Go to business.google.com/add, enter your name, category and address or service area, then verify using whichever method Google offers. It is free. If a listing already exists, claim it instead of adding another. Google gives no figure for when a new listing appears, though its verification review takes up to 5 business days.
Most guides to this give you the same few steps, then a number for how long it takes: three days, a few days, 24 to 48 hours. None of them says where the number came from, because Google does not publish one. They also tend to assume you have a shopfront and that nobody has got there first. Plenty of readers have neither.
So we read Google’s current help pages in full and put its actual figures in one table. We also checked 121 US local business homepages, because what your website says feeds what Google shows.
Which of three situations are you in?
Before you add anything, sign in to the Google Account you intend to keep, and search Google Maps for your business name and city. What you find decides the route. A listing you never made can exist, because anyone can add a missing place to Maps.
| What you find | What to do | The wait |
|---|---|---|
| Nothing | Go to business.google.com/add and choose to add your business to Google | Verification, then Google’s review |
| A listing nobody has verified | Open it in Maps, choose Claim this business, then Manage now. In the app, it is under About | Verification, then Google’s review |
| A listing someone else has verified | Go to business.google.com/add, enter your name and address, choose the listing and select Request Access. A service-area business contacts Google support and asks to transfer ownership instead | The current owner has 3 days to answer |
From Google’s add or claim your Business Profile, request ownership and add a missing place pages, read 3 November 2026.
Whatever you find, do not start a second listing to get around the first. Google allows one profile per business, and a profile it treats as a duplicate does not show on Search or Maps.
Can my business be on Google Maps?
Probably, if you meet customers in person. Google’s core rule is that a business must make in-person contact with customers during its stated hours, either at its own address or by going to them. Check this before you start, because it is also the reason profiles get taken down later.
| Situation | Allowed? | The condition |
|---|---|---|
| Shop, office or clinic that customers visit | Yes | Keep permanent signage with your name at that address |
| Trade that travels to customers | Yes | List as a service-area business |
| Business run from home | Yes | Hide the address if customers do not come to it |
| Co-working space | Only with conditions | Clear signage, customers received there, and your own staff present during business hours |
| Virtual office | No | A rented mailing address where you do not operate does not count |
| P.O. box or remote mailbox | No | A suite number is fine, on line 2 under a real address |
| Online-only business | No | No in-person contact, so it cannot be verified |
| Lead generation agent | No | Also true of rental properties, though their leasing offices can qualify |
From Google’s eligibility and ownership guidelines and guidelines for representing your business, read 3 November 2026.
How do I add my business to Google Maps?
- Sign in with an account you will keep. Use one tied to the business, not a staff member’s personal login. Anyone else who needs access can be added later under their own account.
- Go to business.google.com/add and choose to add your business to Google.
- Enter the name your customers know. Use the one on your van, your signage and your invoices, with nothing added.
- Choose a category. Pick as few as possible, as specific as possible, phrased as what the business is rather than what it has.
- Add your address, your service area, or both. If customers do not come to you, turn the address off. More on that below.
- Add a phone number and your website.
- Verify, using one of the options Google shows you.
- Fill in the rest: hours, services and photos, and start asking customers for reviews, in the way set out in how to get more Google reviews. Getting reviews onto your own site is covered in how to add Google reviews to your website.
How do I verify my business on Google?
Google chooses the methods for you, based on things like your business type and region, and you cannot change them. You pick from what is offered, and some businesses have to complete more than one. Where you are eligible for video, Google recommends it.
| Method | How it works | Where it goes wrong |
|---|---|---|
| Video recording | Filmed live on your phone through the profile, in one unedited take of at least 30 seconds | Pre-recorded footage is not allowed. Keep other people’s faces and sensitive numbers out of shot |
| Phone or text | A code by call or text | An automated phone menu will not receive it, so a business with a phone tree needs another route |
| Follow the steps sent to the address on screen | Only works if you can read that inbox | |
| Live video call | Show your location, equipment and proof you run the business | Not offered to everyone, and only during your business hours |
| A 5-digit code sent to your address | Not offered to everyone. Requesting another code cancels the first, and editing your name, address or category while you wait makes it fail |
From Google’s verify your business and video verification pages, read 3 November 2026.
If you see an option that is not in this table, do not assume it is a scam. Search Engine Roundtable reported Google testing a business photo option in September 2026 and government ID upload in October. Neither is in Google’s help pages yet, so treat them as tests. Do check you are on a real google.com page before uploading anything.
