Google Business Profile, formerly Google My Business, is the free listing that shows your business on Google Maps and in local results: name, address, opening hours, phone, photos and reviews. For a Swiss SME it is often the first thing a customer sees, before your website. This guide explains how it works, how Google ranks it and what to do, in order.
What is Google Business Profile?
Google My Business was the name of the tool for managing your business listing on Google. Google renamed it Google Business Profile. The idea hasn’t changed: one profile per location, shown when someone searches for your name or your trade near them.
Management now happens directly in Google Search and Google Maps: signed in with the right account, you search your business name and the editing tools appear above the results. Details in Google Business Profile login.
What a profile contains
- Your business name, as on your sign
- One primary category and up to 9 additional categories
- Your address, or a service area if you travel to customers
- Opening hours, including special hours (public holidays, closures)
- Phone, website and a booking link
- A description of up to 750 characters
- Services and products
- Photos, customer reviews and your replies
- Attributes: payment methods, accessibility, languages
Why the profile matters so much for a Swiss SME
When someone searches “garage Zug”, “hairdresser Zurich” or “electrician Geneva”, Google shows a map and a few businesses before the regular results: the “local pack”. On a phone it fills the whole first screen. The businesses in it get the calls, the direction requests and the visits; the rest stay invisible to that customer.
The profile is also a shop window: customers compare ratings, read reviews, look at photos and call, often without ever opening your website. An incomplete or poorly rated profile loses that customer to the competitor just above.
Don’t know who Google shows before you? The free check measures it in one minute for your trade and town, with competitors by name.
How much does Google Business Profile cost?
Nothing. Google states that adding or claiming your profile is free. What costs is time: filling it in properly at the start, then keeping it alive every week. Beware of calls claiming to be from Google and asking for payment to “activate” or “protect” your profile. The real costs are in is Google Business Profile free?.
How Google ranks profiles
Google describes three local ranking factors itself. Knowing them saves you time on what doesn’t matter.
| Factor | What Google looks at | What you control |
|---|---|---|
| Relevance | Does the profile match what the customer is looking for? | Categories, description, services, complete information |
| Distance | Where the customer is relative to you | Almost nothing: an exact address or service area |
| Prominence | How well known and well regarded the business is | Number and rating of reviews, replies, photos, consistency across the web |
Google also states that you can’t pay for a better local ranking. Google Ads can appear above the local pack, labelled “Sponsored”, but they don’t move the profile itself up. The work happens on the profile, as explained in how to rank higher on Google Maps.
The 8 elements that weigh most
- The primary category: the most precise one that describes you (“roofer” rather than “construction company”).
- Additional categories: only those matching a real service.
- Reviews: a steady flow from real customers, not just a total.
- Replies to reviews, positive and negative.
- Real photos, added regularly: team, premises, vehicles, work.
- Complete opening hours, special hours included.
- Description and services: what you do, for whom, where.
- The same name, address and phone everywhere: your website, local.ch, search.ch, Apple Maps, Bing.
The full field-by-field checklist is in optimize your Google Business Profile.
Create, claim or take over a profile
Three situations. Your profile doesn’t exist: you create and verify it. It exists but nobody manages it (Google created it from public data, or a customer added the place): you claim it. It is managed by a former employee or agency: you request access or ownership from the profile. The steps are in how to create a Google Business Profile.
Common mistakes in Switzerland
- A profile never claimed, which anyone can suggest edits to.
- A single, overly broad category that makes the profile vanish from precise searches.
- Keywords stuffed into the name (“Meier Garage Car Repair Zug”): against Google’s guidelines, and the profile can be suspended.
- Missing or wrong hours over public holidays and summer closures.
- Reviews left unanswered for months.
- An old address or number still showing on local.ch or search.ch.
- Two profiles for the same business, often after a move.
Reviews: the most visible lever
Review count, rating and recency are the first numbers customers compare. Google lets you ask customers for reviews, but prohibits rewarding them or asking only happy customers. Our method is in how to get more Google reviews, and reply templates in how to respond to Google reviews.
The Swiss specifics: languages and directories
In Switzerland the same customer may search in German, French or Italian depending on the region, plus English in Zug, Zurich, Geneva and Basel, and local.ch and search.ch are still widely used. A profile that works describes services in the language of the local clientele and shows exactly the same details as the directories. More in local SEO in Switzerland.
Where to start, in order
- Make sure you can access your profile with a company Google account.
- Measure your position on the search that matters: your trade and your town.
- Look at the three businesses shown before you: reviews, rating, photos, hours.
- Fix the category, hours and description first.
- Set up a review request after every customer.
- Align your details on local.ch, search.ch, Apple Maps and Bing.
- Add photos every week and reply to every review.
Doing all of this yourself takes time: allow roughly 15 to 20 hours for a serious setup, then 1 to 2 hours a week (our estimate). The detailed guide walks through each point step by step.
Reading your profile’s performance stats
In the “Performance” section, Google shows how many people saw your profile, how they found it and what they did next. These are the numbers to track every month.
| Metric | What it tells you | What to do with it |
|---|---|---|
| Searches | The terms used to find you | Check your trade appears, not just your name |
| Views (Search and Maps) | How often the profile was shown | Compare month to month, same season |
| Calls | Taps on the call button | The metric closest to revenue |
| Directions | Route requests to you | Key for a shop or garage |
| Website clicks | Visits to your site from the profile | Make sure the site answers questions |
If the searches are almost all your name, Google isn’t showing you for your trade yet: a sign of a category or prominence problem.
A concrete example (illustration)
Take a fictional garage in Zug. For “garage Zug” it ranks 7th. The top three have 90 to 250 reviews, ratings of 4.6 to 4.8 and over 50 photos; it has 14 reviews, a 4.3 rating, 5 photos, and its primary category is “car dealer” although it mostly does repairs.
- Primary category changed to “auto repair shop”, with “auto body shop” and “tire shop” as additional categories.
- Description rewritten: repairs for all makes, MOT preparation, tyres, in Zug and the surrounding area.
- 30 real photos: workshop, team, tow truck.
- A review-request text sent at every car handover.
- Details aligned on local.ch and search.ch.
What changes first is relevance (the category). The prominence gap closes review by review, over months. No result is guaranteed, but the gap becomes measurable and shrinks.
Profile and website: both matter
The profile is often the first contact, but many customers then tap “Website” to check services, prices or references. A clear site with the same details, naming your trade and town, strengthens the profile for Google and the customer alike.
Frequently asked questions
Are Google My Business and Google Business Profile the same thing?
Yes. Google renamed Google My Business to Google Business Profile. It works the same way.
Do I need a website to have a profile?
No. A profile works without a website. A linked website that names your trade and town does help Google understand your business.
Can I pay Google to be first on Google Maps?
Not for the organic ranking: Google states you can’t pay for a better local ranking. Paid ads are a separate product, labelled as sponsored.
Can a business without premises have a profile?
Yes, as a service-area business. The address is hidden and you list the towns or regions you serve.
How long before I see an effect?
Profile fixes (category, hours, description) show within days; reviews take months of consistency. No ranking timeline is guaranteed: Google decides.
Who can edit my profile?
The owners and managers you added. Any user can also suggest an edit, which Google may apply if the profile isn’t looked after. That’s why it pays to claim it and check it regularly.
Do I need one profile per language?
No, one profile per location. Write the description in your customers’ main language; Google can automatically translate some content for users.
Can I have a profile at my home address?
Yes, if you receive customers there during set hours. Otherwise, choose a service area and hide the address.