Your Google Business Profile is often the first thing a customer sees, yet many owners set it up once and never look at it again. This guide covers what it is, how to set it up properly and what moves it up in Google Maps.
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Quick answer
Google Business Profile is the free listing that controls how your business appears in Google Search and Google Maps: your name, category, hours, reviews, photos and contact details. It was called Google My Business until Google renamed it in late 2021, and it costs nothing to create or to appear in the local pack.
For a local business, the profile does a job your website cannot. For a nearby search, Google usually shows three businesses with a map above the ordinary results, and those are Business Profiles, not web pages. Customers can call, get directions, read reviews and check hours without visiting your site.
A Google Business Profile in Canada works the same way in principle as anywhere else, but the details differ. Holiday hours follow a Canadian calendar, review requests by email or text fall under CASL, the directories that confirm your details are Canadian, and in Quebec the Charter of the French Language governs commercial communication.
Setup
Do these in order. A careful first setup saves a lot of fixing later.
Search your business name and phone number in Google Maps first. Someone may already have created a listing. Claiming it avoids a duplicate, which splits your reviews and leaves Google unsure which version is real. If someone else controls it, request ownership through Google.
Use your business name exactly as it appears on your signage and licence, with no added keywords or city names. Enter the real address where you work, postal code in the A1A 1A1 format. If you travel to customers, hide the address and list up to 20 service areas within about two hours of driving.
Pick the one category that best describes what you are: a dental clinic is a dentist first, even if it also offers whitening. Then add up to nine additional categories, each matching a real service. Loosely related extras rarely help and can blur what the profile is about.
Google needs to confirm the business is real. Methods vary, and a video recording showing your signage, premises, tools or vehicle is now common. Read our Google Business Profile verification guide first, so your evidence is ready and matches the profile.
Fill in regular and holiday hours, services, attributes that genuinely apply, your website and a description of up to 750 characters written for customers. Add real photos of your team, premises and work. A complete profile answers what customers would otherwise phone to ask, and gives Google more to match.
Free audit · Guideline-safe changes · Reporting from your own accounts
At a glance
| Field | Why it matters | Common mistake |
|---|---|---|
| Business name | Must match your signage and paperwork | Adding keywords or the city |
| Primary category | Shapes which searches you match | Choosing a broad category |
| Address or service area | Ties the profile to a real place | A virtual office or unstaffed address |
| Hours | Customers act on them | Open 24 hours when nobody answers |
| Description | Up to 750 characters on what you do | Keyword lists or links |
| Photos | Show the real place and work | Only stock images or a logo |
Google Business Profile in Canada
These are the points that separate a Canadian profile from a generic one.
Set special hours for Victoria Day, Canada Day, the Civic Holiday in most provinces, Labour Day, Thanksgiving (second Monday in October), Christmas and Boxing Day, plus Family Day or its equivalent: Louis Riel Day in Manitoba, Heritage Day in Nova Scotia, Islander Day in PEI.
Review request emails and texts are commercial electronic messages under CASL. Implied consent generally covers customers who bought in the last two years or enquired in the last six months. Every message must identify you and include an unsubscribe mechanism.
Google looks for consistent details across the web. In Canada that means YellowPages.ca, 411.ca, Canada411, Yelp, the BBB, Apple Business Connect, Bing Places, your chamber of commerce and industry associations. Your name, address and phone number should read the same on each.
If you serve Quebec, the Charter of the French Language governs French in your commercial communication there. Plan a French description, posts and review replies where customers write in French, and take advice on what applies to you.
Dentists, lawyers and other regulated professionals answer to provincial regulators that often restrict testimonials and claims of superiority. Before writing a description, posting an offer or replying to reviews in detail, check your regulator's advertising standard.
Ranking
Google says local results are based mainly on relevance, distance and prominence. Relevance is how well your categories, services and description match the search. Distance is how far the searcher, or the place they name, is from you. Prominence is how well known and trusted you appear, from reviews, mentions and consistent listings.
You cannot move closer to every customer, so the work goes into relevance and prominence. Our guides on how to rank on Google Maps and how to get more Google reviews cover both. To have it done for you, see Google Business Profile optimization or our wider local SEO services for Canadian businesses.
Common mistakes
Go deeper
What evidence to prepare now that video recording is common, why attempts fail and what to do when Google asks again.
The practical steps behind relevance, distance and prominence, and the parts of Maps ranking nobody controls.
Asking at the right moment, CASL-aware requests and good replies, without incentives or gating.
A diagnostic for a profile that has vanished or never appeared, from suspension to duplicates and filtering.
Updates, offers and events through the Canadian year, plus photos and how often to post.
FAQ
The things Canadian business owners ask before they commission anything. If yours is not here, put it in the form.
Yes. Creating and using a Google Business Profile is free, and Google charges nothing to appear in Maps or the local pack. You can pay someone to manage it, but the listing has no fee. Treat any call asking you to pay to keep your listing live with suspicion.
Yes. Google My Business, often shortened to GMB, was renamed Google Business Profile in late 2021. Existing listings, reviews and verification carried over, so nothing needed recreating. Many people and older guides still say GMB, and both names mean the same free listing in Search and Maps.
Yes. Service-area businesses can hide their address and list up to 20 service areas, within about two hours of driving from their base. A Mississauga contractor might list Mississauga, Brampton, Oakville and Milton. You still need a real address behind the profile for verification.
No. Google's guidelines do not allow a virtual office or co-working desk used to fake a location, and a profile built on one can be suspended. Use the real place you work from. If customers do not visit you, hide the address and set service areas instead.
One primary category and up to nine additional ones. The primary category matters most, so pick the one that describes your core business, and add others only for services you genuinely offer. A short, accurate list beats a long one that blurs what you actually do.
You should. Keep primary ownership in a Google account your business controls, then give your agency or staff manager access. If you part ways with a supplier, you simply remove their access. Recovering a profile owned by someone who has left is slow and avoidable.
Start here
Send us your business name and we will score your Google Business Profile out of 100, run a geo-grid map pack snapshot for your main search and rank the fixes.
Thanks, that’s with us.
A specialist reads every request and replies personally.
Book a time that suits you, or send a message on WhatsApp.