How to Add Your Business to Google Maps for Free

By Abdullahi Abdirahman, Founder & Editor, SoftReviewLab. Updated October 2026.

Short answer: here is how to add your business to Google Maps: create a free Business Profile at business.google.com/add, enter your real business name, category, address or service area, phone number and hours, then verify that you own the business. Google offers verification by phone or text, email, live video call, video recording or postcard, depending on your business, and reviews the result in up to five business days. If your business already appears on Maps, you don’t create a new listing: you claim the existing one. The whole process costs nothing, and no one can pay Google to rank higher. Leaving it undone has a cost of its own: if your business has no profile, or an unclaimed one with the wrong hours, a nearby customer searching for what you sell sees the businesses that look complete and open, and calls one of them instead.

The steps, rules and timings below come from Google’s own Business Profile Help pages, checked in October 2026, and the advice on what to do at each step is mine. This article contains no affiliate links.

Can Your Business Be on Google Maps?

Before you start, check that your business is eligible, because a profile that breaks the rules can be removed after all the work. Google’s guidelines for representing your business allow two kinds of business:

• A place customers visit, such as a shop, office, salon or restaurant, staffed during the hours you list.
• A business that travels to customers, such as a plumber, cleaner or mobile mechanic. Google calls this a service-area business.

A few situations catch people out:

• A home-based business is allowed if you serve customers at their location. You list a service area and hide your home address, so it never appears publicly.
• A virtual office is not. A rented mailing address where you don’t actually work isn’t eligible, and neither is a P.O. box.
• A co-working space can qualify only if it has clear signage for your business and your own staff receive customers there during business hours.
• One profile per business. Duplicates cause display problems on Maps and Search, so check whether a listing already exists before you create one.

A purely online business with no place to visit and no area it travels to, such as an online shop that only ships orders, doesn’t fit either category.

How to Add Your Business to Google Maps for Free

Set aside about 20 minutes and have your phone and business email to hand. Use a Google account you will keep, ideally linked to your business email rather than a staff member’s personal account.

1. Search for Your Business First

Open Google Maps and search for your business name and city. Customers or Google itself sometimes create a listing before the owner does. If you find it, select Claim this business, then Manage now, and skip to verification. If the listing is already verified by someone else, such as a former employee or an agency, request ownership from the current owner instead of creating a second profile.

2. Create the Profile

If there is no listing, go to business.google.com/add and select Add your business to Google. Google’s add or claim your Business Profile page confirms there is no charge.

3. Enter Your Name Exactly as Customers See It

Use the name on your sign, website and invoices, and nothing more. Google’s rules forbid adding taglines, service keywords, locations, phone numbers or all-capital words. “Shelly’s Coffee” is fine; “Shelly’s Coffee – Best Espresso Downtown” is not. Adding keywords is the most common way small businesses put their profile at risk, and it doesn’t help them rank.

4. Choose the Right Category

Pick the category that completes the sentence “This business is a…”, as specific as possible: “Emergency plumber” rather than “Service”. Use as few categories as you need. Categories describe what the business is, not every service it offers, so don’t add extra ones as keywords.

5. Add Your Address or Service Area

If customers come to you, enter your exact street address, with the suite or floor on the second line, and keep permanent signage at that address. If you travel to customers, set a service area based on the cities or postcodes you cover and hide your address. Google says a service area generally shouldn’t extend beyond about two hours’ drive from your base.

6. Add Your Phone, Website and Hours

Add a phone number that a person answers, because one of the verification methods may call it. Add your website if you have one, and your regular customer-facing hours. Appointment-only businesses shouldn’t list opening hours, and seasonal businesses should mark themselves temporarily closed in the off-season rather than delete the profile.

How to Verify Your Business on Google

Verification proves to Google that you own or manage the business. Until it is complete, your profile may not appear on Maps, and edits may not go live. You don’t choose the method: according to Google’s verification help page, Google decides which options each business sees.

• Phone or text: Google calls or texts a code to your business number. Automated phone menus can’t receive it, so use a line that rings through to a person or a mobile that gets texts.
• Email: a link or code goes to an email address you can open during the process.
• Video recording: you record one continuous, unedited video of at least 30 seconds from your phone, showing where you are (street signs or building numbers), that the business exists (signage, or tools and branded equipment for a service business) and that you manage it (an employee-only area, a till, or unlocking a branded van). Don’t show bank or ID numbers or other people’s faces. Google recommends this method when it is offered.
• Live video call: a Google support agent checks the same proof with you during your business hours. It isn’t offered to every business.
• Postcard: a five-digit code is mailed to your address. Most postcards arrive within 14 days, and the code expires after 30 days.
• Instant verification: available to some businesses whose website is already verified in Google Search Console.

