Local SEO: Google Business Profile step by step

When someone searches for “hair salon Bratislava” or “car repair near me”, Google often shows a map with a few businesses above the regular results. Whoever is on that map gets the calls. The way in is a Google Business Profile. It is free and you can handle it yourself. Here is a step-by-step guide.

What local SEO is

Local SEO is optimization for searches tied to a place: “in Trnava”, “near me”, “closest”. It concerns every business that has premises or travels to customers in a certain area: restaurants, salons, repair shops, medical practices, tradespeople, stores.

In local results, Google weighs three things according to its own guidelines:

• Relevance: how well your profile matches what the person is looking for.
• Distance: how far you are from where they are searching (or from the place they typed in).
• Prominence: how well known the business is (reviews, mentions on other websites, the quality of your website).

Distance is out of your hands. Relevance and prominence are not. The rest of this article is about them.

Google Business Profile step by step

A Google Business Profile (formerly Google My Business) is your company's listing in Maps and in search. It holds the address, opening hours, phone number, photos and reviews.

1. Create or claim your profile

Search for your business at business.google.com. If a profile already exists (Google sometimes creates one on its own), ask to take it over. Use a company Google account, not an employee's personal one. When they leave, the profile must not leave with them.

2. Use your exact business name

Use the real name you have on your premises and on your invoices. Do not add extra keywords or a city, for example “Lúka Hair Salon, best haircut in Bratislava”. It goes against Google’s rules and the profile can lose visibility because of it.

3. Choose the right category

The primary category is one of the most important settings. Pick the one that describes your main activity most precisely, for example “Hair salon”, not a general “Services”. Add secondary categories only if you really do that work.

4. Address or service area

If customers come to you, list the address of your premises. If you go to them (tradespeople, cleaning, on-site service), set a service area (cities or districts) and hide the address.

5. Verify your business

Google has to verify that the business really exists. Google picks the verification method. It can be a video of your premises, a phone call, an e-mail or a postcard with a code. Until the profile is verified, it does not show in full.

6. Add your hours, phone number and website

Opening hours including holidays and special changes, a phone number someone actually answers, and a link to the website. Nothing puts people off more than a closed door at a time when Google says you are open.

7. Write a description and add your services

In the description, use simple sentences to say what you do, who you do it for and what sets you apart. In the services or products section, list specific items, ideally with a guide price. It helps relevance and customers alike.

8. Add real photos

The exterior (so people can find you), the interior, your team and examples of your work. Your own photos look more trustworthy than stock images. Add new photos as you go, so the profile looks alive.

9. Use posts

Posts let you publish news, promotions or events. You do not have to write every day. It is enough that something new shows up on the profile now and then.

Reviews done fairly

Reviews shape customer trust and also how Google sees you. The good news: happy customers are glad to write one, they just need it made easy.

How to get more reviews

• Ask every happy customer, ideally right after the job is done, when the satisfaction is freshest.
• Make it easy. Your profile holds a direct link for writing a review. Put it in an e-mail, on an invoice or as a QR code on the counter.
• Follow up with one short message after the purchase. Not five.

What is not allowed

• buying reviews or writing them on behalf of customers,
• giving a discount or a gift in exchange for a review,
• writing your own reviews through employees and family,
• asking for a review only from people you know will be happy, and talking everyone else out of rating you.

Google deletes reviews like that and may restrict the profile. On top of that, fake reviews are an unfair commercial practice under EU consumer protection rules.

How to reply to reviews

Reply to all of them, positive and negative alike. The replies are read mainly by future customers. With a negative review, say thank you, explain the situation plainly, offer a solution and take the rest to private communication. Never give out the customer's personal details and never argue.

Thank you for letting us know. We are sorry the wait was longer than we promised. We would be glad to go through it with you in person. Please call us on the number listed in our profile.

NAP: the same details everywhere

NAP stands for: Name, Address, Phone: name, address, phone number. These details have to be exactly the same everywhere. When Google or an AI assistant finds three different phone numbers in three places, it does not know which one to trust, and your credibility drops.

Small things matter too: “Hlavná 1” on the website and “Hlavná ul. č. 1” in the profile, an old phone number in a directory or a different company name on Facebook. Pick one exact wording and use it everywhere.

Your website and your profile have to work together

Your profile and your website strengthen each other:

• the profile links to the website, ideally to the page of the specific branch if you have several,
• the website carries the same details as the profile, including in structured data (schema.org), the machine readable “labels” with your address and hours,
• the Contact page has a map and a clear description of how to reach you,
• if you work in several cities, each one gets its own page with its own content, not a copy with the city name swapped.

On the websites we build, the link to your Google Business Profile is part of SEO essentials included in the price. The same details are used by AI assistants such as ChatGPT and Gemini when they recommend businesses nearby. More in the article SEO for AI.

A 30 minute checklist

• The profile is claimed, verified and managed by a company account.
• The name is exactly as it is on the premises, with no extra keywords.
• The primary category describes your main activity exactly.
• Opening hours are up to date, holidays included.
• The phone number and the website link work.
• The profile has current photos of your own.
• Every review has a reply.
• The link for writing a review is ready as a QR code.
• The name, address and phone number are the same on the website, in the profile and on social media.

Want to know whether your website is in good shape too? Free audit checks speed, SEO, structured data and AI visibility in a minute. If you want someone to look after local SEO long term, take a look at SEO Complete.