# Create and optimize a Google Business Profile | Fokuus [Home](https://fokuus.be/en/) [Blog](https://fokuus.be/en/blog/) Create and optimise Google Business Profile # Create and optimise Google Business Profile Google My Business is now Google Business Profile. Here's how to create, claim and verify it for free, then optimise it and where it goes wrong. [Anton Pycarelle](https://fokuus.be/en/about/) 25 September 20268 min read time ## In this article - [What it costs and which Google account you need](https://fokuus.be/#wat-het-kost-en-welk-google-account-je-nodig-hebt) - [Does your profile already exist?](https://fokuus.be/#bestaat-je-profiel-al) - [Create the profile](https://fokuus.be/#het-profiel-aanmaken) - [Google decides how you verify](https://fokuus.be/#google-kiest-hoe-je-verifieert) - [Optimize according to our own checklist](https://fokuus.be/#optimaliseren-volgens-onze-eigen-actielijst) - [Your website must support the profile](https://fokuus.be/#je-website-moet-het-profiel-ondersteunen) - [How to check if it worked](https://fokuus.be/#zo-controleer-je-of-het-gelukt-is) Search for "webdesign kortrijk" and the first thing you see is not a website but a map with local businesses, filled with Google Business Profiles. For a local SME, that profile is often more important than their own website, at least for the first click. The website then needs to persuade and support the profile. We saw it in our own business. When we checked in mid-September where our inquiries were coming from, it turned out that the contact form on fokuus.be had not yet yielded a single real lead. The old form received zero submissions, the new one five emails: two of our own tests and three spambots. Inquiries came in the past via business directories and via Google's local map pack. Google Business Profile is the new name for Google My Business; Google [announced the name change on 4 November 2021](https://blog.google/products/ads-commerce/connect-local-holiday-shoppers/) . The steps below follow the English Google Help as it appeared online on 25 September 2026. ## What it costs and which Google account you need Create, claim and manage a Google Business Profile [costs nothing](https://support.google.com/business/answer/2911778?hl=nl) . If you do pay someone, you pay for the work, not for the profile. No one can guarantee you a spot on the map, not even us: Google itself says that [third parties cannot guarantee a particular position](https://support.google.com/business/answer/7163406?hl=nl) . You do need a Google account, and a regular Google account costs nothing, even for your business. You create a Google account for your business via Create account on Google's login page, which asks whether the account is for yourself or [to manage a business](https://support.google.com/accounts/answer/27441?hl=nl) . You don't need a Gmail address; info@yourbusiness.be works too. Google Workspace, a [paid subscription per user per month](https://workspace.google.com/pricing?hl=nl) with email on your own domain name among other things, you do not need for a business profile. My advice: put the profile on a business account, not on an employee's or your web builder's. Whoever helps you, add them as a [manager](https://support.google.com/business/answer/3403100?hl=nl) , who can do almost everything except add users or delete the profile. That way the profile stays yours if someone leaves. According to Google, you never share the verification code with anyone, not even your manager. ## Does your profile already exist? Only businesses with direct customer contact, at their address or at the customer's, get a profile; a web shop without physical contact [falls outside](https://support.google.com/business/answer/7039811?hl=nl) . If you qualify, search for your business name and municipality on Google Maps, because your business might already be there. - You find nothing. Then you create a new profile. - You find your business and see Claim this business: nobody manages it. To claim an unverified business profile, you choose that option, then Manage now, and complete verification. - Someone else manages it already, for example a former employee. Then you request ownership via business.google.com/add and Request access. The owner [has 3 days to respond](https://support.google.com/business/answer/4566671?hl=nl) ; if they don't, sometimes you get the option to claim it yourself. If you only have a service area, you go through Google Support. Do not create a second profile because the first seems unreachable. Google allows only one profile per location and can even suspend your account if there are duplicate profiles. ## Create the profile If you find nothing, go to business.google.com/add and choose Add your business to Google. Google asks for your business name, your category and [whether customers can visit you at an address](https://support.google.com/business/answer/10514137?hl=nl) . If you say yes, you provide your address; if you say no, your service area. Then come phone number and website, and you choose a verification option. The name is your actual business name, as it appears on your storefront and letterhead. So not "Painting Works Janssens Kortrijk cheap": Google allows [no unnecessary information in the name](https://support.google.com/business/answer/3038177?hl=nl) such as a service, a place or a slogan that isn't in your actual business name, and that can lead to suspension. Some guides still recommend including the keyword in the name; we don't, because the risk is on you. If you work from home and visit the customer, hide your address and work with a service area. A mail drop address where you only receive post doesn't count: to Google that's a virtual office, not a valid location. ## Google decides how you verify Only after verification can customers find your profile. The possible methods are phone or SMS, email, a video recording, a live video call and a postcard. Which one you get, [Google decides itself and you cannot change](https://support.google.com/business/answer/7107242?hl=nl) ; sometimes you have to go through more than one. Review can take up to 5 business days afterwards. Sometimes Google verifies a profile