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Google Business Profile checklist for a local business in India

A verified Business Profile with accurate details, the right category, real photos and replies to reviews is the base of showing up on Google Maps and Search. Google says listings with complete and accurate information are more likely to show up in local search results.

How Google decides who shows up

Google says local results are based mainly on relevance (how well your profile matches the search), distance (how far you are from the customer) and prominence (how well-known you are, including links from other sites and your reviews). It also says there is no way to request or pay for a better local ranking. So the job is to be complete, accurate and real.

The checklist, in order

1. Claim and verify. Google needs to confirm you run the business before edits to your name, category, address, hours, phone and website are published. Options depend on your business and Google chooses which you see: phone or text code, email, a live video call, a video recording, or a postcard that can take up to 14 days. Postcard codes expire after 30 days, so enter yours quickly.
2. Use your real-world name. Google does not allow taglines, phone numbers, URLs, or service and location details in the name. “Glow Salon” is right. “Glow Salon Best Bridal Makeup Andheri” is not allowed.
3. Use a real address. It must be an actual location. Google does not accept P.O. boxes, remote mailboxes or virtual offices. If you travel to customers and have no shopfront, set up as a service-area business and hide the address.
4. Pick the category with care. Google says to use as few categories as possible, as specific as possible, and to choose ones that complete the sentence “This business is a…”, not “has a…”. Do not use categories as keywords.
5. Set regular hours, then special hours. Add your normal hours, and use Special hours for holidays and festivals such as Diwali. Special hours work for closures of up to 6 days in a row; for longer, mark the business as temporarily closed. Wrong hours are the fastest way to lose a customer.
6. Add a phone you control and a website for this location. Google asks for a local number that goes to your business, not a call-centre line, and a website that represents this one location.
7. Add real photos. Google suggests at least three in each category that applies: outside, inside, your work or products, and team. It recommends 720 by 720 pixels, with 250 by 250 as the minimum. Photos can take 24 to 48 hours to show, and show publicly only after you are verified.
8. Ask for reviews the right way. You can ask customers to visit a Google link or scan a QR code. You may not offer discounts or free items in exchange for reviews; Google calls that fake and misleading content and prohibits it.
9. Reply to reviews. Keep replies short and professional. Answer questions, do not offer promotions, do not share the reviewer’s private details, and take long disputes to phone or email.
10. Add a booking link if you take bookings. In the Booking section, choose Add link and paste the web address of your booking page. A profile can hold up to 10 links per category.
11. Do not put links in the description. Google does not allow links of any type in the business description.
12. Make your website say the same thing. Same name, address, phone and hours as the profile, written exactly alike. Our schema guide shows how to state them in a machine-readable way.

Notes for your kind of business

• Salon. Show your work, not stock pictures: the interior, the chairs, finished results. If you take bookings, see WhatsApp or booking widget.
• Clinic. Google says not to list hours for businesses that operate only by appointment, so check the hours guidance for your case. Never put patient details in a review reply. See local SEO for dentists.
• Café. Use More hours if delivery or takeout times differ from dine-in. Google has separate link types for food ordering and for pickup and delivery. Google names food and drink, and interior, as photo categories to fill.

Checklist to print

• Verified, and I know who holds the login.
• Name exactly as on my signboard.
• One specific main category.
• Regular hours and festival hours set.
• Phone rings at my business.
• At least three real photos in each category.
• I reply to every review.
• Website shows the same name, address, phone and hours.