Google’s rule
Do you meet customers in person?
A Business Profile is for businesses meeting customers in person during the stated hours. A service-area business can visit customers and hide its base address. A business operating only online is not eligible.
You receive customers at a staffed location, or visit them to perform or deliver the service there.
The entire service takes place online or by video call, or the business only generates leads without face-to-face customer contact.
A virtual address, postbox or unstaffed coworking office does not make an online business eligible. Google may ask you to prove the real base even when the address is hidden from the public.
Check before creating or editing the profile
- Do you receive customers at a location staffed during the stated hours?
- Do you visit customers and perform or deliver the service yourself there?
- Can the real base be substantiated to Google if verification is required?
Google’s guidelines
Keep the profile accurate, specific and current.
Use the business’s actual name. Choose a specific primary category for what the business is and only the few additional categories genuinely needed. Keep the website, phone, opening hours, service area and description current.
- NameUse the name the business actually uses. Do not add locations, services or keywords to influence rankings.
- CategoryChoose a specific primary category describing what the business is, and only the few additional categories needed for its core work.
- AddressA service business that does not receive customers at its base address should hide it publicly and show a real service area instead.
- ReviewsAsk real customers for honest reviews without discounts, gifts, selecting only satisfied customers or other incentives.
Start with the core fields, then publish only useful, current updates. Make every button lead to a page where the promised action can be completed. This can make the profile clearer, but does not guarantee a particular local ranking, more calls or a knowledge panel.
Four steps
Find. Understand. Choose. Take action.
Google needs to find the page before it can be indexed. An indexed page then needs to be relevant and useful for the query. Titles, internal links, visible content and a clear structure help, but Google decides display and rankings.
- 01Discover
Standard links, a sitemap and no accidental blocking.
- 02Understand
A unique title, clear main heading and visible content about the subject.
- 03Choose
Relevant content, real experience and a clear focus on the question.
- 04Act
A next step matching what the visitor actually searched for.
The tool shows information including clicks, impressions, search queries, landing pages and indexing issues. It does not itself improve rankings or prove every page appears for every search.
Nolera recommends
Describe the action, not the interface.
‘Read more’ says very little. A good contact button explains what happens and leads to a page, form or call where that same promise can be fulfilled.
Four questions before publishing
- Does the visitor understand the action without surrounding text?
- Does the destination match the button’s wording?
- Is the primary action clear and reachable on mobile?
- Can the outcome be measured without calling a click a customer?