How to add your business to Google Maps

• You need a Google Account. It can use a Gmail address or your own business email (Google).
• You must meet customers in person. To qualify, Google says a business "must make in-person contact with customers during its stated hours" (Google). That includes visiting customers, like a plumber or dog groomer who comes to you. Online-only businesses can't have a profile.
• Use your real business name, the one on your van, shopfront or invoices. Adding extra words like "Best Plumber Truro" breaks Google's guidelines and can get your profile suspended.

Search for your business name and town on Google Maps. If your business appears with a link saying Claim this business or Own this business?, nobody has claimed it yet (Google). If the next screen says someone else may manage the profile, it has already been claimed.

• If it's there and unclaimed: select Claim this business, then Manage now, and follow the steps.
• If someone else already manages it (an old employee or a previous agency, say): go to business.google.com/add, find your business and select Request access. Google gives the current owner three days to respond. If they don't, you may be able to claim it (Google). If you visit customers and have no shopfront, Google asks you to contact its support team instead.
• If it isn't there: go to step 2.

Don't make a second profile for a business that's already listed. Google allows only one profile per business.

1. Go to business.google.com/add and sign in.
2. Enter your business name.
3. Choose your main category. Google says to pick the one that completes "This business IS a", not "this business HAS a". For a salon, that's Hairdresser.
4. Say whether customers can visit you at a location.
5. Add your address, or your service areas if you go to customers. You can add up to 20 service areas (Google).
6. Add your phone number and website.
7. Choose a way to verify.

Working from home? Hide your address

If customers don't come to you, Google says you must hide your business address and list the areas you serve instead (Google). This is the right choice for most tradespeople, mobile groomers and mobile hairdressers. To change it later: Edit profile, then Location, then Edit next to Business location, turn off Show business address to customers and select Save (Google).

Google says customers can only find your profile after you verify it (Google). Google decides which methods you're offered, based on things like your business type and location, and you can't change them (Google).

Tips for the video

Google's video rules ask for one unedited clip of at least 30 seconds, recorded on your phone. It should show where you are, proof the business exists and proof you manage it. Google's examples include opening a branded van. If you run a service-area business from home, you can film nearby street signs and landmarks instead of your house.

How long verification takes

• Google says verification reviews take up to five working days, and rarely longer.
• Most postcard codes arrive within 14 days, and codes expire after 30 days.
• While you wait for a postcard, don't change your business name, address or category, and don't request a new code. The code won't work if you do.

Once you're verified, add the details customers look for (Google):

• Opening hours, plus special hours for bank holidays.
• Extra categories. You can add up to nine more, but only ones that describe what your business is.
• Photos of your shopfront, your work and your team. Google says an outside photo helps customers recognise you.
• Services and prices, where the option is available.

Google says businesses "with complete and accurate info are more likely to show up in local search results" (Google). Changes usually go live within 10 minutes, but some take up to 30 days (Google).

Anyone can add a missing place to Google Maps, and it shows publicly once added. But that doesn't let you manage it, reply to reviews or change your hours. For that, you need a Business Profile you've verified.

Getting your profile set up is step one. Keeping it accurate is the ongoing part: hours, services and photos. We help small businesses keep their business details on Google current, with clear pages about their services and area. Google decides where you appear, so we can't promise rankings.

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