Google Business Profile

There are two ways that Google can gather information about your business: either it can find that information, or you can tell it.

If you do not have a Google Business Profile (GBP), then you are purely reliant on Google extracting and interpreting your business information from your site. A GBP is a free tool that helps local businesses manage how they appear on Google Search and Maps by giving it that information.

Benefits

Benefits include:

• Higher Local Visibility

  • Map Presence: Appears directly on Google Maps when locals search for your services nearby.

  • Local Pack: Places your business in the coveted top 3 local search results on Google.

  • Keyword Matching: Matches your business description and services to relevant local queries.

• Enhanced Customer Trust

  • Social Proof: Displays star ratings and customer reviews directly on your public listing.

  • Verification Badge: Signals to searchers that your business is verified, legitimate, and open.

  • Official Info: Provides accurate, business-owner-approved operating hours, phone numbers, and addresses.

• Increased Engagement & Leads

  • Action Buttons: Lets users call, get driving directions, or visit your website with one click.

  • Direct Booking: Integrates with scheduling tools so clients can book appointments directly from Search.

  • Real-time Updates: Allows you to post news, photos, special offers, etc to attract clients.

• Free Audience Insights

  • Search Terms: Reveals the exact words and phrases people used to find your business profile.

  • Action Tracking: Breaks down how many people called, requested directions, or clicked your website link.

  • Platform Metrics: Shows whether customers found you via standard Google Search or through Google Maps.

Example

To demonstrate, go to Google and search for ‘hairdresser near me’. You’ll be presented with the top three business listed, including various businesses details which may include address, phone number, opening hours, Google rating from reviews, and will have a pin on the map. All of this information comes from their GBP, and the more GBP features you use, the higher Google will rank you in search results.

Getting Started

You can create your GBP here: https://business.google.com. You will need a Google account to create one, but you can use a standard free personal Google account to do this.

Service Area Business

If you do not want to show your address (if operating from home, for example), then you need to create a Service Area Business Profile, which you can do by selecting ‘No’ when asked if you want to add a location customers can visit. You then instead create a ‘service area’.

Connection to your site

The GBP will work independently of your site, but if you wish, we can create a formal connection from your site to your GBP, which will allow forty40studio to perform certain tasks, such as post updates.