Set Up Your Google Business Profile and Keep Your NAP Consistent

Your Google Business Profile is the listing that can put your trade business in front of people searching nearby, and Google says businesses with complete and accurate information are more likely to show up in local search results [2]. Get the setup wrong and you can run into problems, including suspension for a name stuffed with extra keywords [1]. This guide goes through the setup in order (name, category, address or service area, verification), then explains what NAP consistency means and how to keep it tidy.

How Google decides who shows up locally

Google says local results are mainly based on relevance, how far the business is from the searcher, and how well-known it is [2]. It defines prominence as how well-known a business is, and adds that more reviews and positive ratings can help your local ranking [2]. You can’t change how far away a searcher is, so the parts you control are a complete, accurate profile and the reviews you earn. Google also states there is no way to request or pay for a better local ranking [2].

Use your real business name

Google’s guidelines say your name should reflect your business’s real-world name, as used consistently on your storefront, website, stationery and as known to customers [1]. Including unnecessary information in the name isn’t permitted and could result in your profile being suspended [1]. So “Smith Plumbing” is right, while “Smith Plumbing - Cheap Emergency Plumber Near Me” is the sort of thing to avoid. Details such as your address, service area, hours and category belong in the other sections of the profile [1].

Choose your categories carefully

Pick a primary category that best describes your business, and choose a specific option from the list Google shows you rather than a broad one [4]. Google’s own example is choosing “Nail salon” instead of “Salon” [4]; for a trade, that means the closest match to the work you do most. Don’t add a category for every product or service. Use a few from the provided list [4]. The guidelines say the same thing: use as few categories as possible to describe your overall core business [1]. If you add or edit a category later, Google may ask you to verify your business again [4].

Decide between an address and a service area

Google defines a service-area business as one that visits or delivers to customers directly but doesn’t serve customers at its business address [5]. A hybrid business serves customers at its address and also visits or delivers to them [5]. Most trades who work at the customer’s property fit the first description, while a workshop or showroom that takes walk-in customers is closer to the second.

For service-area businesses, the guidelines say you should hide your business address from customers, and should have one profile for your central office or location with a designated service area [1]. That means no separate profile for every town you cover. Google’s address help adds that you should only choose not to show your address if you are a service-area business, and that if you hide it without entering a service area, Google chooses a local area for you [6]. Set the area yourself instead of leaving it to chance.

The rules for the area itself are specific. You can have up to 20 service areas, and the boundaries of your overall area shouldn’t be more than about 2 hours of driving time from where your business is based [5]. You can’t set your service area as a radius around your business; you specify it by city, postal code or another type of area [5]. Whatever address you do enter should be precise and accurate, and P.O. boxes or mailboxes at remote locations aren’t acceptable [1].

Verify the profile

Verifying gives you ownership of your Business Profile and lets you make sure your business info is accurate [3]. Google’s verification page lists phone or text, email, live video call and mail as the methods [3]. Live video calls are only available within the business hours of your location [3]. After you complete the verification steps, Google reviews the information you provided, and those reviews take up to 5 business days [3]. Start this early, so the wait doesn’t hold up the rest of your setup.

What NAP consistency means

NAP is shorthand for name, address and phone number, the three pieces of local business information commonly found in directory listings, review sites and other business profiles [7]. NAP consistency means those three details are the same across all of your online citations [7]. BrightLocal, a local SEO software company rather than Google, says many citations with identical NAP information can signal to Google that what it knows about a business is correct [7]. That fits with Google’s own line that complete and accurate information makes a profile more likely to show up locally [2].

Keeping your NAP consistent in practice

• Write it down once. Decide the exact business name, address (or the fact that it’s hidden) and phone number you want to use, and copy from that note every time you fill in a form.
• Match the real world. Google wants the name used consistently on your storefront, website and stationery [1], so use the same name on your van, invoices and website as on your profile.
• Use a phone number that goes to your business. Google’s guidelines say to provide a phone number that connects to your individual business location, or a website that represents it [1]. They also say not to give phone numbers or URLs that redirect or refer users to landing pages or numbers other than those of the actual business [1].
• Check the usual places. BrightLocal suggests looking at review sites, directory listings, social media profiles and your Google Business Profile [7]. Fix anything that differs from your note.
• Update everywhere when something changes. If you change your number, your name or your service address, work through the same list again rather than fixing only the profile.

The order to do it in

Set the name and categories first, then the service area, then verify, and only then start on the wider NAP check. That way the version of your details you copy everywhere else is the one Google has already verified.