Google My Business in 2026: a complete guide for local businesses

If you have a local business and you're not on Google My Business, you're losing customers every day without knowing it. That's no exaggeration: 76% of people who search for something nearby visit a business within the next 24 hours, according to Google data.

Google My Business (now officially called Google Business Profile) is Google's free tool that decides whether or not your business shows up when someone searches for what you offer in your area.

In this article I'll explain what it is, how it works, how to sign up and, above all, how to really make the most of it. Let's go step by step.

What Google My Business is and why it matters if you have a local business

Google My Business is the dashboard where you manage how your business appears on Google Search and Google Maps. When someone searches "plumber in Seville" or "hair salon near me", Google shows a block with three featured businesses: that's the Local Pack. Being there or not makes all the difference.

Your profile shows your business name, address, phone number, hours, photos, reviews and much more. You control all of that from your profile.

What many people don't know is that even if you haven't created your profile, there may already be one that Google generated automatically with incomplete or flat-out wrong information. That's a problem.

If Cerrajería López in Madrid has an unclaimed profile with the wrong hours, any customer who shows up outside those hours is going to find the shutter down. And it isn't Google's fault: it's that nobody managed that profile.

That's why the first thing you should do is claim your profile, or create it if it doesn't exist. From there, you're in control.

How Google My Business works: what the customer sees and what you control

When someone searches for your business by name or by category, Google shows a side panel called the Knowledge Panel. All the information from your profile appears there. On mobile, that panel takes up the whole screen.

What the customer sees includes:

• Name, address and phone number: the basic contact details.
• Opening hours: including holidays, if you've set them up.
• Photos and videos: both the ones you upload and the ones customers upload.
• Reviews: the average rating and comments from real customers.
• Posts: news, offers or events that you publish yourself.
• Questions and answers: a section many businesses ignore that can clear up doubts before the customer calls.

What you control from the management dashboard is all of the above. You can edit the information, respond to reviews, upload photos, publish updates and see visibility statistics: how many times your profile has appeared, how many people clicked to call, how many asked for directions.

Those statistics are very valuable. If you see that many users look up your hours but nobody calls, the hours you've published may not be what they expect, or there may be something on your profile that raises doubts.

To access your dashboard you can go straight to business.google.com with your Google account.

How to create and verify your Google My Business profile step by step

The sign-up process is simpler than it seems. I'll walk you through it without skipping anything:

1. Go to Google Business Profile: visit business.google.com and sign in with the Google account you want to link to your business.
2. Search for your business: type in the name. If a profile already exists, you can claim it. If it doesn't, create a new one.
3. Enter the business name: use the real name, without adding keywords. Google penalizes keyword stuffing in profile names.
4. Choose the primary category: it's one of the most important factors for local rankings. Be precise. "Dentist" is better than "Medical clinic" if your business is a dental clinic.
5. Say whether you have a physical location: if customers come to your premises, add the address. If you work at customers' homes or across a service area (like a plumber), you can set up the area without showing an address.
6. Add your phone number and website: the phone number is critical so customers can contact you directly from Maps.
7. Verify the profile: Google needs to confirm the business is real. The most common options are by postcard (with a code that arrives in 5-14 days), by phone or by video. Until you're verified, your profile doesn't appear publicly.

That said, postcard verification is the slowest, but it's the most common for new businesses. Be patient and don't try to skip it: without verification, there's no visibility.

What information you absolutely must fill in on your Google Business Profile

Once the profile is created and verified, the work isn't over. There's information many businesses leave half-done, and that costs them rankings and customers.

These are the fields you must complete, no excuses:

• Secondary categories: in addition to the primary one, you can add extra categories. Clínica Dental Sonrisa can have "Dentist" as its primary category and "Orthodontist" or "Dental implants provider" as secondary ones.
• Business description: you have 750 characters. Use them to explain what you do, who you help and what sets you apart. Include your keywords naturally.
• Complete hours: including Saturdays, Sundays and holidays. If you close in August, update your hours. A customer who shows up to a closed business doesn't come back.
• Attributes: Google lets you add specific attributes depending on the category. A restaurant can indicate whether it has outdoor seating, takes reservations or offers a set lunch menu. A lawyer can indicate whether they offer a free consultation.
• Quality photos: the facade, the interior, the team, the products or services. Profiles with photos get 42% more requests for directions, according to Google data.
• Products and services: many businesses don't know they can list their services with a description and price. That improves the profile and helps Google understand what you offer.

