The complete Google Business Profile checklist for 2026

Why the profile matters more than your website

For a local business, the Google Business Profile is usually the first thing a customer sees — in Maps, in the local pack, and in the knowledge panel beside search results. It drives calls, direction requests and website taps before anyone reaches your site. It's also the anchor that AI assistants use to understand what your business is. A complete, active profile outperforms a merely claimed one on every one of those measures.

1. Claim, verify and lock it down

• Claim the profile at business.google.com and complete verification (video verification is now common; have your signage, equipment and a business document ready).
• Add a second owner so access never depends on one person's Gmail.
• Turn on two-step verification for every owner.
• Remove duplicate profiles for the same location — they split your reviews and confuse Google.

2. Name, categories and attributes

• Name: your real business name, exactly as it appears on your signage. No keywords stuffed in — Google suspends profiles for it.
• Primary category: the single most specific category for what you do. This is the strongest ranking signal on the profile.
• Secondary categories: add every category that genuinely applies (a hotel with a restaurant: Hotel + Restaurant + Bar).
• Attributes: fill in everything — accessibility, amenities, payment types, service options. They appear in filters and in AI answers.

3. Hours, phone, website and links

• Set regular hours and special hours for every holiday for the year ahead. “Hours might differ” is a lost customer.
• Use a local phone number that someone answers.
• Link the website homepage (or a location page for multi-location businesses), and add booking, ordering, menu and appointment links where offered.

4. Services, products and menu

Add every service you offer with a short description and price range where you can. Restaurants: add the menu through the menu editor, not just a photo. Retail: add products. These fields feed the “services” and “products” tabs and give Google text to match against searches.

5. Photos and video

• Logo and cover photo, then at least 20 photos: exterior (so people recognize it from the street), interior, team, work, products.
• Add new photos monthly. Profiles with recent photos get more direction requests.
• Short videos (under 30 seconds) of the space or the work perform well.

6. Posts, Q&A and messaging

• Post weekly: an update, an offer or an event. Posts expire from view, so consistency matters more than polish.
• Seed the Q&A with the five questions customers ask most, and answer them yourself.
• Turn on messaging only if someone will answer within a few hours; otherwise leave it off.

7. Reviews

Ask every customer, automatically, after every visit — by text or email with the direct review link. Reply to every review within a business day. Rating, recency, volume and response rate all influence ranking, and all four influence the customer reading them.

8. Check it monthly

Google changes categories, adds attributes and sometimes accepts public “edits” to your profile. Once a month: check the facts, read the insights (searches, calls, directions), add photos, and compare your rating and review count with the three competitors above and below you in the map.