Set up your Google Business Profile from scratch (UK)

A Google Business Profile (GBP) is the listing that appears in Google Maps and the local pack - those three businesses Google highlights at the top of a "near me" search. For most UK small businesses it's the single highest-leverage marketing asset you can own, because it decides whether you appear when someone is ready to buy right now.

This guide walks you through setting one up from scratch in the right order. Skip a step and you'll end up redoing work later, or worse, triggering a re-verification.

1. Sign in with the right account

Go to google.com/business and sign in with the Gmail or Google Workspace account you want to own the listing long-term.

• Use a business email (e.g. info@yourdomain.co.uk) where possible - when staff change you can transfer ownership without relying on a personal account.
• Avoid setting up the profile under an agency's email. You'll likely want to add them as a manager later instead.

2. Find or create the business

Search your business name. Google often surfaces an unclaimed listing - claim that one rather than creating a duplicate.

If nothing matches, create a new listing. Type the name exactly as it appears on your shopfront, invoices, and Companies House record. Don't keyword-stuff it ("Joe's Plumbing - Emergency 24/7 Manchester" is against Google's guidelines and will get you suspended).

3. Pick the right primary category

Primary category is the single biggest ranking lever you'll set in this flow. Pick the most specific category that describes what you actually do.

• A coffee shop should usually pick Coffee shop, not Café. Search the keyword you want to rank for and see which category your competitors use.
• You can add up to nine secondary categories. Add only ones you genuinely offer - irrelevant secondaries dilute your relevance.

4. Address or service area

If customers visit you, enter the full address. If you go to them (plumbers, mobile groomers, locksmiths), tick "I deliver goods and services to my customers" and define a service area by city, postcode district, or radius.

Use the same address format everywhere you list the business - Google treats "Flat 2, 21 High St" and "21a High Street" as different. NAP consistency (Name, Address, Phone) is a ranking factor.

5. Phone number and website

• Use a single primary phone number - ideally a local UK number, not an 08-prefix. Local numbers help with local relevance signals.
• Add your website URL. If you don't have one yet, Google will offer you a free one based on your profile - fine as a placeholder, but a real domain you control is better long-term.

6. Verify the listing

Google won't show your profile in the local pack until it's verified. Options vary by business type but commonly include:

• Postcard - a code arrives by post in 5–14 days. Don't edit your profile until it lands or the postcard may be cancelled.
• Video - Google asks you to record a continuous take showing your premises, signage, and tools of the trade. Increasingly the default for service-area businesses.
• Phone or email - for a small subset of categories.

7. Day-one setup tasks

Once verified, complete the profile in this order:

1. Hours, including bank holidays and special hours. Hidden listings on bank holidays cost you visibility for "open now" searches.
2. Business description - 750 characters, written for a human, mentioning what you do and where you do it. Don't keyword stuff.
3. Photos - at minimum cover, profile, three exterior, three interior, and a team photo. Quality matters more than count; aim for sharp, well-lit, recent images.
4. Services or products - list the things you sell as structured items, not buried in the description.
5. Attributes - tick the ones that genuinely apply (women-owned, wheelchair accessible, free Wi-Fi, etc.). Some attract their own filtered searches.

What's next

Once the profile is live, the real work is optimisation: tightening your category mix, adding posts and Q&A, and starting a steady review-velocity routine. We cover those in our other guides - and if you want a tailored 30-day plan grounded in your actual local pack, run a LocalOutrank analysis.