How to get your business on Google Maps (and what to do when verification stalls)

Google Maps and Google Business Profile are the same listing

There is no separate form for Maps. The listing you see on Google Maps, in the local results on Google Search, and in the box beside the results when someone searches your name all come from one record, your Google Business Profile. It is free to create and free to manage.

If a company offers to put you on Google Maps for a monthly fee, they are doing the steps below on your behalf.

Step 1: Check whether a profile already exists

Search your business name and city on Google while signed out. Google builds listings from public data, and customers can suggest them, so a profile may already exist with an old address, an old phone number, or no owner at all.

If you see a link that says Own this business or Claim this business, use it. Creating a second profile for the same business can get both flagged as duplicates. If someone else already claimed yours, Google has a request-access flow that notifies the current owner and lets you ask for control.

Step 2: Enter your name exactly as it appears in the real world

Use the name on your sign, your invoices, and your registration filing. Adding a keyword or a city to the name, as in "Smith Plumbing | Best Plumber in St. Louis," breaks Google's guidelines and is one of the quickest ways to get a profile suspended.

Step 3: Pick one primary category

The primary category is the strongest signal you send about what you do, so choose the most specific match in Google's list. Secondary categories can wait. The Google Business Profile checklist for St. Louis businesses goes through category choice in detail once you are verified.

Step 4: Decide between an address and a service area

If customers come to your location, show your address. If you go to customers, or you work remotely, you can hide your address and list a service area instead. Google still wants an address to verify you, and it needs to be a real street address, because Google does not accept P.O. boxes.

The service area has to be real too. List the cities or ZIP codes you actually cover. Setting it to a whole state or the whole country is the pattern we ran into ourselves, described below.

Step 5: Match your phone number and website to your site

Enter a local number that someone answers and the page you want people to land on. Whatever you enter should match your website's footer and contact page word for word. Google compares what your profile says against what the rest of the web says about you, and a mismatch makes the profile harder to trust.

Step 6: Verify

Verification is how Google confirms the business is real and that you control it. Depending on the business, Google offers some of these methods:

• A postcard with a code, which can take up to two weeks to arrive.
• A phone call or text with a code.
• An email with a code or a link.
• A video recording or live video call, which Google usually asks for when it wants more proof.

You cannot choose the method. Google shows you what it has decided to offer for your profile. While you wait on a postcard, avoid changing the name or address on the profile, because an edit can leave the code you were mailed useless.

What our own profile went through in 2026

Framework Studio's profile was disabled in the spring. Looking at the dashboard, the likely cause was obvious: I had set the service area to the entire United States. Google expects a service-area business to name the places it actually serves, and a profile claiming the whole country reads as either a fake listing or a lead-generation operation.

Here is the timeline as it happened:

• May 1: I narrowed the service area to the 14 cities we work in around St. Louis, attached our business registration filing as evidence, and filed the appeal.
• May 6: Google answered that it needed a video verification, a single unedited recording that shows the business and how it operates.
• August 17: I submitted email verification in place of the video.
• August 18: the profile showed Verified, and I filled in the description, photos, and links the same morning.
• September 3: the listing began appearing in public search, 16 days after it showed Verified.

That is about three and a half months from appeal to verified. Some appeals are decided in days. Ours was a slow case, and these are the habits that kept it from getting slower.

If your profile is disabled or stuck

• Read the banner and the email before touching anything. They tell you what Google reacted to, and the appeal link sits behind the Learn more button on the banner.
• Fix the cause before you appeal. We corrected the service area first, so the appeal described a profile that already followed the rules.
• Attach proof that matches the profile. A registration filing with the same business name and address as the listing is stronger than a document that only looks similar.
• Do not create a second profile while the appeal is open. A duplicate makes the original harder to restore.
• Hold off on edits after you are reinstated. We leave the name and service area alone for 30 to 60 days, since quick changes right after a reinstatement can look suspicious.
• If Google asks for a video, read its email first. The instructions in that email override any general advice about what to show.

Mistakes that get profiles flagged

• A business name with keywords or a city added to it.
• A service area much larger than the area you actually serve.
• A P.O. box or shared mailbox as the address.
• A phone number, address, or hours that disagree with your website.
• Creating a new profile because the old one is stuck, which leaves two listings for one business.

Once you are verified

Verification only gets you on the map. What decides whether people choose you from the map is the work after it: hours, services, photos, a description that matches your website, and reviews. Start with the checklist for what to complete after verification, and see how to get more Google reviews when the profile is complete.

Want a second set of eyes?

We run a free check of your Google Business Profile: whether it exists, whether it is verified, and what is out of step with your website. Get in touch with your business name and the city you serve, and within a day we will tell you what we see. If everything is in order, that is the whole conversation.

How long does it take to get on Google Maps?

Creating the profile takes one sitting. Verification takes anywhere from a few minutes to about two weeks depending on the method Google offers, and the listing may need more time after that to show in public search. Ours took 16 days after it showed Verified.

Do I need a storefront to be on Google Maps?

No. A business that travels to customers or works remotely can hide its address and list a service area instead. Google still needs a real address to verify the business, and the service area should name the places you actually serve.

Someone else already claimed my business. What now?

Use the request-access option on the listing. Google notifies the current owner, and if they do not respond you can ask Google to grant you ownership. Do not create a new profile for the same business.

My profile says suspended. Should I start over with a new one?

No. A second profile for the same business tends to complicate the appeal. Read the notice, fix what it points to, and file the appeal with proof that matches the profile, such as your business registration.