Google Business Profile is the free listing through which a business manages how it appears on Google Search and Google Maps: its name, address, phone number, opening hours, category, photos, posts and replies to customer reviews. The record usually exists before an owner arrives, because Google compiles profiles from crawled web pages, licensed data and contributions from users. Claiming and verifying one gives a business editing rights over a page that drives local ranking, supplies Google's advertising products and increasingly feeds answers written by its Gemini models.

How a profile is claimed and verified

Google's help centre adds a fourth source to those three: its own interactions with a place. An owner searches for the business, claims the matching profile or creates a new one, and then verifies it. Google chooses the verification method according to business type, region and public information, and applicants cannot change it. Options include phone, text message, email, a recorded video, a live video call and a postcard carrying a five-digit code, which usually arrives within 14 days and expires after 30. Review takes up to five business days once the steps are complete.

Every profile is one of three types. A storefront shows its address and must keep permanent signage there. A service-area business hides its address and lists up to 20 areas, which should not reach much beyond two hours' drive from its base. A hybrid does both. The name field takes the real-world trading name only; taglines, store codes, service descriptions, trademark symbols and location details can lead to suspension, according to Google's guidelines. Because a profile represents a location or service area rather than a legal entity, a chain runs one per branch. Chains with 10 or more locations can seek bulk verification in Business Profile Manager, the dashboard for multi-location operators, although agencies holding several businesses in one account are excluded, as are service-area businesses.

Scale runs through the Business Profile APIs, a family covering business information, accounts, performance, verifications, lodging, place actions and notifications. Access requires an application, and a quota of zero means none has been granted. Approved projects get 300 queries per minute on each API, 300 new locations a day and a fixed ceiling of 10 edits per minute on any single profile, according to Google's developer documentation as of September 2026. Links are policed as well: since September 3, 2025 a crawler has checked them daily, ignoring robots.txt, and social media pages no longer qualify as a business link.

Where it sits in search and advertising

Profiles populate Maps results and the local pack, the block of three map listings shown above organic links for queries with local intent. Google's documentation names three ranking inputs: relevance to the query, distance from the searcher and prominence, which Google says draws partly on links and review counts. As of September 2026 the same page summarises the trio as relevance, distance and "popularity" while keeping prominence as a heading, and states that there is no way to request or pay for a better local ranking.

Money enters beside the organic results rather than inside them. Google Ads location assets attach an address from a linked profile to search and Maps ads, though Google notes that they do not require a verified account. Store visit conversions do need verified locations, one of the eligibility conditions for Google's footfall measurement. Sponsored listings in the local pack climbed from under 3% of tracked mobile keywords in early November 2025 to about 22% by January 2026, in Places Scout data covering 1,200 mobile ranking reports shared by the consultant Joy Hawkins. Local Services Ads, the pay-per-lead format for trades, is being folded into Google Ads as a Performance Max campaign type from August 2026, with name, address and standard hours syncing one way from the profile and editable only there.

Measurement comes from the profile's performance report, which counts views, searches, calls, bookings, direction requests, website clicks and messages. Google Analytics began importing seven profile metrics on June 8, 2026, putting them beside web data for the first time.

From Local Business Center to Business Profile

Google announced the Local Business Center on March 15, 2005 as a free tool for US businesses to add or correct listings in Google Local, confirming each with a PIN sent by post. It became Google Places on April 20, 2010, by which time 4 million listings had been claimed, and gained service areas, the option to hide a home address and Tags, a $25-a-month advertising badge sold in selected US cities. On May 30, 2012 Google+ Local replaced Place pages, converting about 80 million of them and swapping star ratings for Zagat's 30-point scale. Google My Business followed on June 11, 2014, merging the dashboards.

The present name dates from November 4, 2021. "To keep things simple, 'Google My Business' is being renamed 'Google Business Profile,'" wrote Matt Madrigal, then Google's vice-president and general manager for merchant shopping. Single-location owners were steered towards editing inside Search and Maps, the app was scheduled for retirement in 2022 and the web interface was renamed Business Profile Manager for larger operators.

The product has since shed features almost as quickly as it gained them. Websites built with the tool were switched off in March 2024, chat ended on July 31, 2024 and community questions and answers gave way to an AI-generated Ask button in December 2025, a month after the matching API closed. Reviews travelled the other way, with Local Services Ads review management moved into profiles on July 11, 2025.

Why it matters to marketers

For multi-location brands the profile is often the most visible page a branch has, and it is now an input to systems that marketers do not control. PPC Land documented in April 2026 how profile data had become the retrieval layer for Gemini, Ask Maps and Search, with Google's own community newsletter warning that outdated profiles would not surface in conversational queries. Categories, attributes and hours that once shaped a pin on a map now shape generated answers, paid local formats and call reporting. A wrong phone number is no longer a cosmetic error; it travels.

Where it fails and who disputes it

Fraud is the oldest complaint. In June 2019 The Wall Street Journal estimated, from a survey of specialists, that roughly 11 million falsely listed businesses appeared on Maps on any given day. Ethan Russell, product director for Google Maps, replied that only a small share of more than 200 million listings were fake, and that Google had removed over 3 million fake profiles in 2018. The numbers have since grown on both sides: Google's 2025 Trust and Safety Report counted more than 13 million fake Business Profiles removed and 79 million inaccurate edits blocked. In the UK, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) secured undertakings on January 24, 2025 requiring warning alerts on the profiles of businesses caught inflating ratings with fake reviews.

