How to Add Your Business to Google Maps and Verify It, Step by Step

Showing up on Google Maps starts with a verified Business Profile (formerly Google My Business). Adding, claiming and verifying are free, and the steps below come from Google's own help pages as they stood on 8 October 2026. Button labels change now and then, so follow what your screen shows if it differs.

Before you start: is your business eligible?

• Google accepts businesses that serve customers at a physical location or within a service area; the eligibility and ownership page lists the rules by type.
• Make sure the address is correct and follows the address guidelines, and that the name is the real name your customers know, not a marketing phrase or a list of services.
• Use a Google account that belongs to the business, not an employee who may leave: the profile follows the account that verifies it.

Route one: add a new business

1. Go to business.google.com/add and sign in with the business account.
2. Click "Add your business to Google".
3. Enter the name, category, address or service area, phone number and website, following the on-screen instructions.
4. Choose one of the verification options Google shows and follow its steps.

Route two: claim an existing listing

Many businesses already have a listing created by a customer or by Google from its sources. Do not create a second profile for the same location; a duplicate breaks Google's guidelines and splits your reviews between two listings. Claim the existing one:

1. On a computer, open Google Maps and search for the business name and city, or find it on the map and click it.
2. Click "Claim this business", then "Manage now". To pick a different business, use "I own or manage another business".
3. On a phone, open the Google Maps app, search for the business and select it, then in the Business Profile section tap "Overview", then "Claim this business", then "Manage now".
4. Choose a verification option and follow the instructions.

If the listing is already verified by someone else (a former employee or a marketing agency), request ownership from the current owner through the option Google shows: you are authorised to manage the business and they are not.

Verification methods

Google decides which methods each profile gets; you cannot pick one it does not offer:

• Video recording: offered to eligible businesses and recommended by Google when available; you film your location, your signage and proof that you run the business.
• Phone or SMS: a code reaches the business number; automated phone menus do not receive codes.
• Email: the address shown on the proof-of-ownership screen has to work.
• A live video call with a support agent, during your business hours, with you on site.
• A postcard with a 5-digit code: most arrive within 14 days and the code expires after 30. Do not change the name, address or category while waiting, and do not request a second code, which cancels the first.

Google's review of a verification can take up to 5 business days, longer in rare cases. Some profiles verify instantly, for example when your website is already verified in Search Console. Video verification step by step, and fixes for verification problems, are in verifying your business on Google Maps.

If you would like someone alongside you for these steps, SMTAK has a paid Google Maps verification service, and Google's own steps stay in your hands.

What you cannot do before verification

• Interact with customers through the profile, including replying to reviews.
• Edit profile details such as the name and hours.

After verification: what makes the profile work for you

• Complete the most precise category, hours, services and recent photos; the complete profile is what a customer compares with the next one.
• Create a direct review link and a QR code for each branch, and ask every customer for a review the same way with nothing in return. SMTAK's free Google review link tool builds both in your browser.
• Reply to every review you receive; the reply is part of your profile and every visitor reads it.

Where SMTAK helps

Once your profile is verified, SMTAK connects it through Google's own sign-in with profile-management permission only, never your password, gathers every branch's reviews in one dashboard and drafts a reply to each in your tone for you to approve before publishing. The connection changes nothing in your profile and can be revoked from your Google account at any time.