Google orders local results in Google Maps and Search on three factors: relevance, distance and prominence. A verified and complete Google Business Profile, the right primary category, current opening hours, answered reviews and a website with the same business details all work on the factors you can influence yourself. According to Google, you cannot pay for a better local position.
What is a Google Business Profile?
A Google Business Profile is the free profile that puts your business in Google Maps and in the local results of Google Search. It shows your name, address or service area, opening hours, phone number, website, photos and reviews, among other things. For businesses with customers nearby, such as an installer, hairdresser, dentist or bike shop, it is often the first thing a customer sees of you. Working on that local visibility is called local SEO.
How does Google decide the order of local results?
On its help page Tips to improve your local ranking on Google, Google names three factors:
The three factors for local results
| What Google means by it | What you can do | |
|---|---|---|
| Relevance | How well your profile matches what someone is looking for | Complete, accurate details and the right categories |
| Distance | How far your business is from the searcher, or from the place in the search | Little; your address or service area does have to be correct |
| Prominence | How well known your business is, including outside Google | Reviews, ratings and links to your business on other sites |
Distance is largely fixed. Relevance and prominence you can influence. Google states explicitly that you cannot request or buy a better local position.
How do you fill in your profile by the rules?
Google has guidelines for representing your business. If you break them, Google can edit or suspend your profile. Go through these parts:
Verification. A verified profile shows Google that you are entitled to represent the business. According to Google, that makes it more likely you appear in results. Without verification you also cannot reply to reviews.
Name. Use the name customers know from your premises, website and stationery. No slogans, service descriptions, town names, phone numbers or URLs in the name.
Address or service area. The address must be your real location. PO boxes, virtual offices and addresses where you are not based are not allowed. If you do not receive customers at your address, hide it and set a service area. Each location gets one profile.
Categories. Choose one primary category that describes what your business is, and as few extra categories as you need. According to the help page on categories, you pick the most specific option (Google’s example is “Nail salon” rather than “Salon”), and you cannot create your own categories. Do not add a category for every product or service.
Opening hours. Enter your regular hours and update special hours around public holidays and holiday periods. A customer who finds the door locked often writes a review about it.
Phone and website. Use a number and a page that belong to this location, preferably a local number you manage yourself. The link should not redirect to another page or a social media profile.
Photos. Google mentions photos and videos as a way to show what your business offers. Use real photos of your premises, your team at work and your products.
Your profile by the rules
- The profile is verified
- The name matches your premises, website and letterhead, without a town or service
- The address is your real location, or you have set a service area
- You have one specific primary category and only the additional categories you really need
- Regular and special opening hours are filled in
- Phone and website belong to this location, without redirects
- There are real photos of your premises, your team and your products
How should you handle reviews?
Reviews count towards prominence, and customers read them before they call. Three things matter.
Asking is fine, buying is not. You can ask customers for a review, for example with the link or QR code your Business Profile provides. Google’s policy does prohibit incentives for a review, asking selectively for positive reviews only and discouraging negative reviews. Reviews from employees, former employees or people with a business interest are not allowed either.
Replying. According to the help page on customer reviews, your reply appears publicly under your business name once Google has checked it. Reply to critical reviews too: stick to the facts, leave out the customer’s personal details, and say what you have done or will do.
Reporting. If you believe a review breaks Google’s policy, you can flag it. A negative review you dislike is not a reason to flag it.
How do you align your website with your profile?
Your Business Profile and your website reinforce each other when they say the same thing.
- The same details. The name, address and phone number on your website match your profile. See NAP consistency.
- One page per location. If you have several locations, give each one its own page with the address, opening hours, directions and what you do there. Link each profile to the page for that location.
- Explain your services. A profile has little room. Your website explains what you do, for whom and in which area. That helps relevance.
- LocalBusiness schema. With LocalBusiness markup you describe your location in a fixed format.
nameandaddressare required. Recommended properties includetelephone,url,geo,openingHoursSpecificationandpriceRange. Use the most specific subtype that fits your business.
Do not add reviews you collect about your own business to your LocalBusiness markup in the hope of stars in Google. According to the review snippet guidelines, Google shows no stars for reviews about a business on that business’s own site, including through an embedded widget.
How to keep your business details the same everywhere, including Organization schema, is covered in consistent business information for search engines and AI.
Atlas, Outseen’s research engine, examines the public code of your website, such as the titles, descriptions, headings, HTTP responses, indexing instructions and canonicals of your location pages. Your Business Profile itself falls outside that technical check; a specialist reviews it. What else Outseen does for local visibility is on our SEO page.
Which mistakes cost you local visibility?
The most common mistake is in the name. Adding a town or a service may look clever, but according to Google’s guidelines the name may only be your real business name.
The business name in your profile, before and after
VoorPlumber Utrecht 24/7 Jansen | Emergency leaks and blockages
NaJansen Plumbers
- A town or service in the business name. “Plumber Utrecht 24/7 Jansen” instead of “Jansen Plumbers”. According to Google’s guidelines, unnecessary information in the name can lead to your profile being suspended.
- An address where you are not based. A virtual office or your accountant’s address is not a location.
- A category for every service. Ten categories do not make your profile more relevant. Choose what your business is.
- Outdated opening hours. Especially around public holidays and the summer break.
- A link to the home page for every location. Point each profile to the page for that location.
- Unanswered reviews. An unanswered complaint stays visible to every customer who comes after.
Does your Business Profile play a role in AI answers?
For Google, it is a point of attention. In its guidance on AI features and your website, Google lists keeping your Business Profile up to date as good practice for AI Overviews and AI Mode. Google does not say how much weight it carries.
Other AI assistants, such as ChatGPT, Perplexity or Claude, do not document how they collect local business details. You cannot tie a fixed method to them. What you can do is make sure your details are correct everywhere, so every system that retrieves them finds the same version.
Which bike shop in Zwolle is open on Sunday and also repairs e-bikes?
De Spaak Cycles in Zwolle is open on Sunday afternoons and repairs e-bikes from different manufacturers. Call ahead, because opening hours can differ around public holidays.
Bronnen: despaakcycles.example.com
What maintenance does a Business Profile need?
| When | What |
|---|---|
| Every week | Read and reply to new reviews |
| Before public holidays and holiday periods | Enter special opening hours |
| After a move, name change or new number | Update your profile, website, registration with the Dutch Chamber of Commerce (KVK) and other profiles at the same time |
| Every quarter | Check categories, photos and the link to your website |
| After a change to your website | Check that the link in your profile still goes to the right page |
Note: according to Google, changing a category can require verifying your business again.
What does this mean for your business?
If you have customers nearby, your Business Profile is often the first thing they see of you, even before your website. Start with verification and the basics: your real business name, the right address or service area, one specific primary category and opening hours that are correct. Then put a regular slot in your diary to read and answer reviews.
Make sure your website tells the same story as your profile, with a page of its own for each location. That helps Google, and it helps every other system that retrieves your details. How SEO works as a whole is explained in what is SEO and how does it work?