How long does it take to get on Google Maps?
There is no one number. We checked Google’s add, verify, ranking, edit and address pages, and none of them says how long a new listing takes to appear on Maps. Google does publish these:
| Stage | Google’s figure |
|---|---|
| A new listing appearing on Maps | No figure given |
| Verification review, including video | Up to 5 business days, occasionally longer |
| A mailed code arriving | Most within 14 days |
| A mailed code expiring | 30 days |
| Edits to a live profile | Usually about 10 minutes, up to 30 days |
| Service area edits, if approved | Up to 48 hours |
| The current owner answering your access request | 3 days |
| A new owner or manager deleting the profile, removing people or transferring ownership | A 7 day wait first |
| A decision on a suspension appeal | No figure given |
Our reading of Google’s help pages, 3 November 2026, including profile edits, service areas and owners and managers.
The practical planning figure is the verification route. If offered, video or a code by phone can be done today and then reviewed. If mail is your only option, allow two weeks and leave the profile alone while you wait. If Get verified reappears after you finish, Google could not verify you: try again, try any other method offered, then contact support.
What if I work from home or travel to customers?
This is the case most guides skip, and it covers most trades. Google’s own example of who should remove their address is a plumber working from home. Plumbers, cleaners and locksmiths count as service-area businesses because customers do not come to them.
| Rule | What Google says |
|---|---|
| Your address | If you do not serve customers there, turn it off under Edit profile, then Location. The profile then shows only your service area |
| How many areas | Up to 20, by city, postal code or similar |
| A radius | Not allowed |
| How far | Stay within roughly a two-hour drive of your base. It is guidance, and Google says larger areas can suit some businesses |
| More than one profile | Only for a separate base with separate staff. Do not make extras for different services |
| Filming for video verification | Street signs or landmarks around your base, your tools, and proof you run it: doing the work, unlocking a branded van, or a permit, invoice or utility bill in the business name |
From Google’s manage your service areas, manage your address and video verification pages, read 3 November 2026.
Filming your own street feels odd, and Google says a home-run business can do exactly that. The website side of this is in plumber website design and HVAC website design.
What if someone else controls my listing?
This usually means an old agency, a former employee or the previous owner of the business. The access request above is the starting point. If the owner approves, you are in. If they refuse, you can appeal or suggest an edit. If they do not answer within 3 days, you may be offered a way to claim it, through the confirmation email or a button on the listing, but Google says that is not always available.
Agencies have specific duties here. Under Google’s rules a third party must have your consent to claim your profile and must transfer ownership immediately when you ask. Google encourages the business to hold the profile and add the agency as a manager, and there is a complaint form if one will not. Fix this while the person is still reachable, because a new owner waits 7 days before some actions.
Check who the primary owner is today, before you need to know. It takes a minute under People and access in your profile settings. Getting a profile back from someone who answers their email is easy. Getting it back from someone who does not is the slow route.
The same question applies to your domain and your website, which is why we wrote do I own my website?
What can get my profile suspended?
Google removed over 13 million fake Business Profiles in 2025 and blocked or removed over 292 million policy-violating reviews, by its own count. Real businesses can be suspended too, which is why an appeals route exists, but Google publishes no suspension rate, so nobody can tell you how often. These are the reasons it lists:
| Reason | How to stay clear of it |
|---|---|
| Extra words in the business name | Use the real name only. Google’s own example: Midas Auto Service Experts should be Midas |
| A P.O. box or virtual office | Use a real location, and hide it if customers do not come to it |
| An ineligible business type | Check the table above before you start |
| Google deciding you are not where you say | Keep permanent signage if you show an address, and keep your details the same everywhere |
| A pattern of violations on the account | This can suspend every profile on the account, so take care if one login manages several |
| Fake or incentivised reviews | Do not buy them. Google can remove reviews, block new ones and show a warning on your profile |
From Google’s suspended or disabled profiles page and its enforcement post of 16 April 2026.
If it happens, do not create a new profile for the same business. Google says not to, and you only get one appeal, so fix the problem first and then submit it with evidence: a business registration, license, tax certificate or utility bill, with a name and address that match the profile. Google gives no timescale for a decision.
Does it cost anything to be on Google Maps?