After you complete a method, Google reviews it, which takes up to five business days. Three habits avoid most delays:

1. Don’t edit your business name, address or category while a postcard is on its way, or the code stops working.
2. Don’t request a new postcard while waiting. A new request cancels the first code and restarts the clock.
3. Never share your verification code, even with someone helping you. Google never asks for it.

Why Your Business Is Not Showing on Google Maps

This is one of the most searched questions about Business Profiles, and the cause is usually one of these:

• Verification isn’t finished. Check your profile for a “Get verified” button. If it reappears after you verified, Google couldn’t complete the check; try again or use another method.
• It is still under review. Allow up to five business days after verification, and longer after big edits, which Google may review again.
• You are searching by category, not by name. A search for “plumber” shows businesses near the searcher, ranked by relevance and prominence. Search your exact business name first: if it appears, your profile is live and the issue is ranking, not visibility. If it is your website, not your Maps profile, that is missing from search, my guide on why a website is not showing up on Google walks through the checks.
• Your address is hidden. Service-area businesses don’t show a pin at an address, which is expected. They still appear for searches within the service area.
• The profile breaks a guideline. Keywords in the name, a virtual office address or a duplicate profile can limit or remove a listing. Fix the issue in your profile rather than creating a new one.

How to Rank Higher on Google Maps

Google’s local ranking guidance names three factors. Relevance is how well your profile matches the search. Distance is how far you are from the searcher. Prominence is how well known your business is, including reviews, ratings and links from other websites. Google is clear that you can’t pay for a better local ranking. What you can influence:

• Fill in every field that applies: hours, special holiday hours, attributes such as parking or wheelchair access, and a short description of what you do.
• Ask every happy customer for a review. A short link sent after the job, by text or email, works better than a sign on the counter. Google’s guidance says more reviews and positive ratings can improve your ranking. Reply to the reviews you get as well, including the bad ones. My guide on how to respond to a negative Google review has example replies you can adapt.
• Reply to reviews, including the negative ones. A calm, specific reply helps the next customer more than the original complaint hurts.
• Add real photos of your premises, team and work, and update them a few times a year.
• Keep your details identical everywhere. Use the same name, address and phone number on your website, social profiles and directory listings.
• Link your profile to a website, and get mentioned on local sites such as your chamber of commerce, suppliers or local news. Those links count toward prominence.

Do You Need a Website as Well?

No, a Business Profile works on its own, and for some small local businesses it brings in more calls than their website. But a website gives Google more to understand about what you offer, gives customers somewhere to go after they find you, and is where most of the links that build prominence point. If you are weighing it up, I worked out what a small business website really costs to run per year, with three real budgets.

If your site runs on WordPress, an SEO plugin can also add local business schema, structured information that tells Google your name, address and hours in a format it reads directly. My Squirrly SEO review covers one plugin that includes it.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is it free to add my business to Google Maps?

Yes. Creating, claiming, verifying and editing a Google Business Profile costs nothing, and Google says there is no way to pay for a better local ranking. Anyone who charges you for “guaranteed” Maps placement is selling something Google doesn’t offer.

How long does it take for my business to show on Google Maps?

Once verification is complete, Google reviews it in up to five business days. If you verify by postcard, add up to 14 days for the code to arrive. Search your exact business name to check whether the profile is live.

Can I add my home business to Google Maps without showing my address?

Yes, if you serve customers at their location. Set up a service-area business, choose the areas you cover and hide your address, so customers see your service area instead of your home.

Why is my business not showing on Google Maps after verification?

The most common reasons are that the review is still in progress, the profile is being checked again after an edit, or you are searching by category instead of by name. If a “Get verified” button reappears, Google couldn’t complete verification and you need to try again.

Do I need a physical address to be on Google Maps?

You need either a place customers can visit or an area you serve in person. A P.O. box or a virtual office address isn’t accepted. Online-only businesses with no in-person service aren’t eligible.

References

• Google Business Profile Help: Add or claim your Business Profile
• Google Business Profile Help: Verify your business on Google
• Google Business Profile Help: Tips to improve your local ranking on Google
• Google Business Profile Help: Guidelines for representing your business on Google
• Google Business Profile Help: Verify your business with a video recording
• How SoftReviewLab researches and writes its articles