When someone searches for "dentist near me" or "accountant Prague 2", the first thing they often see is not a website. It is a map and a short list of businesses, each with opening hours, a phone number and star ratings. Those entries come from Google Business Profile, and creating one costs nothing.
A profile will not replace a good website, but the two work together. Here is who can have one, how to set it up properly, and what to do afterwards.
Who is eligible
Google's rule is about contact with customers in person. A business can have a profile if it meets customers during stated opening hours, like a shop, a restaurant or a clinic, or if it travels to customers, like a plumber or a mobile hairdresser. Both shop-front businesses and service-area businesses qualify.
A business that exists only online, where nobody visits and nobody is visited, is not eligible, and Google points those businesses to its advertising tools instead. Properties for rent or sale are not eligible either. If you run an online-only service, a Business Profile is not the right tool, and your website and your search work need to carry more weight.
Claiming and verifying
You need a Google account to create a profile. It can be a Gmail address or any other email address, but a company address that several colleagues can reach makes life easier when someone leaves. If another person has already verified your business, for example a former agency, Google lets you request ownership.
Verification matters. Without it you cannot change what Google shows on Maps and Search, and other people can suggest edits that you never see. Do it on the day you create the profile, not after the first wrong phone number appears.
What to fill in
Treat it as a second front page. Use your real business name, the way it appears on your sign and your website, with no extra keywords added. Choose the category that describes your main work most precisely. Add your address, or your service area if you travel to customers, opening hours including holidays, a phone number you answer, and a link to your website.
Keep these details identical everywhere. The same name, address and phone number on your profile, on your website and on directories removes doubt for both customers and search engines. In Czechia it is also worth checking your entry on Firmy.cz, the business directory of the Seznam search engine, which many local searchers still use.
Add real photos: the entrance, the inside, your team, your work. Photos that look like your actual place help people decide to walk in, and stock images do the opposite.
Reviews and keeping it fresh
Ask satisfied customers for a review and make it easy, with a short link in an email or a card at the till. Reply to reviews, good and bad, politely and briefly. A calm answer to a bad review often says more about you than the review does. Never buy reviews or write your own: it is against Google's rules, and it is the quickest way to lose trust.
Update the hours before every holiday and when anything changes. Wrong opening hours are the most common reason a customer arrives at a closed door and leaves an angry review.
How the website helps
Your profile links to your website, so the page it lands on should answer the question that brought the visitor: what you do, where you are, how to reach you. A fast, clear page that works on a phone turns the map click into an enquiry.
Be realistic about results. Local rankings depend on distance, relevance and how well known the business is, and nobody can promise a position. What you control is accuracy, completeness and responsiveness, and those are worth doing well.