No. Adding, claiming and verifying are free, and you cannot pay for a better position in local results. Google’s advice is that third parties cannot promise placement, and that its automated calls never ask for payment. When we searched this question, the results page itself carried a paid ad selling Google Maps reviews, which is roughly like being offered a fake passport in the queue at the passport office. Skip it: paying for reviews is what Google’s fake engagement rules exist to catch.
Paying someone to do the setup is a different thing, and it is fine if they add you under your own account and you stay the owner. It is a short job plus the wait.
How do I show up higher on Google Maps?
Being listed only makes you findable. Where you appear depends on what Google’s local ranking page now puts this way: “Local results are mainly based on relevance, distance, and popularity.” The heading further down the same page still says Prominence, the word guides have used for years, so Google’s own page currently uses both. Under that heading it says how well known you are draws on how many websites link to you and how many reviews you have.
| Factor | What it means | What you can do |
|---|---|---|
| Relevance | How well your profile matches the search | Complete every section, and pick the right category |
| Distance | How far you are from the searcher | Nothing, and it is why you rank differently a mile away |
| Prominence or popularity | How well known you are, including links from other websites and your reviews | Earn reviews and mentions on other sites |
Your website feeds this too. Google says business information comes partly from crawling the web, including your own site, and that it can pick up category information from your website. So we checked what 121 US local business homepages give it to work with.
| What we checked | Homepages |
|---|---|
| Phone number visible as text | 105 of 121 (87%) |
| Postal address visible | 86 of 121 (71%) |
| Service area wording, such as “serving” or “service area” | 82 of 121 (68%) |
| Link to the Google Maps listing | 60 of 121 (50%) |
| LocalBusiness structured data, which states these facts for machines | 57 of 121 (47%) |
| Map embed on the page | 22 of 121 (18%) |
| No map embed and no map link | 55 of 121 (45%) |
Our own check of public homepage source, 3 November 2026: plumbers, electricians, HVAC firms, roofers, landscapers, dentists, accountants and pest control companies in 18 metros. No business is named. Homepage only, so an address on a contact page is not counted, and a service-area business may leave its address off on purpose. Anything built by scripts was not seen. The sample is small and leaves out most sites behind bot protection.
The gap between 71% and 47% is the useful finding. Most of these businesses publish where they are for people to read, and about half do not also state it in a form built for machines. Accountants were the extreme: 1 of 19 had that structured data. Whatever your site says, the name, phone number and service area should match your profile exactly.
Maps is also not where most people start. In a July 2026 BrightLocal survey of 1,227 US consumers, 52% began their latest local search on Google Search and 9% on Google Maps. BrightLocal sells local SEO software, so read it with that in mind. A profile feeds both, but it is the start of being found, not all of it. Getting the website itself into Google Search is a separate job, covered in how to get your website on Google. What it does and does not do for assistants outside Google is in do I need a website if I have a Google Business Profile?
Do the profile today. It is free, it takes an afternoon including the filming, and no website work comes close for the effort. Almost every guide then tells you to optimise it forever. I would not.
Get it complete and accurate, ask every customer for a review, and answer the ones you get. Past that, the next enquiry is more likely to come from your website, and from what other sites say about you, than from a fifteenth photo of your van.
Common questions
Is it free to put my business on Google Maps?
Yes. Adding, claiming and verifying a Business Profile costs nothing, and you cannot pay Google for a better position in local results. Be wary of anyone promising guaranteed placement or selling reviews.
How long does it take for my business to show up on Google Maps?
Google does not publish a figure for a new listing appearing. It does say verification review takes up to 5 business days, occasionally longer, and that most mailed codes arrive within 14 days. Figures of 3 days or 48 hours in other guides are not from Google.
Can I put my business on Google Maps without a storefront?
Yes, if you meet customers in person. List as a service-area business, turn your address off, and add up to 20 service areas by city or postal code. Google’s own example is a plumber working from home. Online-only businesses are not eligible.
My business is already on Google Maps but I did not add it. What do I do?
Anyone can add a place to Maps. If it is unverified, open it and choose Claim this business, then Manage now. If someone else has verified it, use Request Access at business.google.com/add. The owner has 3 days to answer. Do not create a second listing.
Why is my business not showing up on Google Maps?
The usual causes are that it is not verified yet, Google treats it as a duplicate, the profile is suspended, or it is listed but ranks below others for that search. Search your exact name and city first. If it appears for that, the issue is ranking, not listing.
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