immediately, for example if you already had your website verified with Google Search Console. Two methods have pitfalls. The postcard usually arrives within 14 days and the code expires after 30 days. Don't change your name, address or category in the meantime, because then the code won't work, and don't request a new code. For the video recording, film live with your phone, at least 30 seconds and unedited: where you are, that your business exists and that you manage it. Search first, then create, claim or request ownership. Optimizing only makes sense after verification. ## Optimize according to our own checklist Google bases local results [mainly on relevance, distance and prominence](https://support.google.com/business/answer/7091?hl=nl) , which is how well-known your business is. Distance depends on where the searcher is; you can influence the rest. Google mentions complete and correct information for this, such as your opening hours, including any exceptions. Our own checklist orders the rest by impact, as we see it. ### 1. Ask for reviews, with every customer The number of reviews and positive ratings counts according to Google towards your prominence, and helpful responses make your business stand out. Ask everyone therefore for whom you completed something, in person and with the review link from your profile, even those who seemed less enthusiastic. Our own checklist also said we would ask customers to put "web design" in their review; upon review it turned out we shouldn't, because according to Google, sellers cannot [ask for specific content to be included](https://support.google.com/contributionpolicy/answer/7400114?hl=nl) . The rest is in [our guide on writing a Google review](https://fokuus.be/en/blog/google-review-schrijven/) . ### 2. The right main category Your categories [have an influence on your position](https://support.google.com/business/answer/7249669?hl=nl) . Choose the most specific category that fits (Nail Salon, not Salon) and add a few extra categories, not one per service. Fokuus itself is set up that way: Website Designer as the main category, with Internet Marketing and Marketing Agency as extra categories. Choose carefully from the start, because changing a category can trigger a new verification. ### 3. Services and description For service providers there is Edit services: choose from suggested services or add your own, without price or phone number in the name. In the description, explain in plain language what you do and for which region. According to Google's guidelines, links, promotions and prices don't belong there. ### 4. Real photos, no stock In its [tips for media on Google Maps,](https://support.google.com/contributionpolicy/answer/7411351?hl=nl) Google explicitly does not ask for stock photos, but images you took yourself at the location. Take your storefront, your workplace, your people at work. Photos only appear after verification, and if your cover photo is low quality, Google can show a user photo. ### 5. An occasional post Via Posts you post an update, offer or event, for example with a new case or blog post. Posts are at the bottom of our list: they keep your profile current, but don't replace a review. After six months they are archived, unless you set a period. ## Your website must support the profile The first click goes to the profile, but your site plays a role. For prominence, Google also looks at how many websites link to your business, and according to its guidelines Google can infer category data from your website. Our advice, not a Google rule: put name, address and phone number on your website word for word as they appear in your profile. If someone clicks through from the map and sees a different number, they start to doubt. For the website button, Google only asks for a page that represents your location. With one location, that's often the homepage, if it immediately says what you do and where. A page about your main service in your region can fit even better, if that page is strong enough. The profile gets the first click, the website confirms it. Matching data and the landing page are our advice; prominence and category come from Google's Help. ## How to check if it worked Search in a private window for your business name plus municipality, in Google and Maps, as Google itself recommends. Do name, hours, phone, website button and photos match? Then search as a customer would: your service plus your own municipality or that of your customers. Then check every month in Insights: views, searches, messages, directions and website clicks. These figures exist [only for verified profiles](https://support.google.com/business/answer/9918094?hl=nl) . Compare them with your actual inquiries. We do the same: on 25 September we appeared on Google Maps for "webdesign kortrijk", searched from the centre of Kortrijk, at position seven. That's the lesson from our own form: count what comes in, not what a counter promises. More ways to reach visitors are in [ten targeted opportunities for more website visitors](https://fokuus.be/en/blog/10-tips-meer-bezoekers-website/) . If you want someone to put your site and profile side by side and sync the data, we take that on as a [web design agency in Kortrijk](https://fokuus.be/en/webdesign-kortrijk/) gladly. Google Business Profile Local SEO Google Maps Reviews Share [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/sharing/share-offsite/?url=https%3A%2F%2Ffokuus.be%2Fen%2Fblog%2Fgoogle-bedrijfsprofiel-aanmaken%2F) [DotsApp](https://wa.me/?text=Google%20Bedrijfsprofiel%20aanmaken%20en%20optimaliseren%20https%3A%2F%2Ffokuus.be%2Fblog%2Fgoogle-bedrijfsprofiel-aanmaken%2F) [Email](mailto:?subject=Google%20Bedrijfsprofiel%20aanmaken%20en%20optimaliseren&body=https%3A%2F%2Ffokuus.be%2Fblog%2Fgoogle-bedrijfsprofiel-aanmaken%2F) ## Get Fokuus updates. New articles and Fokuus's updates in your mailbox. You can unsubscribe at any time. ## Anton Pycarelle Founder of Fokuus Anton builds and optimizes websites for Belgian SMEs from Kortrijk. He writes about choices and experiences from real projects. [More about Fokuus](https://fokuus.be/en/about/) ## Keep reading. 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