# The Google Business Profile guide (2026)

- URL : https://1440o.com/en/guides/google-business-profile/
- Langue : English

The Google Business Profile is a local business's first salesperson: it's what Maps and local searches display, and it's what AI assistants read before recommending. It's free; what sets it apart afterwards is the regularity of the upkeep.

The 10 jobs, in order:
1. **Create or claim the profile** (business.google.com) — the profile belongs to the business; a provider is a "manager", never an "owner".
2. **The name**: the real one, with no added keywords (stuffing violates the rules → correction or suspension).
3. **Categories**: the primary one is the heaviest relevance signal — pick the most precise; secondaries for the rest, without excess.
4. **The information**: true hours (holidays included), phone, website, a 750-character description written for a human, attributes ticked.
5. **Photos**: your own, recent, varied, added regularly.
6. **Services / products / menu**: as text (never photo-only) — that's what Google and the AIs read.
7. **Reviews**: ask systematically + reply to everything; never buy, never filter.
8. **Posts**: one per week, consistency first.
9. **Questions & answers**: a public section — watch it, reply, post the frequent questions yourself.
10. **Measure**: the profile's stats + an outside measurement (real position vs competitors, AI answers) via a visibility scan.

The 5 costliest mistakes: unclaimed profile, generic category, wrong holiday hours, unanswered reviews, keywords in the name.

The profile is free; the upkeep can be delegated: https://1440o.com/en/pricing/ — Free scan: https://1440o.com/en/scan/