Does My Business Need a Google Business Profile?

Google Business Profiles provide valuable insights into how customers find and interact with your business online. The platform offers performance metrics and reporting tools that give you access to data such as the number of views, searches, website clicks, and phone calls generated by your listing.

 

Business eligibility and ownership guidelines

Not all businesses are eligible for a Business Profile on Google. To be eligible for a Business Profile, any business must meet the criteria as listed below. Owners and authorized representatives for a Business Profile must also follow the guidelines as listed.


Eligible businesses

To qualify for a Business Profile, a business must make in-person contact with customers during its stated hours.
There are some exceptions:
  • ATMs, video-rental kiosks, and express mail drop boxes are permitted. If you add these locations, you must include contact information for customers to get help.
  • Seasonal businesses, like an ice-skating rink only open in winter months, are eligible. These businesses must display permanent signage at their location year-round.
  • Delivery-only food services are permitted with some conditions.


Ineligible businesses

The following are examples of businesses that aren’t eligible for a Business Profile:
  • Rental or for-sale properties such as vacation homes, model homes, or vacant apartments. Sales or leasing offices, however, are eligible for verification.
  • An ongoing service, class, or meeting at a location that you don't own or have the authority to represent.
  • Lead generation agents or companies.
  • Brands, organizations, artists, and other online-only businesses.
  • Businesses associated with products or services that require the customer to be a certain minimum age, like alcohol, cannabis, or weapons, aren’t permitted as service-area businesses without a storefront.
  • Any business whose address is listed as a P.O. box or mailbox in a remote location.


Ownership

Only business owners or authorized representatives may verify and manage their business information on a Business Profile. If you wish to share management access to your Business Profile with others, you can add a manager.

In some instances ownership may be revoked due to one of the following reasons:
  • You haven’t signed in to your account recently
  • The business confirmed that you or your agency is no longer authorized to manage this page
  • We’ve been unable to reach you by email after multiple attempts to confirm your affiliation with the business 
  • You or another profile owner deleted your profile
  • You created your business profile through another Google product and that product profile has been suspended

If this happens, you can attempt to reverify or request ownership from the new business owner.

Failure to adhere to these policies may result in a suspension for the Business Profile and/or Google Account. Subsequent contributions will be blocked when the profile or account has been suspended for failure to adhere to these policies.

Google Business Profile Setup & Optimization Guide

PDF
This FREE step-by-step guide walks you (or your clients) through how to properly set up, claim, and optimize a Google Business Profile. It covers everything from adding business info and photos to collecting reviews and posting updates.

Download "Google Business Profile Setup Optimization Guide.pdf"

Need Help?

For a reasonable fee, we can create and maintain your Google Business Profile for you!