The more complete your profile is, the more signals you give Google that you're an active, relevant business. And that translates into better local rankings.

The most common Google My Business mistakes that cost you customers

After working with hundreds of profiles, these are the mistakes I see over and over again:

1. A name stuffed with keywords. Using "Fontanero Madrid 24 horas – Reparaciones urgentes" (24-hour plumber Madrid, emergency repairs) as your business name is prohibited by Google's policies. Your profile can be suspended. The name must be your company's real name.

2. The wrong category, or one that's too generic. If Restaurante La Brasa picks "Food company" instead of "Grilled meat restaurant" or simply "Grill", it loses relevance in specific searches.

3. Outdated hours. It's the most common mistake and the one that frustrates customers the most. Update your hours when they change, especially during vacations and holidays.

4. Not responding to reviews. Neither the positive ones nor the negative ones. Google values an active business. And potential customers read the replies before deciding whether to call you.

5. Low-quality photos, or no photos. A profile with no photos creates distrust. So does a profile with blurry photos or ones from ten years ago.

6. Information that doesn't match your website. If your website shows one address and your profile another, Google detects the inconsistency, and that hurts your rankings. Your name, address and phone number must be identical everywhere.

How to make the most of Google My Business beyond the initial setup

Creating and verifying the profile is the starting point, not the destination. The businesses that rank best locally are the ones that keep their profile active and up to date consistently.

These are the actions that make the difference:

Post regularly. Google Business posts are like mini posts that appear on your profile. You can announce an offer, some news or an event. Ideally, post at least once a week. They don't expire all at once, but they lose visibility over time.

Manage reviews actively. Ask your satisfied customers for reviews. Don't buy them or fake them: Google detects the patterns and can suspend you. Always respond, especially to negative ones, calmly and professionally.

If you manage reviews for several businesses at once, local brain's review management tool lets you respond with the help of AI without losing each business's voice.

Upload new photos periodically. Google rewards active profiles. Uploading new photos every month is a signal of activity. Besides, customers want to see what the place looks like now, not three years ago.

Answer the questions in the Q&A section. Any user can ask questions on your profile and any user can answer them. If you don't answer, anyone can, with incorrect information. Check that section regularly.

If you manage several profiles at once, you can schedule posts and updates in bulk, without going into each profile on Google one by one.

Google My Business is no longer enough on its own: what else you need

Google My Business is a key piece of local SEO, but it isn't the only one. If you only work on the profile and neglect the rest, your growth ceiling is very low.

What complements your profile to rank better locally:

Your website optimized for local SEO. Google cross-checks the information on your profile with your website. If your website has well-structured service pages, with the right keywords and clear location details, your profile gains authority. Working on your website rankings alongside your profile is what separates the businesses that show up first from the ones that don't show up at all. Dig deeper into how to rank your business on Google and how to create and verify your profile properly.

Structured data on your website. Schema markup helps Google understand exactly what type of business you are, where you are and what you offer. It's technical, but it has a direct impact on local rankings.

NAP consistency across directories. Your name, address and phone number must be identical on Google, on your website, on Yelp, on Páginas Amarillas and in any directory where you appear. Inconsistencies confuse Google and hurt your position.

Reviews in volume and quality. Not just on Google. Tripadvisor, Trustpilot and industry directories count too. The more positive reviews you have in more places, the more trust signals Google receives.

According to a BrightLocal study (2024), the number and quality of reviews is the second most important factor for ranking in the Local Pack, behind only the relevance of the profile's category.

The reality is that local SEO is an ecosystem. Google My Business is at the center, but everything else has to be aligned for it to really work.

If you have a local business and want to show up when your customers search for you, you have to work on your profile, your website and your reviews in a coordinated way. local brain is the platform that lets you do exactly that from one place: manage your Google profile, optimize your website and keep your reviews under control without jumping from tool to tool.

The starting point is always the same: claim your profile, fill it in properly and keep it active. From there, every action you take adds up.