Digital marketing glossary
What is a Google Business Profile?
Written and reviewed by L.K. Monu Borkala · Updated
Definition
A Google Business Profile is a free listing from Google that shows your business on Google Search and Google Maps. It displays your name, category, address or service area, phone number, opening hours, photos, reviews and a link to your website, so people can call you, get directions or visit your site straight from the results.
How it works
You create or claim the profile through Google Business Profile and then verify that you run the business, for example by recording a short video or through another method Google offers. Once verified, you can choose a primary category, add services or products, upload photos, post updates and reply to reviews. Google uses the profile to decide when to show your business for local searches, based on relevance, distance and prominence. The profile also shows basic performance figures, such as how many people called, asked for directions or clicked through to your website, which you can compare month by month.
Example
Consider a saree shop in Chickpet that has never been online. The owner verifies its profile, picks the most specific category available for a saree store, uploads clear photos of the shop and stock, and adds Sunday hours. He replies politely to every review, including a two-star one about parking. Within weeks the profile shows people tapping 'Directions' and 'Call'. The only cost was his time, compared with the ₹300 to ₹500 a day he had been quoted for local ads.
An illustration: the business and the rupee figures are made up to show how the idea works.
Common mistake
Setting up the profile once and forgetting it. Wrong hours, an old phone number or missing holiday timings send customers to a closed shop, and they leave angry reviews. Another mistake is buying fake reviews or offering discounts in exchange for five stars. Google's policies ban both, and it can remove those reviews or restrict the profile.
Where you learn it
- Module 1: Digital Marketing Foundations
- Class: What is Digital Marketing? Digital vs Traditional · read it free
- Module 3: Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)
- Class: Local SEO & Google Business Profile
Related terms
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