Google Business Profile checklist for service businesses

A service business must meet customers in person during its stated hours, at their location or its own, to qualify for a Google Business Profile. Google also excludes online-only businesses, lead-generation businesses, P.O. box addresses, and age-restricted businesses without a storefront. Use your real-world name, hide your address if customers do not come to you, set your service areas, choose the most specific category, and keep hours, services, photos and review replies current.

The guidance is from Google’s help pages as of October 2026; the checkboxes are our summary.

Is your business eligible?

Google’s eligibility guidelines say “a business must make in-person contact with customers during its stated hours.” Ineligible examples include “brands, organizations, artists, and other online-only businesses,” “lead generation agents or companies,” and any business whose address is a P.O. box or a mailbox in a remote location. Businesses whose products or services require a minimum customer age, such as alcohol or cannabis, can’t be service-area businesses without a storefront.

Google’s main guidelines add that a rented mailing address you don’t operate from, a virtual office, isn’t eligible.

• You meet customers in person during your stated hours.
• One profile per location, with no duplicates. Google says your account may be suspended if it finds multiple profiles for the same business in the same metropolitan area.

What name should the profile use?

Your name “should reflect your business’s real-world name, as used consistently on your storefront, website, stationery, and as known to customers.” Google does not permit marketing taglines, service or product information, location information, or phone numbers in the name, and says unnecessary information “could result in the suspension of your Business Profile.”

• The profile name matches your signage, website and invoices, with no added keywords.

Should a service-area business show its address?

No, if customers don’t come to you. Google says: “If your business doesn’t have a storefront where you receive customers, you must hide your business address.” Its example is a plumber who runs the business from a home address.

A hybrid business, such as an auto repair shop that also offers roadside service, can show its address and a service area if the location is staffed and can receive customers during its stated hours.

• Your address is hidden unless customers visit you there. The setting is Show business address to customers, under Edit profile, then Location.

How should you set your service area?

Per Google’s service area guide:

• You list up to 20 service areas by city, postal code or other area. A radius around your business is not an option.
• The overall area stays within “about 2 hours of driving time from where your business is based.” Google says larger areas may suit some businesses.

Approved service area edits can take up to 48 hours to show.

Which categories should you choose?

Google’s category guide says “the categories you select affect your local ranking on Google.” Choose a primary category that is as specific as possible. Google’s example: “Nail salon” rather than “Salon.”

• Your primary category completes the sentence “This business IS a,” not “this business HAS a.”
• You use as few categories as possible and none purely as keywords.

Adding or editing a category may prompt Google to ask you to verify the business again.

What hours should you list?

Provide “your regular customer-facing hours of operation” and add special hours for holidays. Google says businesses that operate only by appointment shouldn’t provide hours.

• Hours reflect when customers can reach you, with holiday hours set in advance.

What goes in services and the description?

The services editor offers suggested services for your business type, such as “Install faucet” or “Repair toilet” for a plumber, and lets you add custom ones with descriptions and prices. Google rejects custom service names that include prices or phone numbers.

• Every service you offer is listed, each with a short description.

The description should cover your services, products, mission and history. It may not include links or focus on promotions and prices. If you use Google’s AI-suggested description, Google says to review it for accuracy.

• Your description says what you do and where, in the same words you use on your website.

What about your phone number and website?

Google asks for “a local phone number instead of a central call center helpline number whenever possible.” The number “must be under the direct control of the business,” and phone numbers or URLs that redirect to other pages or numbers are not allowed.

• The phone number and website on the profile are the ones you control and answer.

What photos should you add?

Google’s photo guidelines ask for JPG or PNG files between 10 KB and 5 MB, ideally 720 by 720 pixels. Photos should be “in focus and well lit,” and “the image should represent reality.” Photos show only after the profile is verified.

• You have a logo, a cover photo and photos of your own work and team.

How should you handle reviews?

Reviews “must reflect a genuine experience,” and offering incentives for reviews “is strictly prohibited,” per Google’s review tips. You can share a review request link or QR code with customers.

Google’s advice for replies: be professional and polite, keep it short, personalize the reply, and respond in a timely manner. Never share a reviewer’s private information.

• You ask every customer for a review, with no incentive attached.
• You reply to reviews, including negative ones.

What are Business Profile posts for?

Posts let you share updates, offers and events on Search and Maps, and can be scheduled or set to repeat. Google reviews each post before it goes live.

• You post when something changes: new services, seasonal hours, an event.

Who should own the profile?

Only owners or authorized representatives may verify and manage a profile. Google says a third party, such as an SEO company, must never claim a profile without the owner’s express consent, should encourage the owner to own the profile and add the agency as a manager, and must transfer ownership on request.

• You, the owner, hold the owner role on your profile.

How does the profile affect your visibility?

Google says local results “are mainly based on relevance, distance, and popularity,” and that “businesses with complete and accurate info are more likely to show up in local search results.” There is “no way to request or pay for a better local ranking.” Google’s AI features guide also asks owners to keep Business Profile information up to date.

For how this connects to AI answers, see How does a local business show up in Google AI Overviews?