When someone types "hairdresser in Kaunas" or "roof repair near me" into Google, a map with a few businesses often appears above the regular results. Among them, it is not only the profiles that compete: Google also looks at how much it can find about each business online, including its website.
That prominence is built by your Google Business Profile together with a well-built website: the profile puts you on the map, while the website explains what you do, convinces the visitor and helps Google understand your business. We touched on this briefly in Why doesn't your website bring in clients? 7 common reasons. Here we go deeper: how the profile works, how to set it up step by step, and which mistakes to avoid.
What a Google Business Profile is and who it is for
It is a free business card shown in Google Search and Google Maps: name, address, opening hours, phone number, photos and reviews. You manage it yourself.
A profile is available to businesses that have a place customers can visit, or that travel to their customers: shops, cafés, beauty salons, tradespeople, clinics, lawyers, construction or transport companies. If you work only remotely and never meet customers, you most likely won't qualify. Google describes the requirements in its guidelines.
What Google looks at when showing local businesses
Google names three main factors:
- Relevance — how well the profile matches what the person is searching for. More complete and accurate information helps.
- Distance — how far the business is from the searcher.
- Prominence — how well known the business is online: reviews, websites that link to it, and other information.
You can't change distance, but you can improve relevance and prominence, and both your profile and your website help with that. Google also makes clear that you can't request or pay for a better local ranking (source). What's left is doing the basics properly.
Step by step
1. Create or claim your profile
First check whether a profile for your business already exists. Sometimes a former employee, a previous agency or Google itself created one. If it exists, claim it instead of creating a second one: each location should have only one profile. Then verify that you are authorized to represent the business. A verified profile is more likely to show up in search.
2. Name: the real one, with no keywords
Enter the name you use on your signage, website and documents. For example, "Vilma Hair Salon", not "Vilma Hair Salon – cheap, Kaunas, men's and women's haircuts". Taglines, phone numbers, opening hours, services or location descriptions are not allowed in the name, and breaking this rule can get the profile suspended.
3. Categories: precise, but few
Your primary category tells Google what you are, so choose the most specific one that fits your core business. Add more only if you need them. A simple test: "This business IS a…", not "This business HAS a…". Don't use categories as keywords.
4. Address or service area
If customers come to you, enter your exact, real address. A virtual office or mailbox does not qualify. If you travel to customers (a plumber or cleaner working from home, for example), hide your address and set a service area: the cities or districts you cover.
5. Phone, website, opening hours
Use a phone number that genuinely belongs to your business, plus your website address. Don't forget special holiday hours: a mistake here costs real customers who arrive at a closed door.
6. Description
Explain what you do, where and for whom. Google's rules: no links, no prices or promotions (such as "-50%"), no keyword stuffing. Write naturally, the way you would explain it to a new customer.
7. Photos
Upload real photos: the storefront and entrance (so people can find you), the interior, your team, finished work. Stock photos don't work here. People want to see where they are going and who they are dealing with.
8. Reviews
Reviews are a big part of prominence. Ask for them after a job is done by sending a direct link (you can get it from the profile itself). Reply to all of them, including negative ones, calmly and to the point. Don't buy reviews or ask for positive ones only, as that goes against Google's rules.
Your profile and your website reinforce each other
A profile on its own is only half the job. Your website strengthens it:
- The website helps Google understand your business. Google can work out what you do from your website as well as from other mentions online, so clear service pages help your profile match more searches.
- The website completes the path to an enquiry. Someone found you on the map, but they often decide based on your website: your services, price guidance, past work and a clear enquiry form.
- The link from your profile should lead to the most relevant page, not always the homepage (for example, a service or contact page).
- Same details everywhere. The name, address and phone number on your website should match your profile. Add a clear contact page with your address, opening hours and a map.
- Structured data.
LocalBusinessmarkup (schema.org) helps search engines understand your business better. - City-specific service pages are worth creating only if you really work there and each page has its own unique content. Dozens of near-identical pages that differ only by city name are treated by Google as spam.
The most common mistakes
- A business name stuffed with keywords or services.
- Different phone numbers and addresses on the profile, website and social media.
- A home address shown publicly when the business actually travels to customers.
- A second profile for the same location (duplicates confuse Google).
- Unanswered reviews.
- Forgotten holiday opening hours.
- A website link you don't track in any way.
How to see whether it works
The profile's performance data shows how many times it was viewed, how many people called, asked for directions or clicked through to your website. To see profile traffic in your website analytics, add UTM tags to the link, for example:
?utm_source=google&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=business-profile
That way you will know how many enquiries the profile brings in compared with other channels.
Checklist
- The profile is verified and it is the only one for the location.
- The name matches your signage.
- The primary category is precise.
- The address or service area is correct.
- Phone, website and opening hours (including holidays) are up to date.
- The description has no links, prices or keyword stuffing.
- Real photos are uploaded.
- You ask for reviews and reply to every one.
- Your website shows the same contact details as the profile.
- The link has UTM tags.
Frequently asked questions
Is a Google Business Profile free? Yes, creating and managing one costs nothing. You only spend your time, or a specialist's fee if you'd rather have someone set it up for you.
How long until I see results? Changes to your information show up quickly, but rankings move gradually: reviews and prominence build up over weeks or months. Nobody can promise an exact timeline.
Can I have a profile without a website? Technically yes, but you lose a lot. The profile puts you on the map, while customers often make their decision by looking at your website: your services, price guidance and past work. Google can also confirm what you do from your website. The two work best together.
What should I do about an unfair negative review? If it breaks Google's rules (for example, it is fake or abusive), you can report it. If it is simply unpleasant, reply respectfully and offer to solve the problem: future customers will see that too.
Can I have several profiles? If you have several real locations, each is entitled to its own profile. Creating several profiles for the same location is not allowed.
Want us to look at your profile and website?
We will review how your business appears in Google Search and on the map and tell you what is worth fixing, with no obligation. Write to us through the contact form or learn more about our SEO services, prices and our portfolio.