How to Put Your Business on Google: Free, Step by Step

To put your business on Google, create a free Google Business Profile at business.google.com/add, verify that you own it, and fill it in completely. The profile is what puts you on Google Maps and in the local results when people nearby search for what you do. Google's help page on adding a business says "You can add or claim your business at no charge." Its page on local ranking adds that "There's no way to request or pay for a better local ranking on Google."

This guide covers the profile only: how to set it up, how to get it verified, and the four cases most guides skip. You work from home. You only visit customers. You have no website. Or a listing for your business already exists.

Already have a profile but still can't find yourself? Something specific is usually missing, like a weak category, an empty services list or a page Google can't read. Our free Claude connector runs a full audit and tells you what to fix first. Run the free audit.

Before you start: check whether you're already on Google

Search Google Maps for your business name and your street or town. You'll get one of three results.

What you find	What to do
No listing	Create a new profile (next section).
A listing nobody has verified	Claim it from Google Maps instead of creating a new one.
A listing someone else verified (a former owner, an old agency, an ex employee)	Request ownership from the current owner. Google says that if you're authorized to manage the business, you can request ownership from the current profile owner.

Never make a second profile to get around a lost login. Google's guidelines for representing your business say: "Do not create more than one page for each location of your business, either in a single account or multiple accounts." Breaking that rule can put your profile at risk, even if you didn't mean to.

How to put your business on Google, step by step

Sign in with a Google account you'll keep. Use one the business controls, not the personal email of a staff member who might leave.
Go to business.google.com/add and start a new profile.
Enter your real-world name. Google's guidelines want the name "as used consistently on your storefront, website, stationery, and as known to customers". They also warn that unnecessary information in the name "could result in the suspension of your Business Profile". "Smith Plumbing" is fine. "Smith Plumbing 24/7 Emergency Plumber Denver" is not.
Pick your primary category. The same guidelines give a simple test: pick categories that complete the statement "This business IS a" rather than "this business HAS a". Our guide to the best Google Business Profile category for a plumber shows how to apply that to one trade.
Set your address, your service area, or both. This depends on how you work. See the cases below.
Add your phone number, and your website if you have one.
Request verification. More on this below.

Getting verified

Google decides which verification methods you get. Its verification help page says: "Verification methods are automatically determined by Google and can't be changed." Depending on your business, they include phone or text, email, a live video call or a postcard by mail.

One rule catches people out. While you wait for a postcard, don't edit your business name, address or category. The same page says that if you do, "the code we sent you won't work".

If your code never arrives or the video gets rejected, follow our guide on how to verify your business on Google Maps. It covers every method and what to do when one fails.

Your situation: home, service area, no website

You work from home and customers never visit

You're a service-area business: cleaners, roofers, mobile mechanics, dog groomers who travel. Google's guidelines say: "If you're a service-area business, you should hide your business address from customers." You still need a real address to verify. You just don't show it.

Then list the towns or postcodes you cover. If you want to reach more towns, our guide on showing up in Google Maps in more towns explains what works.

You have a shop or office and you also travel

Google calls this a hybrid business. Its service area help page says hybrid businesses can "show their storefront address, set their hours for when their staff is available, and also have a service area." A bakery that delivers or a locksmith with a counter fits here.

You rent a mailbox or a P.O. box

That won't work. Google's guidelines say: "P.O. boxes or mailboxes located at remote locations aren't acceptable." Use the real place you work from, and hide it if customers don't come there.

You have no website

You can still put your business on Google. The website field is optional, and the profile can show on Maps and in local results on its own. Fill in your services, hours and description carefully, because without a site the profile is all Google has about you. Google counts how many websites link to your business as part of how well known you are, so a site helps later. If you're unsure whether you need one yet, read do I need a blog for SEO.

One short guide a week, every Tuesday. What to fix on your site and your profile, in what order, without jargon. Get it free.

Fill in the profile before anything else

Google says "Businesses with complete and accurate info are more likely to show up in local search results." Once you're verified, add:

Hours, including holiday hours.
Services, in the words your customers use: "boiler repair", not "heating solutions."
A description in plain sentences: what you do, where, and for whom.
Real photos of your work, your premises, your van and your team. No stock images.
Secondary categories, only the ones that are true.

The Google Business Profile checklist has the full list. Restaurants have their own extra fields, covered in how to put your restaurant on Google Maps.

What about your website in Google Search?

Your profile doesn't put your website's pages in the regular search results. That's a separate system: Google finds your site by crawling it, and you check it with the free Search Console. Our guide on how to get your website on Google walks through it.

How to get your business to the top of Google

Google ranks local results on three things. Relevance is how well your profile matches the search. Distance is how far you are from the person searching, and you can't change it. Prominence is how well known you are, which Google bases partly on how many reviews you have and how many websites link to you. So the parts you control are a complete profile, accurate categories and a steady flow of genuine reviews. Our guide on how to get Google reviews covers asking for them without breaking the rules.

Mistakes that get profiles suspended or buried

Extra words in the business name that aren't on your sign.
A second profile for the same location after losing access to the first one.
A home address shown publicly when customers never visit.
A P.O. box or a remote mailbox used as the address.
Categories for things you don't really do.
Editing the name, address or category during postcard verification, which breaks the code.

If your profile is approved but won't appear, start with Google Business Profile not showing up.

FAQ

Is it free to put my business on Google? Yes. Google says you can add or claim your business at no charge. You only pay if you choose to run Google Ads, which are a separate product shown in a labelled space.

Can I put my business on Google without an address? You need a real address to create and verify the profile, but you don't have to show it. Service-area businesses hide the address and list the areas they cover instead.

What if someone else already made a listing for my business? If nobody has verified it, claim it from Google Maps. If someone else verified it, request ownership from the current owner through Google's process. Don't create a duplicate.

How long does it take for my business to show up on Google? Google doesn't publish a timeline for ranking, so nobody can honestly promise you a date.

What to do today

Search Google Maps for your business name and note what you find: nothing, an unverified listing, or one someone else controls.
Create or claim your profile at business.google.com/add, with your real-world name and the most specific category.
Decide your case: storefront, service area, or both. Hide your address if customers never come to you.
Request verification, and keep the verification guide open in case it stalls.
Once the profile is live, run the free audit with our Claude connector to see what's still missing.