How do I get my business on Google Maps?

Step by step

Google's own steps, in order:

• Sign in to a Google Account, or create one. Google suggests signing up with your business email if you make a new account.
• Go to business.google.com/add and choose Add your business to Google.
• Enter your business name and search for your category.
• Say whether you have a location customers can visit. If you do, enter the address; if you visit customers instead, choose the areas you serve.
• Add your phone number and website, then finish and pick a verification option.

If your business is already on Maps

Sometimes a listing already exists. Search for your business name and town in Google Maps. If it shows Claim this business, select it, then Manage now, and verify.

If someone else already verified it, you request ownership instead. Google emails the current owner, who has 3 days to respond. Do not make a second profile: Google allows one profile per business, and a duplicate will not show on Search or Maps.

Verification, and how long it takes

Google chooses which verification options you get, based on your type of business, public information, region and hours. They can include a phone call or text, email, a live video call, a video recording or a postcard. If you are offered the video recording, Google recommends it.

The video must be one unedited take of at least 30 seconds, recorded on your phone through the Business Profile. It shows where you are (street signs or nearby landmarks), that the business exists (your signage, tools or equipment) and that you run it (opening the register, using a work van with your business branding, or a business permit, invoice or utility bill that matches the name on your profile).

After you finish the steps, Google's review takes up to 5 business days, on rare occasions longer. Most postcards arrive within 14 days; while you wait, do not change the business name, address or category, or the code stops working.

Working from home or at customers' homes

Google calls this a service-area business: you visit or deliver to customers and do not serve them at your address, like a plumber or a cleaning service. Google says to hide your address in that case; your profile then shows only your service area.

• Set up to 20 service areas by town or ZIP code, not by a radius.
• Keep the whole area within about 2 hours' drive of where you are based.
• P.O. boxes, remote mailboxes and virtual offices you do not work from are not accepted as an address.

What helps you show up

Google says local results are mainly based on relevance (how well your profile matches the search), distance (how far you are from the person searching) and prominence (how well known you are, including how many websites link to you and how many reviews you have).

There is no way to pay for a better local ranking. What Google recommends instead: verify, keep your information complete and accurate, keep your hours current, add photos, and reply to reviews. Google also uses your official website as a source for your business information.

Give it time: Google says rankings for a new business can take up to a month to appear.

Mistakes that get profiles suspended

Google may suspend a profile that does not follow its guidelines. The common ones:

• Extra words in the business name. It should be your real-world name, as on your sign and website, with no taglines, phone numbers or hours.
• A second profile for the same business, or one per service.
• Offering anything in return for reviews. Google strictly prohibits it.
• An address you do not actually work from.

Do not stop at Google

Apple Maps and Bing have their own free listings. Apple's is called Apple Business (business.apple.com). Bing Places for Business (bing.com/forbusiness) can import a verified Google profile and verify it for you, though the listing can take days to appear on Bing.

Your website matters too: it is where Google, and your customers, check that the details are real. At TigerPoint a business website starts from $499, and the free website check shows what Google sees on yours.