A dentist opens a second practice, searches for it a week later, and finds a profile already on Google: the wrong hours, a photo of the building next door, and a "Claim this business" link. Google builds profiles from whatever it can find, so an unclaimed profile is already public and already being filled in by other people. Claiming it and completing every field is the fastest single improvement in local SEO, because Google's own local ranking guidance says complete and accurate information is what it matches against a search.
Claim it, then prove you're real
Sign in with a Google account the business controls, not an employee's personal one, and search for the business name on Google. Three things can happen. The profile exists and is unclaimed, so you claim it. It doesn't exist, so you add the business. Or it was verified by someone else, typically an ex-employee or an old agency, and you request access through the profile; the current owner is given time to respond before Google lets you proceed.
Verification proves to Google that the business is real and that you run it. Google chooses which methods to offer, and it documents a video recording of the premises, a live video call, phone or text, email and a postcard to the address among them. Video is now the common route. Google asks to see the location, your signage or branded vehicle, and proof you manage the place, such as opening up with your own key or opening the till. Prepare those shots before you start; a recording that skips one gets rejected.
Once verified, add a second owner from the business and give agencies manager access rather than ownership. A surprising number of "we lost our profile" stories end with a freelancer who left long ago and still owns it.
Name, address, phone and website must match everywhere
These four fields are the ones Google cross-checks against your website and every directory that lists you. They need to say the same thing in every place.
- Name. The real-world name on your sign and your website, nothing added. The suspension lesson covers why extra words here are the most common breach.
- Address. The place customers visit. If they don't visit, because you go to them, clear the address and set your service areas instead; the service-area businesses lesson walks through that. Google's Business Profile guidelines say the area you serve shouldn't extend much beyond about two hours' driving time from where you're based, with exceptions for some business types.
- Phone. A local number that rings at this location. If you use a call-tracking number, keep the real number on the profile as well so the number Google sees still matches your website.
- Website. The page for this specific location: your homepage for a single site, the branch's own page for one of several. Google's guidelines don't allow a URL that redirects or refers people to another site.
The wider job of making these match across the web is NAP consistency, later in this track. For now, make the profile agree with the website.
The fields that decide relevance
Relevance is the part of local ranking you can move fastest, and it comes from a handful of fields.
The primary category tells Google what kind of business you are, and it's important enough to get its own lesson. Set it before anything else.
The description is free text, and Google's help documentation allows up to 750 characters. Use the first sentence to say what you do and where, in the words a customer would search, then what you're known for. The guidelines exclude links, promotions, prices and sales from the description, and Google reviews it before it goes live, so keep it factual.
Services and products are the next layer: the named things you sell, with short descriptions, under each category. Hours matter more than people expect. Google's ranking guidance lists keeping hours current as one of the things that helps, and a profile marked open when the door is locked produces exactly the one-star review you'd expect. Set regular hours, add special hours for holidays, and use the extra hours fields for things like delivery or drive-through if they differ.
Attributes are the tick-box facts: wheelchair access, online appointments, on-site services, identity attributes such as women-owned. Only tick what's true. Add the opening date too; it's a small trust signal and it costs nothing.
The fields people leave empty
Go through a handful of profiles in your town and the same gaps appear: no description, no services, no products, no logo or cover photo, no special hours, no appointment link, attributes untouched. Each empty field is a question Google can't answer about you and can about the competitor who filled it in.
Two more things hide in a claimed profile. Google proposes its own edits from third-party sources, shown on the profile as updates waiting for your review, and members of the public can suggest edits that Google sometimes applies without asking. Check both monthly, and reject anything wrong before it becomes the public version.
What to take away
- An unclaimed profile still exists and is being filled in by Google and the public; claiming it puts you in charge of what it says.
- Name, address, phone and website must match your sign, your site and your other listings, because Google cross-checks them.
- Category, description, services, hours and attributes are what Google matches against a search, so every empty field is lost relevance.
- Completing the profile is the start, not the end: Google and the public keep proposing edits, and someone has to review them.
Next
The primary category is the single field that decides which searches you can appear for, so pick it carefully in Categories and services.