A Google Business Profile (GBP) is the free listing Google shows for a business in Google Maps and in local Search results, with its name, category, address or service area, opening hours, phone number, reviews and photos. It was called Google My Business until Google renamed it in 2021, and many people still say GMB.
How Google Business Profile works
You claim or create a profile, prove you run the business through verification, and then manage it directly from Google Search or the Maps app. Businesses with many locations use Business Profile Manager, which handles them in bulk.
The profile is made of information you control (name, categories, address, hours, services, photos, posts and description) and information others add: reviews, customer photos and edits that Google or the public suggest. Google can change your details if it believes they are wrong, so it is worth checking the profile regularly.
When someone searches for a local service, Google ranks profiles by three broad things it names publicly: relevance (how well the profile matches the search), distance (how close the business is to the searcher or the area named) and prominence (how well known and well reviewed the business is). The top results appear in the local pack in Search and in Maps.
The UK address rules
A profile with an address must use a real location where staff meet customers during the stated hours, written in the UK format with the correct postcode. Google does not allow virtual offices, mail-forwarding addresses or unstaffed co-working desks as a business location. That catches a lot of London businesses that use a smart-sounding central address from a serviced provider. A registered office address from your accountant is not a customer location either. If you visit customers rather than receive them, set up as a service-area business, hide the address and list the areas you cover.
Why it matters
For a local business, the profile is often seen more than the website. Many people call, ask for directions or read reviews straight from it without visiting the site at all. A complete, accurate profile wins those actions; a neglected one sends them to the next business in the list. It is also free, which makes it the first thing I would fix for any business that serves customers in a particular place.
Common mistakes
- Adding place names or keywords to the business name (“Smith Plumbing Emergency Plumber London”). This breaks Google’s guidelines and is a common route to suspension.
- Using a virtual office or co-working address in central London to look closer to customers.
- Creating a second profile at the same address instead of fixing the first.
- Letting reviews sit unanswered, including the critical ones.
- Letting opening hours drift out of date, especially over bank holidays.
How to act on it
Search for your business name and check what customers see. Confirm you own the profile, then work through the basics: exact legal or trading name, the right primary category, a real address or service area, accurate hours, a working number and a link to the most relevant page of your site. Add services, photos of real work and a description written for people.
After that, build a steady way to ask every customer for a review and reply to each one. Keep the details identical to your website and directory listings. If you would like someone to check and fix the profile properly, that is what my Google Business Profile optimisation service covers.