How to manage your Google Business Profile

If you've gone looking for the “Google My Business app” and couldn't find it, you're not going mad, Google retired it. Everything moved into Google Search and Google Maps, which is actually simpler once you know where to look. This guide covers how to sign in, what's worth editing, a light-touch routine that keeps the profile healthy, how to add people safely, and how to fix the usual reasons an owner gets stuck.

How to sign in and find your profile

There isn't a login button labelled “manage my profile” any more. Instead, Google shows you the management tools inline once it recognises you as the owner. Work through these in order:

1. 1

   Sign in with the account that owns the business

   This is the single most common thing people get wrong. If you set the profile up years ago, it might be tied to a personal Gmail or an old address you'd forgotten. Whatever account created or was given ownership is the one you need, not necessarily the one you use every day. If you genuinely can't work out which account owns it, search your business and use “Own this business?” to start a request.
2. 2

   Search your business name on Google, or open Google Maps

   On a computer or a phone, type your business name into Google Search, or find your pin in Google Maps. As long as you're signed in as an owner or manager, Google surfaces your profile with an editing panel attached to it.
3. 3

   Use the management options that appear on your listing

   You'll see buttons such as Edit profile, Add photo, Reviews, Messages and Promote(updates and offers). These act directly on the live profile, there's no separate dashboard to publish from.
4. 4

   For multiple locations, use business.google.com

   If you run more than one location, going to business.google.com gives you a list view where you can jump between profiles, which is far easier than searching each business name one at a time.

The things worth doing regularly

You don't need to touch every setting. A handful of things move the needle for customers, and everything else is mostly one-time setup. The ones worth coming back to:

• Keep your details accurate. Hours (including bank holidays), phone number, services and description. Wrong information is worse than none, a customer who turns up to a closed shop remembers it.
• Add fresh photos. Real images of your work, premises and team. A live-looking profile earns more clicks than a stale one with a single logo.
• Reply to reviews. Every one, good or bad. It signals a business that cares, see how to respond to reviews.
• Answer messages and questions. If messaging is turned on, an unanswered enquiry is a lost job. The same goes for the questions-and-answers section, where you can even post the answers to things customers always ask.
• Post the occasional update. Offers, news, or seasonal changes keep the profile active and give returning customers something new to see.

Editing the details that matter most

Inside Edit profileyou'll find everything grouped into tabs. A few are worth getting right, and a couple are worth handling carefully:

• Business name. Use your real-world name exactly as it appears on your signage, no added towns or services. Stuffing keywords here is one of the fastest ways to get suspended, see why profiles get suspended.
• Hours and special hours. Set your normal weekly hours under Hours, then use Special hours to override single dates such as bank holidays or an early close. You only need to add a special-hours entry for days that differ from your usual week.
• Primary and additional categories. Your primary category does the heavy lifting for which searches you show up in, so pick the most accurate one, not the broadest. The free category finder shows what similar businesses use.
• Address or service area.If customers come to you, set your address. If you travel to them, hide the address and set a service area instead. Showing an address you don't staff is a common trigger for problems.
• Services and description. List the specific services you offer and write a plain description of what you do. This is your space, so be clear rather than salesy.

A simple monthly routine

Most owners don't need to touch their profile daily, a short, regular check keeps it healthy without becoming a chore. Once a month:

• Skim your details, are your hours, phone and services still right? Update anything that's changed, and add special hours for any upcoming closures.
• Add a photo or two of recent work, it keeps the profile looking alive and gives customers something new to see.
• Reply to any reviews you've missed, and quickly ask a happy recent customer for one, see how to ask for reviews.
• Glance at the Messages and questions areas for anything that needs a response.

Ten minutes a month is usually enough to keep a profile in good shape. The businesses that fall behind are almost always the ones that set it up once and never look again.

Adding people to help manage it

You don't have to do everything yourself. In your profile's settings, find “People and access” (sometimes shown as Managers) and add someone by email:

• Owner, full control, including editing every setting and adding or removing other people. Keep at least one Owner account you control.
• Manager, can edit almost everything, reply to reviews, post updates and answer messages, but can't remove the primary owner or delete the profile. Best for staff or an agency helping you.

A useful rule of thumb: give people the least access that lets them do their job. A member of staff replying to reviews only needs Manager access, not ownership. That way, if they leave, you remove them in seconds and nothing about your control of the profile changes.

What trips people up

Managing the profile is simple once it's set up, but a few avoidable mistakes cause most of the headaches owners run into:

If you can't manage or edit it

Three common causes, quickest to check first:

1. Wrong account.You're signed in with a different Google account than the one that owns the profile. This is by far the most frequent cause, so rule it out before anything else.
2. Not verified. A new or unverified profile has limited editing, and some features stay locked until you verify. See how to verify your Google Business Profile.
3. Suspended.If it's been suspended you'll need to fix the cause and appeal, see what to do about a suspended profile.

If your profile is fine to manage but simply isn't showing up for customers, that's a different problem, walk through why your business isn't showing on Google Maps.

What to do if you lose access completely

Occasionally an owner ends up fully locked out: the person who set it up has left, the old email is gone, or someone else claimed the profile. You don't have to accept it. A few honest routes back in:

• Request access.Search your business, and if it shows someone already manages it, use the “Request access” option. The current manager is notified and has a set window to respond before you can escalate.
• Recover the owning account.If the profile is tied to an old email you technically still own, Google's standard account recovery may get you back in faster than any profile-level appeal.
• Ask the community. The Google Business Profile Help community is monitored by experienced volunteers and Google staff, and is a legitimate place to escalate a genuine access dispute with proof you own the business.