the wrong account outright.

7.1 Add the correct account as Owner

Tap Add, enter the correct email, and set the role to Owner — not Manager. Manager can't transfer ownership later; Owner can.

Add person screen with email and Owner role selected

Email entered, Owner role selected. Tap Invite.

People and access showing pending invite

The invited account shows as "PENDING" until it accepts.

7.2 Accept the invite from the other account

The invited account needs to sign in and accept — it'll show up as an email.

"[Owner] invited you to own [Business]." Tap Accept, signed in as that account.

7.3 The 7-day cooldown

Even after the invite is accepted and the new account shows as an Owner, Google blocks the actual primary-ownership transfer (and removing the old owner) for 7 days from when the second account started managing the business. This is a real anti-fraud safeguard, not a bug.

"You aren't able to add, remove, or transfer primary ownership until both of you have managed this business for at least 7 days." Set a reminder and come back.

In the meantime The original owner keeps full access and nothing is broken — this is purely a waiting period before the transfer/removal actions unlock.

Bonus: who review replies show as

A common worry: does replying to a review from a personal Google account make the reply look like it came from you personally instead of the business? No. Per Google's own documentation, review replies always display under the business name, and the personal name of whoever replies is never shown. This is automatic regardless of which owner/manager account actually types the reply.