How to Create and Verify a Google Business Profile

To create and verify a Google Business Profile, first search Google Search and Maps for the exact business name and location. Claim the existing listing if one represents the business; create a new profile only if none exists. Enter accurate real-world details, select Get verified, and complete the method shown in the profile. Google’s current verification instructions say methods are assigned automatically and can include video recording, phone or text, email, live video, or mail.

Prepare the requested evidence before starting, especially when business video is offered. A successful submission must connect three facts: the business operates at the claimed location, it performs the stated work, and you are authorized to represent it. Google’s video-recording requirements call for a unique, unedited recording captured and uploaded through the Business Profile on a mobile device, so arrange signs, tools, keys, documents, and access to restricted areas before you record.

Decide whether to create, claim, or recover a profile

Begin with a duplicate check. Search for the business name with its city, street address, telephone number, and any former trading name. Inspect both Search and Maps because an older or unverified listing may already represent the business.

No matching profile exists: create a new profile through Google’s add-business flow.
An unverified profile exists: claim that listing and continue to verification.
A verified profile is controlled by another account: request ownership from its current owner.
Two profiles represent the same business: resolve the duplicate instead of trying to verify both.

Google’s add-or-claim procedure distinguishes creating a missing profile from claiming an existing unverified one. If a verified profile is already controlled by someone else, the same instructions direct an authorized representative to request ownership.

Do not treat an unwanted duplicate as a clean slate. A replacement can divide customer-facing information while leaving the ownership problem unresolved. Record the Maps URL, displayed name, address, and controlling Google Account before recovery so that every action applies to the intended listing.

Confirm eligibility and prepare consistent details

A Google Business Profile is for a business that interacts with customers in person during its stated hours. Google’s eligibility overview includes storefronts and service providers that visit customers, while excluding online-only businesses and properties offered solely for rent or sale.

Prepare the real-world business name, primary category, phone number, website, customer-facing hours, and either an address or service area. Do not add search terms, locations, or services to the name unless they are genuinely part of the name used on signage, stationery, and the business website. Google’s representation guidelines also require businesses displaying an address to maintain permanent fixed signage with the business name there.

Choose the location setup that reflects how customers receive the service:

Storefront: show the address only when customers can visit a staffed location with permanent signage during the published hours.
Service-area business: hide the address when the business travels or delivers to customers and does not serve them at its operating location.
Hybrid business: show the staffed customer-facing address and add the area where the business travels or delivers.
Home-based business: if customers do not visit the home, use the service-area configuration and keep the residential address hidden.

Google’s address instructions say a service-area business can withhold its address and display its service area instead. This changes what customers see; it does not remove the need to give Google truthful location evidence during verification.

Add or claim the correct listing

Use a Google Account controlled by the business rather than an employee’s or agency’s personal account. Google permits an existing account with any email address, while its account guidance notes that linking a company email address can make the profile easier to manage.

Open Google’s add-business flow and enter the business name.
Select the correct suggested listing if one appears. Continue with a new profile only if none represents the business.
Choose the most specific primary category describing the main operation.
State whether customers can visit the location, then enter the address or service area accurately.
Add a working business phone number, website, and customer-facing hours.
Compare the details with permanent signage, the website, permits, invoices, and utility records.
Select the verification option displayed by Google and follow its prompts.

If you locate an unverified listing in Search, choose Own this business? and then Manage now. On Maps, Google’s claiming instructions use Claim this business followed by Manage now. A notice that someone else has verified the listing calls for an ownership request, not another profile.

Use the verification method Google assigns

You cannot freely choose from every verification channel. The official verification workflow says the available options depend on the business type, public information, region, and operating hours, and that some profiles may require more than one method. Follow the options displayed in the profile rather than trying to reproduce an older postcard-only tutorial.

Before selecting Get verified, confirm that someone can answer the listed phone, open the offered email inbox, receive mail at the entered address, or reach the operating location with a suitable mobile device. If Google offers a live video call, its verification guidance says the call is available only during the location’s business hours.

Verification may also affect connected operations. On October 29, 2024, the Associated Press reported that Google planned to require verified Business Profiles for affected Local Services advertisers beginning that November. Treat advertising eligibility as a separate workflow, however: completing Business Profile verification does not by itself establish that an advertiser meets every Local Services requirement.

Plan a video that proves location, operations, and authority

Storefront video-verification route proving the business location, active operations, and the operator’s management authority.

