Google business listing
Google Business Profile is the single listing that decides your visibility in local search. The other thirty-eight directories on this list do not add up to it — and that is not hyperbole, it is what the search shares amount to.
Open the signup page- Cost
- Listing is free
- Verification
- Postcard, phone, email or video
- Time to live
- Minutes by phone, up to two weeks by postcard
- Where it matters
- Every market where Google operates
Why
Why the other thirty-eight directories still matter
Google Business Profile being decisive does not make the other listings pointless — but the reason is usually told wrong. Directory listings do not hand out a "score" that lifts rankings directly. What they do is corroborate: when independent sites report the same name, address and phone for the same business, confidence that it genuinely exists there goes up. So it is not registering on thirty directories that helps, it is carrying the SAME details on thirty directories. An inconsistent listing is worse than no listing.
Steps
How to get listed
- 1
Search your business name at business.google.com. If a listing already exists, claim it rather than creating a new one.
- 2
Choose your primary category. This is the single most influential setting for ranking; changing it later unsettles your positions, so get it right the first time.
- 3
Enter your address or service area. If customers do not come to you, hide the address and define a service area instead.
- 4
Complete verification: postcard, phone, email or video. Google decides which methods you are offered; you cannot pick.
- 5
Once verified, fill in hours, photos and your service list. An incomplete profile sits behind a complete one.
Watch out: video verification is one take, with no retries
Google has steadily moved verification towards video. What it asks for is a single uninterrupted take showing your signage, the street, the interior, and some proof the business is yours (keys, equipment, paperwork). If the take is cut, or the sign is not legible, the submission is rejected — and a second attempt is often scrutinised harder. Write down what you will show, in order, before you start recording: it is a step that preparation solves and unpreparedness turns into weeks.
Questions
Questions about Google Business Profile
- Can I get listed without a physical address?
- Yes, as a service-area business. You hide the address and define the areas you serve. You still need a real address for verification, though.
- Can I use a virtual office address?
- Google's guidelines prohibit it, and listings get suspended when it is detected. Recovering a suspended listing takes far longer than never having created it.
More
Other directories in the guide
The free guide carries source lists for six countries: which are free, how verification works, and what order to submit in.