Competition law questions the prominence itself. Yelp sued Google on August 28, 2024, alleging that it uses its general search monopoly to favour its own local results. On June 30, 2026, Magistrate Judge Susan van Keulen barred Google from relitigating its monopoly power in general search, leaving Yelp to prove abuse in local search, according to Courthouse News. In Brussels, the European Commission's July 23, 2026 decision under the Digital Markets Act (DMA)named places intermediation and Google Maps among nine services ranked more favourably than rivals, with a 460 million euro fine. Google has described such units in compliance reports as previews of search results rather than products, a characterisation Near Media called a material misrepresentation given that Google markets the same panels as Business Profiles.

Owners also lack the final word on their own page. Google applies updates drawn from other sources, and generated summaries can bypass a profile entirely: Anna Mae's Bakery had to deny a July 31 closure that an AI Overview imported from a different business with the same name.

Not the same as

Knowledge panel. The box Google shows for people, organisations, works and places. A local business's panel is filled from its profile, but most panels have no profile behind them.

Places API. A paid Google Maps Platform service that lets other applications read Google's place data, which Google says covers more than 250 million places. It reads; the Business Profile APIs write on an owner's behalf.

Local Services Ads. A pay-per-lead format for service trades. It borrows identity, reviews and service areas from a profile but is bought through Google Ads.

Location assets. An ad extension that shows a linked profile's address inside Google Ads, and one that can run without a verified profile.

Recent developments

Management is moving into Google's assistant. Google connected Gemini to Business Profile on June 10, 2026, initially for owners of a single profile, and opened the integration to multi-location accounts on August 7, still restricted to personal Gmail logins. It is not offered in the European Economic Area or the UK.

Reporting and moderation are tightening in parallel. Post view counts reached the dashboard in September 2026 without API access, and owners now have four days to accept or reject user-suggested edits before Google may publish them, while posts carrying unverified phone numbers, email addresses or social handles may be removed. Today, Search Engine Roundtable reported that Google Maps requires a signed-in Google account to read all of a profile's reviews, sort them or leave one. A similar restriction spotted in February 2026 was rolled back within days, according to Android Authority.

Timeline

  • March 15, 2005: Google announces the Local Business Center for US businesses, with PINs sent by post
  • April 20, 2010: The Local Business Center becomes Google Places, with 4 million listings claimed
  • May 30, 2012: Google+ Local replaces Place pages, converting about 80 million of them
  • June 11, 2014: Google My Business launches, merging the Places and Google+ dashboards
  • June 20, 2019: The Wall Street Journal estimates about 11 million false listings on Maps; Google reports removing more than 3 million fake profiles in 2018
  • November 4, 2021: Google My Business is renamed Google Business Profile; the web tool becomes Business Profile Manager
  • March 2024: Websites built with Business Profile are switched off, with redirects until June 10, 2024
  • July 31, 2024: Business Profile chat ends
  • August 28, 2024: Yelp files an antitrust lawsuit against Google over local search
  • January 24, 2025: The CMA secures undertakings from Google on fake reviews
  • June 24, 2025: Google bars countries and states as service areas
  • July 11, 2025: Local Services Ads review management moves into Business Profile
  • September 3, 2025: Daily crawler checks on business links begin
  • November 3, 2025: The Business Profile Q&A API is discontinued
  • December 3, 2025: Google confirms Q&A will be replaced by an AI-powered Ask button
  • November 2025 to January 2026: Local pack ads rise from under 3% to about 22% of tracked mobile keywords
  • April 16, 2026: Google's 2025 Trust and Safety Report records more than 13 million fake Business Profiles removed
  • June 8, 2026: Google Analytics begins importing seven Business Profile metrics
  • June 10, 2026: Google connects Gemini to Business Profile
  • June 30, 2026: A federal court bars Google from relitigating general search monopoly power in Yelp's case
  • July 23, 2026: The European Commission's DMA decision names places intermediation and Google Maps among nine services, with a 460 million euro fine
  • August 2026: The migration of Local Services Ads into Performance Max begins in the United States
  • August 7, 2026: Business Profile in Gemini opens to multi-location accounts
  • September 10, 2026: Google announces Post view counts in its Small Business Bulletin
  • September 23, 2026: Owners are given four days to accept or reject user-suggested edits
  • September 30, 2026: Google Maps requires sign-in to read all of a profile's reviews, Search Engine Roundtable reports

Summary

Who. Google operates Business Profile, Business Profile Manager and the Business Profile APIs. Owners, agencies and listing-management vendors maintain profiles; users contribute edits, photos and reviews. The CMA, the European Commission and the US federal court hearing Yelp's lawsuit have all examined how the product works.

What. Google's free listing and management tool for local businesses, supplying name, address, phone number, hours, categories, photos, posts and reviews to Search, Maps, location-based Google Ads formats, Google Analytics and Gemini.

When. Announced as the Local Business Center on March 15, 2005, renamed Google Places in 2010, absorbed into Google+ Local in 2012 and Google My Business in 2014, and renamed Google Business Profile on November 4, 2021.

Where. In the local pack and knowledge panels on Google Search, in Google Maps, in location assets, local pack ads and Local Services Ads, in Google Analytics and, since 2026, inside Gemini, with management through Search, Maps, Business Profile Manager and the APIs.

Why. Google needs accurate data on physical businesses to answer local queries and sell local advertising, and businesses need control over a record that influences whether customers call, visit or book. The disputes follow from both needs: easy entry invites fake listings, and rivals argue that the prominence Google gives its own local pages is itself the problem.