Google Business Profile: the first step before a website

If your business has an address or an area you cover, set up a Google Business Profile before you build a website. It is free, setup takes under an hour, and it is what puts you on Google Maps and in local results — with your phone number, opening hours, photos and reviews. The website comes later and does a different job.

I write this as someone who builds websites. My first piece of advice still is not "build a website".

What the profile actually does

When someone searches "hairdresser near me" or "car body shop Cazin", Google shows a map first, with a few businesses listed under it. Those are not websites. Those are Business Profiles. If yours does not exist, you are not in that race at all — no matter how good your site is.

The profile answers the questions a person has before they click anything: where you are, whether you are open right now, what the number is, what the place looks like. A tap on "Call" or "Directions" is often the whole job. They never needed a website for it.

What to fill in so the profile does its work

• Your business name exactly as it appears on the premises. Do not stuff keywords into the name — it is against Google's rules and can get the profile suspended.
• Category. The most important field on the profile. Pick the one that describes what you primarily do, then add secondary ones.
• Address and opening hours. Keep the hours accurate, holidays included. Being closed when the profile says open is the most expensive mistake on there.
• Phone number. The one that is actually answered. Once the site is live, its address goes here too.
• Photos. Yours, real ones, not stock. The outside of the building, the inside, finished work, the team. People decide whether to come based on these.
• Services and a short description. Write it plainly, the way you would explain it to someone calling for the first time.

Why this comes before the website

Three reasons. It is free. It is done today. And verification takes time — Google wants proof the business really exists, and that runs in days, not minutes. If you wait for the site to be finished before starting the profile, you lose those days for nothing.

Reviews are the fourth reason. They accumulate over time and cannot be rushed. A profile that already has twenty reviews reads completely differently from one created yesterday — and you will not have those reviews if the profile does not exist.

Where the profile stops being enough

A profile is a business card, not a website. You cannot explain how you work on it, show a gallery by type of job, publish a price list or put up an enquiry form. You do not control how it looks and you do not own it — the rules are Google's, and the profile can be suspended without your say.

So it is both: the profile finds you, the site sells you. When someone taps through to your address from the profile, what greets them decides whether they call. A website with me starts at 800 KM and takes 2–4 weeks.

What next

Create the profile today, fill it in completely, and start verification. When you are ready for a real site behind that profile, send me a message — what you do and where you work is enough.

Frequently asked

Do I need an address if I work from home or travel to clients? No. Google allows a profile with no publicly shown address, listing the area you cover instead. That is the setup for tradespeople, photographers and anyone who comes to the customer.

What if a profile for my business already exists and I did not create it? It happens — Google sometimes generates a profile from publicly available data. In that case do not create a second one; claim ownership of the existing profile. Two profiles for one business do more harm than good.