If business video is assigned, plan one route from location evidence to operational evidence and then proof of management. Google’s video specification requires an unedited, continuous recording of at least 30 seconds, captured live and uploaded from a mobile device through the Business Profile. It also prohibits faces, private information, and sensitive identifiers such as bank-account, tax, or identification numbers.

Storefront and hybrid shot list

Begin outside with a street sign, building number, nearby businesses, or another recognizable location marker.
Show permanent signage whose business name matches the profile.
Move inside without stopping and show the storefront, showroom, products, equipment, or work area.
Demonstrate management by opening an employee-only area, cash register, kitchen, storage room, or point-of-sale system.
For a hybrid operation, include relevant equipment or a work vehicle used away from the premises.

A sign may establish identity without proving authority, while keys alone may not identify the business or its location. The useful sequence connects the surrounding place, the named operation, and access that an ordinary visitor would not have.

Service-area and home-based shot list

Start with a street name, building number, nearby landmark, or another clear identifier around the operating address.
Show trade-specific tools, equipment, products, inventory, workspace, business cards, or branded work materials.
Demonstrate control by unlocking a business vehicle or workspace, accessing business-only assets, or performing a representative service.
If appropriate, show a permit, invoice, or utility bill matching the profile name while keeping sensitive fields out of the recording.

Google’s service-area checklist accepts neighborhood markers, professional equipment, business-only assets, and matching business documents as relevant forms of evidence. Do not publish a home address merely to simplify filming; businesses that do not receive customers at their location should omit that address from the public profile.

Handle phone, email, live video, and mail correctly

For phone or text verification, keep the listed business line available and account for call routing. Google’s phone-verification instructions warn that an interactive voice-response system cannot receive the code. For email, use the address shown on the verification screen and follow the message sent there.

During a live video call, remain physically present at the business and prepare to show location, operations, and authority. Charge the device, test its connection, and position keys, nonsensitive documents, or tools where you can reach them without interrupting the call.

If mail is offered, confirm the mailing address before requesting the postcard. Google’s mail-verification rules say most codes arrive within 14 days and expire after 30 days. Do not change the business name, address, or category while waiting, because those edits invalidate the dispatched code; requesting a replacement also invalidates the earlier code.

Keep every verification code confidential. Google’s code-security instructions say it will not ask you to disclose the code and that you should not share it even with someone who manages the profile. Enter it only in the intended Business Profile while signed in to the correct account.

Recover safely after an unsuccessful verification

Service-area business correcting a rejected verification submission with location, equipment, vehicle-access, and management evidence.

A rejected video calls for better evidence, not a replacement profile. Open the profile, select Review issues, and identify every missing element. Google’s resubmission instructions say the new recording should include the relevant material from the first attempt plus the evidence identified as missing.

Map each issue to a specific correction. If the business name was not visible, show durable matching signage. If the nearby area was absent, begin with street or building markers. If authorization was unclear, show access to business-only assets or an appropriate matching document without exposing sensitive information.

If Get verified reappears, follow the offered re-verification path. Google’s verification troubleshooting guidance explains that recent profile changes can trigger requests for additional information and recommends trying another displayed method when one is available before contacting support.

Keep a recovery record containing the profile URL, exact submitted details, screenshots of the issue, submission date, rejection message, and evidence shown. Avoid unrelated edits, repeated code requests, or parallel profiles while the case is under review.

Secure ownership and delegate manager access

Keep verification and primary ownership under the business’s control even when an employee or agency handles daily updates. Do not share the primary owner’s password. Invite each authorized person through Business Profile settings → People and access.

Google’s owner-and-manager documentation says owners can add or remove users and remove the profile, while managers can handle routine profile activity but cannot control users or remove the profile. A profile may have multiple owners but only one primary owner.

Keep primary ownership with a durable company-controlled account, reserve owner status for people who need administrative control, and use manager access for routine work. Google’s access restrictions for new users impose a seven-day waiting period before newly added owners and managers can perform sensitive actions such as removing users, deleting the profile, or transferring primary ownership.

Complete the verification handoff

After submitting evidence, avoid speculative changes while Google reviews it. The current review guidance says verification can take up to five business days, although some profiles are verified immediately. Check the signed-in account for the result and revisit the managed profile instead of relying only on its public search appearance.

Once verification is confirmed, inspect the public name, category, address or service area, phone number, website, and hours. Then add the appropriate owners or managers, document who holds primary ownership, and store the profile URL with the business’s operational records. Maintain that one authoritative listing so its public details continue to match the real business.