Google Business Profile: a guide for service businesses

When someone searches for "physiotherapist in Faro" or "accountant near me", Google first shows a map with three businesses. Often people choose right there, without opening a single website. If you're not on that map, as far as that person is concerned you don't exist.

Your Google Business Profile is what puts you there. It's free, takes an afternoon to set up properly and, even so, most profiles have photos from 2019, wrong opening hours and unanswered reviews. The good news: a little care is enough to get ahead.

Who needs a profile

Any business that serves clients in a particular area: clinics, holiday rentals, estate agents, schools, tutors, hairdressers, garages, photographers, consultants. If your client might type your town into the search, you need a profile. If you only sell online to clients anywhere, the profile matters much less and Google may not even accept it.

If you work from home

You don't have to show your address. Google has an option for businesses that go to the client or work remotely: you hide the address and set the area you serve, such as Faro or the whole Algarve. If you don't see clients at home, the address shouldn't appear on the profile. Using a fake address or a virtual office where you don't actually work is one of the fastest ways to get suspended.

Verification, without the drama

These days verification is often done by video, recorded on your phone in one continuous take. Google wants to see three things: where you are, that the business exists and that you're the one running it. In practice:

• Start in the street, with the street sign and something recognisable nearby.
• Show your workspace and something with the business name: cards, materials, your website open on the computer.
• Open something only you can access, such as the profile dashboard or an invoice in your name, with tax and bank numbers covered.

If the first attempt fails, it's not the end of the world. Read the reason, fix it and record again. It happens to a lot of people, especially those who work from home.

The fields that matter

You don't need to give every field the same attention. These are the ones that make a difference:

• Primary category: the most important of all. Choose the one that describes what you do, not the one that sounds best. Add two or three secondary ones at most.
• Description: up to 750 characters saying what you do, for whom and where. No links, no promotions, no keyword lists.
• Services: named the way clients search for them. "Teeth cleaning", not "integrated preventive oral hygiene".
• Hours: correct, including public holidays and time off. Nothing annoys people more than a closed door after Google said you were open.
• Contact details: phone, WhatsApp if you use it, and a link to your website, ideally to the relevant service page rather than just the home page.

Reviews: what really counts

Reviews affect both whether people choose you and where you appear. Having lots isn't enough: recent ones count, and so do your replies. Ask for a review right after a good result, with a direct link, and reply to every one. To the good ones, with more than "thanks". To the bad ones, calmly, without arguing in public and with an offer to put things right. The person reading your reply is your next client, not the one who complained.

What not to do: buy reviews, ask your family to write them, or offer discounts in exchange for five stars. It breaks Google's rules and, when it goes wrong, it goes badly wrong.

Photos and posts

Real photos beat stock images every time. Show the space, the team, the work, before and after where it makes sense. Add a few new ones every couple of months so the profile doesn't look abandoned. Posts, the updates you can add to your profile, won't work miracles, but one a month shows the business is alive and gives searchers one more reason to choose you.

An example

A maths tutor in Loulé had a profile with the category "School", no description and two reviews from 2021. She changed the category to the one that described exactly what she did, wrote a description with the areas where she taught, added services named the way parents search ("year 9 maths tutoring", "national exam preparation") and started asking parents for a review at the end of each term. Within three months, half her new enquiries came from Google. There was no trick. There was a profile that finally said what she did.

Half an hour a month

Once it's set up properly, the profile needs very little. Once a month:

• Reply to new reviews.
• Check hours and holidays for the coming month.
• Add one or two new photos.
• Publish a post, for example a common question answered.
• Look at the numbers: how many people called, asked for directions or visited the website.

Where to start

Search Google for what your client would search for, with your town, and see who appears on the map. Then open your own profile and compare honestly: category, description, photos, reviews. Fix the category and description first, since they carry the most weight, and the rest afterwards.