Optimize your Google Business Profile: the complete checklist (2026)

Optimizing a Google Business Profile means filling every field with accurate, useful information: the right primary category, real additional categories, a clear description, all your services, recent photos, complete hours and correct attributes. Then keeping it alive: reviews, replies, photos and posts. Here is the full checklist, field by field, with what Google allows and what it penalizes.

The checklist at a glance

1. The primary category

This setting weighs most on relevance: it tells Google which searches to show you for. A category that’s too broad (“construction company”) makes you disappear from precise searches (“roofer Zug”) in favour of better-categorized competitors.

1. List the 5 to 10 searches your customers really type: trade + town.
2. Run each on Google Maps and note the category of the top three (under the name).
3. Choose the most precise category for your main activity.
4. In your profile: Edit profile → Business category.
5. Check again two weeks later: Google sometimes changes categories on its own.

Changing your primary category often can trigger re-verification. Decide once, based on what ranks your competitors.

2. Additional categories

You can add up to 9. They widen the searches you appear in, as long as they match a real service. A garage that also does bodywork and tyres can add “auto body shop” and “tire shop”; unrelated categories can get the profile suspended.

3. The business name

Google requires the name you use in real life: sign, website, letterhead. Adding the town or keywords (“Meier Garage Car Repair Zug”) breaks its guidelines. It sometimes works for a few weeks, then the profile is corrected or suspended, and a competitor can report the change.

4. The description

Up to 750 characters. The first lines show before “More”: put the essentials there. Write for a customer, not a robot.

• What you do, in your customers’ words.
• For whom: private customers, businesses, property managers.
• Where: your town and the areas you serve.
• What sets you apart: response time, specialism, experience, languages.
• Not allowed: links, phone numbers, promotional prices, all-caps text.

Example for a plumber: “Plumbing and heating in Zug and the surrounding area since 2009. Leak repairs, boiler descaling, bathroom renovations for homeowners and property managers. Service in English and German, free on-site quote.”

5. Services and products

List all your services, one per line, with a short description and, if you like, an indicative price. They help Google connect your profile to precise searches (“boiler descaling”), and customers see at once whether you do what they need. For shops, the Products section showcases your key items.

6. Photos

Real photos reassure customers and show the business is active. Start with 20 to 30 photos, then add more regularly: frequency matters as much as the total.

• Storefront and sign, so people recognise you on arrival.
• Interior or workshop.
• The team at work.
• Branded vehicles.
• Completed work: before and after.
• A sharp logo and cover photo.
• Avoid: stock images, composites, text on photos.

7. Opening hours

Complete hours let Google show customers “Open” or “Closed”. Add special hours before every public holiday (Ascension, Whit Monday, 1 August, Christmas) and during your holidays. A customer who finds the door shut often leaves a bad review.

8. Service area and address

If you go to customers, set a service area (up to 20 areas: municipalities, districts, cantons) and hide your address if you don’t receive customers. Stay realistic: the area doesn’t magically widen your ranking; Google still factors in distance.

9. Attributes

Google offers attributes by category: payment methods (TWINT, cards), wheelchair-accessible entrance, languages, online appointments. Tick the ones that are true: they answer customers’ questions before they call.

10. Posts

Posts (updates, offers, events) show a living profile. One post a week or every two weeks is enough: a finished job, a new service, your holiday hours.

The weekly routine

1. Ask every customer served this week for a review (see how to get more Google reviews).
2. Reply to every new review (see how to respond to Google reviews).
3. Add 2 to 5 photos.
4. Check edits suggested by Google.
5. Publish a post.

A complete profile isn’t always enough: what counts is the gap with the three businesses shown before you. The free check compares them number by number.

Costly mistakes

• Keywords in the name: suspension risk.
• A visible address for a business that doesn’t receive customers: against the guidelines.
• Categories unrelated to the business.
• Several profiles for the same location.
• Details that differ from local.ch and search.ch (see local SEO in Switzerland).

Before and after: a hair salon profile (illustration)

The profile’s links

Depending on the category, the profile accepts links to your website, booking, a menu or ordering. Point the website link to the most useful page (often the homepage, or the relevant location page for a multi-site business), and check every link works on mobile.

A multilingual clientele

In Zug, Zurich or Geneva, many customers search in English as well as the local language. Your services can mention both terms where it’s natural (“plumbing / Sanitär”), and replies follow the language of each review. The name stays your real business name.